I love fashion, especially garments with animals on them. I wear so many of them, that my boss asked me about the biodiversity of my closet. I was genuinely curious so I counted all the plants, animals, and any other life forms that I could spot and calculated the Shannon Weiner Index, a real index…
Category: Public Understanding of Science
Top 10 Reasons Science is Patriotic
Patriotism is defined as “having or showing great love and support for your country.” This Fourth of July, American bloggers Stephanie Schuttler and Emily Puckett show how supporting science reflects great love and support for the United States of America and is a democratic process in and of itself. Science inspires. Scientific and technological innovations made…
We Marched for Science- Now What?
Like many of you I joined a local March for Science this past Saturday (April 22, 2017). Local for me is New York City, so I enjoyed a pretty large march (~20k) with fellow scientists, engineers, physicians and nurses, environmental advocates, science supporters, and their spouses and kids. I enjoyed the pithy signs and marching…
Making Science Real in Non-Majors Science Class
For the longest time, I complained about teaching one class, non-majors biology. While many teaching assistants complained about students, for me, it was the content I was teaching. The problem wasn’t that it was too simple and not advanced like in a majors class, it was that it was not relevant to the students’ lives (or…
A Year of Science Selfies – Stephanie
When hearing about the #365scienceselfies challenge, I was immediately on board. I love selfies and was very willing to use this excuse to take more. I loved the idea – showing other people what scientists do on a daily basis and “humanizing” us (scientists – they’re just like us!). I was also up for the challenge of coming…
There’s no such thing as “boring” data in citizen science
As a child I was hooked on wildlife documentaries (I still am…) and from these I gleaned that the career highlight of any self-respecting botanist or zoologist was to discover a new species. For a while that was my goal too, but then I became sidetracked by questions about genetics and evolution and conservation. Fast…
When More Science Isn’t Better
I’ll never forget the first, and only, time I was turned down to give a presentation at a meeting. It’s pretty rare to get turned down for conferences, and if you do, you usually at least get asked to present a poster. It was for the Society for Conservation Biology (SCB), my favorite conference, and I…
This is What a Scientist Looks Like
Three years ago I began working with teachers in an intensive externship. Over three-week periods, they would train alongside me every day, developing lesson plans for classrooms based on my research. One of my teachers, not expecting me to look the way I did, called me fancy. The name stuck as I am now @FancyScientist…
When Science meets Parliament
Last week I had the privilege of spending two days at the 16th “Science meets Parliament”. It was an eye opening experience and I’ve learnt a lot… but let me explain… Science meets Parliament is an annual event run by Science and Technology Australia (STA), the peak body representing Australian science and technology. It includes…
Too Much Gloom in Scicomm? Or… Let’s Celebrate Conservation Successes!
A couple of weeks ago, Stephanie asked if there is too much I in scicomm? This week, I’m asking whether there is too much doom and gloom in scicomm – or at least in scicomm related to wildlife conservation? Two things have led me to this post. In December, Emily asked me for my thoughts on new…
The Kardashians Discuss Genetics: What They Got Right & Wrong
It comes as a shock to many of my colleagues (and friends, but somehow not my family) that I am an avid viewer of Keeping up with the Kardashians (#KUWTK). And for every 8 episodes full of micro-dramas, naked photo shoots, and cray cray family dynamics, they’ll actually touch on some weighty issues. Last Sunday’s…
Too Much I in Scicomm?
A couple of weeks ago, I came across the following tweet: Guilty as charged! By trade, I am a scientist, but for fun/professional growth/genuine interest in spreading the message of science, I also consider myself a science communicator. I agree with @LadyNaturalist that a lot of science communicators do talk, tweet, and Instagram about themselves….