Summer Science Outreach Challenge: Write an OpEd.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Summer Science Outreach Challenge: Write an OpEd.
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If you’ve been following along with our weekly round-up of ocean news, the Monday Morning Salvage (and, if not, why aren’t you reading the Monday Morning Salvage? It’s your one stop shop for the latest and greatest in ocean science and conservation news!) you probably noticed that we called for scientists and conservation professionals to write OpEds or Letters to the Editor this May. We heard from several folks that they submitted articles, though we haven’t heard back that any have been published yet (please leave a link in the comments if yours have). So, we’re extending the challenge and asking science and conservation professionals to take a stand for something you care about and submit a letter or article to your local paper.

Simone Giertz builds the best robots on the internet.

Why? A recent study with a large sample size, published this year, demonstrated that OpEds can play a significant in shaping people’s opinions about political and social issues. Though this CATO Institute funded study has a distinctively libertarian slant in the issues they chose to use as treatments, the results are reasonably compelling. Not only did OpEds influence how readers felt about an issue, but regardless of political group, exposure to an OpEd made the reader more likely to agree with the author’s position.

“We find limited evidence of treatment effect heterogeneity by party identification: Democrats, Republicans, and independents all appear to move in the predicted direction by similar magnitudes… Despite large differences in demographics and initial political beliefs, we find that op-eds were persuasive to both the mass public and elites, but marginally more persuasive among the mass public.”

source.

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5 things to know about stingray barbs, this month’s 3D printed reward!

Posted on By David Shiffman
Science

I recently unveiled a new tier of Patreon rewards: 3D printed shark and ray models!For $17 per month, you will get a monthly 3D printed educational model of different shark or ray parts in the mail, and you’ll be supporting my efforts to provide these models to schools for free.

This month’s reward is the barb from a Pacific Cownose Ray, Rhinoptera steindachneri. This particular specimen is a part of the Texas A&M University Biodiversity Research and Teaching Collection, and was scanned as part of the #ScanAllFishes project! 

I reached out to Heather Prestidge and Kevin Conway, curators of the Texas A&M collection. They told me that this particular specimen was collected in 1993 by John McEachran (author of the multi-volume “fishes of the Gulf of Mexico“) and Janine Caira (now a parasitologist at UConn). It was collected in Baja California, Mexico. Heather was pleased to learn that I was using their specimen for this project, and said “our specimens have an unlimited number of uses even after their primary project!”

Here’s a picture of another specimen of the same species from this collection, you can see why they’re sometimes called “Golden Cownose Rays”.

Photo courtesy Christian Jones, NOAA

Here’s a CT scan focusing on the barb, from the Virtual Natural History Museum.

Learn more about the Pacific cownose ray and the science behind stingray barbs below!

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Two new writers, the net that never stops killing, how not to launch a boat, the Blackfish Effect, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 28, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Muster (updates from the blog)

Photo by author

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

“One old gill net found wedged between rocks off the coast of the San Juan Islands reportedly sat atop a pile of marine bird and mammal bones that was three feet deep.”

source.

WHOI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcZ8-MtcZrE

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Obama’s ocean monuments, deep diving seals, and sustainable US fisheries: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 24th, 2018

Posted on By David Shiffman
Uncategorized

Cuttings (short and sweet):  Follow Canadian ocean science communicator Kayla Glynn on twitter. NOAA’s status of stocks. By Steve Midway, for the Fisheries Blog. Antarctic seals recruited to measure the effects of climate change. By Alex Fox, for Nature News. 15,000 lionfish removed from Florida waters. By Ed Killer, for the Treasure Coast Palm. Plastic bag … Read More “Obama’s ocean monuments, deep diving seals, and sustainable US fisheries: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 24th, 2018” »

Defining Your Audience (Or How To Plan The Worst Birthday Ever)

Posted on By Rachel Pendergrass
Uncategorized

Skeptical beardy stock-photo man at a lame party.
Credit: WAYHOME studio / Shutterstock

This is part of the new regular column on science communication. To suggest a topic, email blog@scienceartfusion.com. 

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re in middle school. The spring formal is approaching and if you don’t have a date, you will literally die ohmygod. Your goal is “find someone to go to the dance with me”. You can’t just walk into the cafeteria and scream “SOMEONE GO TO THE DANCE WITH ME”. (I mean, you can, but…) You need to be tactical. You need to have a specific audience in mind.

A poorly defined audience (or one that is overly broad) is the root cause of the vast majority of issues I run into when I’m working with someone on their science outreach. From “I don’t know where to start” to “I can’t get anyone to listen/subscribe/come to my talk/donate,” my first question is always going to be “who is your audience?”. My next question is going to be “okay, now can you narrow that down”?.

The temptation is always going to be to have the broadest audience possible. If you aren’t appealing to EVERYONE you might miss out on potential opportunities! You could turn away a potential audience! You could miss out on the chance to be the most beloved science communicator that ever communicated!

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Saturation diving, destroying the world with Bitcoin mining, deep-sea mining, Arctic shrinkage, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 21, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

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Plastic Free Fish, Chainsaw Lobsters, and Artificial Horseshoe Crab Blood: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 17th 2018

Posted on By David Shiffman
Uncategorized

Cuttings (short and sweet):  Follow the Pacific salmon network on twitter! Looking for plastic free fish? Here’s one to put on the menu! By Maggie Gillis, for CBC news Scientists find new deep sea species off Java. BBC slideshow. Unexpected walruses crowd Alaska beach. By the Associated Press. The bigger the mother fish, the more babies … Read More “Plastic Free Fish, Chainsaw Lobsters, and Artificial Horseshoe Crab Blood: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 17th 2018” »

Bone-eating Jabba worms, the world’s deepest plastic bag, new shipwrecks, climate change art, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 14, 2018.

Posted on By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

Osedax worms growing on the vertebrae of a dead whale.
Photo: 2006 MBARI

Read More “Bone-eating Jabba worms, the world’s deepest plastic bag, new shipwrecks, climate change art, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 14, 2018.” »

Seafaring neanderthals and switchblade fish: A mega Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 10th, 2018

Posted on By David Shiffman
Uncategorized

After two weeks off, we’re back and bigger than ever! Cuttings (short and sweet):  Follow Archaeologist makes case for seafaring Neanderthals. By Christopher Ingraham, for Scientific American. Larson Creek trout may have been wiped out. By Randy Shore, for the Vancouver Sun. US Coast Guard steps up efforts to protect right whales. From GCaptain. The US … Read More “Seafaring neanderthals and switchblade fish: A mega Thursday Afternoon Dredging, May 10th, 2018” »

Crab industry in crisis, world’s largest deep-sea mining vessel takes to sea, Bayou Women, ocean trash, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 7, 2018

Posted on By Andrew Thaler 1 Comment on Crab industry in crisis, world’s largest deep-sea mining vessel takes to sea, Bayou Women, ocean trash, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 7, 2018
Weekly Salvage

Foghorn (A Call to Action!)

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

A second trap design from Gittings. Lionfish are attracted to the structures inside. (Steve Gittings/NOAA)

The Levee (A featured project that emerged from Oceandotcomm)

Read More “Crab industry in crisis, world’s largest deep-sea mining vessel takes to sea, Bayou Women, ocean trash, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: May 7, 2018” »