Earlier this month, I released The Last Hunt for the Jabberwock, a Dungeons & Dragons adventure in ecologic succession. This campaign is an expression of my two favorite things: being giant nerd going on strange journeys with an odd assortment of friends and helping students of all ages learn about their world through experiential education. … Read More “‘Twas brillig… building a Dungeons & Dragons campaign for adventurers in and out of the classroom.” »
Author: Andrew Thaler
Marine science and conservation. Deep-sea ecology. Population genetics. Underwater robots. Open-source instrumentation. The deep sea is Earth's last great wilderness.Welcome to the Warren. Within this tiny Domain of Delight, Rabbitfolk engage in an endless battle against the Jabberwock, a manxome foe that refuses to stay dead. With the aid of their Archfey and allies from near and far, they have forged an uneasy peace. Every 30 years the Emerald Moon rises, the Jabberwock returns, … Read More “Hunt the Jabberwock, Defend the Warren, Save the Forest: a D&D 5e Adventure for Environmental Educators” »
Listen to Kernean George, Marcella Harris, and Brett Steigerwaldt on The Rumcast talking about the Rosalie Bay Distillery: Dominica’s First-of-Its-Kind Rum Distillery. Meanwhile, the Cephalosquad seems have largely forgotten that multiple party members are missing and have wandered of to a fancy castle to start an entirely different mission.
Early this year, the Norwegian parliament approved a bill to open up 300,000 square kilometers of it’s exclusive economic zone to companies exploring the potential for deep-sea mining for lithium, scandium, cobalt, and other critical minerals. It was a bill allowing the issuing of exploration permits, an important first step towards the commercialization of deep-sea … Read More “Norway pushes pause on plans to mine the deep sea.” »
A great recent talk by Dr. Stefan Rahmstorf on what is going on with the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation. Surfaced on Bluesky through The Ocean Commotion feed.
Five years ago, a small team of ocean scientists, conservationists, sea turtle patrollers, and distillers came up with a radical idea to create a sustainable, long-term funding model for Dominica’s Sea Turtle Conservation Organization and Ocean’s Forward. From dozens of meetings, market analyses, and viability assessments, the Rosalie Bay Distillery was born. The distillery would … Read More “This Rum Protects the Ocean: the world’s first conservation distillery is open for business.” »
Serial is out with a new podcast, and this time, it’s about whales. Return to the early 1990s, when scientists and conservationists fought to save Keiko, the Killer Whale made famous by the movie Free Willy, from his captivity in a small aquatic park. The first two episodes are up on Spotify.
It’s been three months since we posted our last traffic update. I’ve been prepping or traveling since August running OpenCTD workshops and the rest of the team is likewise busy with research, outreach, and policy work. We’ve been quiet, only publishing 12 articles in the last quarter and the traffic reflects that. Traffic is down … Read More “Project 2025, chicken coops, seabed mining, and the classics: 3 Months of readership stats for Southern Fried Science” »
Late last month, I joined Andrew Kornblatt and Francis Farabaugh on Ocean Science Radio to talk about Donald Trump’s Project 2025 Presidential Transition Project, how it will effect ocean policy, and why the particular nastiness with which Project 2025 goes after NOAA is proof-positive that, no matter how hard they try and deny it, Project 2025 … Read More “Trump’s Project 2025 and a surprising outbreak of whalepox: this month on the podcasts.” »
Giant deep-sea tube worms. When the RV Knorr arrived above Galapagos Rift in 1977, a team of geologists, geochemists, and geophysicist, including Robert Ballard who would go on to locate the wreck of the Titanic among other ocean-shaping discoveries) was prepared to witness something never before seen: a geyser of superheated, chemical rich water erupting … Read More “Giant tube worms dwell in the deep places beneath the ocean floor.” »