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17 January 2022
#AntarcticLog: Crossing the Drake Passsage
Why did the Nathaniel B. Palmer cross the Drake Passage? To get to the other side… Antarctica, that is — and to carry the International Thwaites Glacier Collaborative (ITGC) scientists to their research sites in the Amundsen Sea.
7 January 2022
#AntarcticLog: Happy New Year!
New Year’s is a great time for a life review — a look at past, present, and future. First, here’s a peek at Antarctic auld lang syne, in the form of ancient penguins.
24 December 2021
#AntarcticLog: In appreciation of dogs
It can be far easier for furry, four-footed friends to cross treacherous Antarctic ridges and formations than people or vehicles. Time was, back in the age of the heroic explorers, dogs were helpful for transport, warmth, companionship — and sometimes, food.
17 December 2021
#AntarcticLog: To Antarctica and beyond!
An immigrant to England from India, Prem grew up among a multicultural group of friends, and experienced culture shock as he rose through the ranks of science. His organization works to ease this shock as well as to increase the numbers of minority folks in his field and in the field, to reduce the problem — and enrich science.
10 December 2021
#AntarcticLog: Introducing I Was a Kid!
There’s something truly thrilling happening in the sciences — an effort to increase diversity and inclusion among the ranks. Across our research institutions I see a new emphasis on supporting all, and inspiring more to target science for their own careers. Because I write and draw so much for young people, that’s where I’ve put my energy for the last year and a half, and now I’m ready to share it.
29 November 2021
#AntarcticLog: Happy Antarctica Day!
#AntarcticLog is a series of comics by Karen Romano Young. You can find the originals here. Still full from Thanksgiving? Then maybe you’ll be able to resist a continuation of the cake theme I began last week with my fruitcake comics from the JOIDES Resolution’s expedition to the Amundsen Sea, into which the Thwaites and Pine Island Glaciers are both flowing faster and faster… Pause. Take a deep breath. Time for cake. …
23 November 2021
Sharing Science at AGU21
Well, it’s that time of year again. No, not the holidays (well, yes, that too). It’s AGU’s Fall Meeting!
19 November 2021
#AntarcticLog: Fruitcakes in Antarctica
At times I have the excellent opportunity to go into the field with scientists and report out through the lens of #AntarcticLog comics. Here’s a sampling, ready for the holidays. Perhaps, like me, you are thankful for fruitcake? This one time when I went to Antarctica aboard the drill ship JOIDES Resolution, my children’s author/poet/photographer/baker friend Leslie Bulion sent me with a fruitcake.
17 November 2021
#DrawnToGeoscience: Storytelling via Zine
I have been interested in science communication, art, and literature since the start of my education in the environmental sciences. There are as many ways of communicating science as there are scientists: graphs, figures, presentations, papers, books, lectures. By channeling information about dissolved organic matter biogeochemistry into a comic book—a recognizable form, with its own connotations—I wanted to spark contemplation of what it means to produce and communicate scientific knowledge.
10 November 2021
#DrawnToGeoscience: Embroidering volcanos
The journey of my volcano wearable-art began with the inspiration provided by #QuiltYourScience. The idea of sharing my research and passion for all things volcanic through the medium of fabric and thread swirled in my brain for months. While I still look forward to creating a volcanically themed quilt one day, I wanted to capture the voluminous and turbulent eruptive plumes rising above the edifice and the complexity of volcanic plumbing systems forming nested magma webs below the surface of the volcano.
The Plainspoken Scientist is the science communication blog of AGU’s Sharing Science program. With this blog, we wish to encourage scientists to reach out to non-scientists and to do so with plainspoken discussion.