Entomologists: What challenges do you face in talking insect science w/ news reporters? Some expert colleagues and I are organizing a workshop at #EntSoc23 and would love to hear your thoughts. #Entomology#Insects#scicomm
A few months ago a friend in #scicomm asked me if there were any people in math communications. I replied with more than 100 resources. I've collected them all here on Notion to make them easier to access. You will see a lot of familiar names. I'm open to adding more based on people's recommendations
I drew this illustration of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as an all-seeing goddess last year.
Now I'm thinking of doing a follow-up to this artwork... Maybe I could do one based on the Hubble Space Telescope? I'm open to suggestions! 🤔🌌
My colleague Helen Rutlidge (UNSW) has a new #preprint available for feedback and comments.
The title is "Negative Indian Ocean Dipole drives groundwater recharge in southeast Australia".
The #research identifies recharge events using observed changes in water level in bores (wells) and observations of water moving through adjacent #caves towards the water table.
These are compared to climate data from 2012 to 2021, all for the central west region of New South Wales, Australia. The data shows that the most significant recharge event during a decade of observations occurred during a particularly strong negative Indian Ocean Dipole period.
Through further analysis of recharge events dating back 1900, the authors show for the first time a significant link with negative Indian Ocean Dipole events.
#BigNumberology – the practice of trying to impress people by citing incomprehensibly large numbers.
#Analology – the related practice of trying to make a very large number understandable by converting it into another incomprehensibly large one in irrelevant but cuddlier units.
Notes:
(a) also applicable to very small numbers;
(b) am probably guilty of both offences more often than I’d like 😬
New review: An optimistic and hopeful romp through microbiology, Invisible Friends encourages readers to rethink their relationship with nature, though gets starry-eyed in places.
My April 'climate viz of the month' blog is now posted at https://zacklabe.com/climate-viz-of-the-month/. It broadly discusses why climate scientists consider model experiments called large ensembles, especially for thinking about climate change in the #Arctic. #SciComm#DataViz
Vielen dank to the 300 or so folk who came to my talk on #JWST last night in the Stadttheater Mainz, as part of the university’s “Physik im Theater” series 🔭
Pretty tiring groping around inside my brain for the right German words & phrases for two hours of presentation & questions, but it’s always kind to have my dubious grammar praised as “charming” 🇩🇪
Venue for today – the Stadttheater in Mainz. A public lecture this evening about #JWST in German as part of the university’s “Physik im Theater” series 🔭
Had better check my slides – have been a few more results & pictures published since I last gave this talk in February 😬
#BirdGlamour's Goose Glam returns with the Greater White-fronted Goose, a.k.a. Speckle Bellies! The name is a little misleading (their fronts aren't really white) but they have a gorgeous grey-beige front with black speckles! Mated pairs stay together and migrate together for several years. We see these geese west of the Mississippi River during their migration. Females need to gain 30% more weight before migration as they need energy for migrating as well as egg-laying! #SciComm#SciArt
Something nobody tells you about being a science communicator: There's an awful lot of news that you personally don't care about because it's either a) a minor incremental improvement on stuff we've known for decades, but can be shoe-horned into the one interesting headline that non-science editors can come up with for your field, b) Not very interesting, despite the breathless coverage put out by the relevant institute's PR department, c) Almost certainly overhyped nonsense that will be proven false and quietly forgotten about in a few months.
And you'll find that you have to read every single one of these stories because the people in your life are absolutely going to be asking you about them!
You can already turn mycelium into a form of leather, though the normal process of doing so outright kills the fungal cells in the material. Not so much living clothing that could heal itself.
Now, Newcastle University scientists have developed a new leathering process that keeps the chlamydospores alive.
we got a grant for #neuroscience#outreach in #India a few months ago and have been slowly working towards our goal of creating some interactive #tutorials for a workshop. I really want to use this opportunity to also pick up some new skills - like #animation
#SciComm community, would you please share your favorite tools for creating fun #science animations and videos? 🥺🙏 Our target audience will be undergrads and I am comfortable with audio-video editing if that helps (picked up that skill as a volunteer a few years ago, shout out to @neuromatch!).
We are considering creating an interactive JupyterBook à la #neuromatch (https://compneuro.neuromatch.io). If you know of other cool ways of making an interactive tutorial, would love to hear about that!