Cephalopodcast

It’s Deep-Sea Coral Week over at the Deep-Sea News blog, from April 27-May 3. It’s worth a look, with many interesting posts already up and many more to come each day.

Coral Reefs and Creatures of the Deep Sea

One of the podcasts I enjoy listening to is the Naked Scientists. Back on 23rd April 2006 they did a show featuring not only deep sea corals but giant squid too. It’s two great tastes that go great together, and you can check it out yourself. Skip the boring stuffastrophysics at the beginning and forward the transport controls to minute 32:00 to hear the interesting stuff.

Delving into the dark depths of science this week is Dr Ron Douglas from City University in London, who describes the fascinating world of deep sea fish, bioluminescence and the sights from a deep sea sub, Dr Jason Hall-Spencer from the University of Plymouth talks about cold water corals and the threats posed by fishermen, and from slightly warmer waters Dr David Kline from the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Panama reveals how Caribbean corals are suffering due to sugar pollution. Also in the show, Fran Beckerleg interviews John Ablett at the Natural History Museum in London about a giant squid called Archie, and getting the low down on the high seas, Derek Thorne finds out how a submarine works in Kitchen Science.

• Naked Scientists Podcast: Coral Reefs and Creatures of the Deep Sea

The NY Times recently did an article on soniferous fishes. These are animals like drums and toadfish that produce, and presumably communicate, with sound. In some circumstances, these noises can be heard by home owners living on canals or live-aboard boats.

However, there is a quote in the article from Professor Philip Lobel from Boston University that annoys (a noise?) me:

Yet of the 30,000 species out there, only about 1,200 sound producers have been cataloged, and far fewer have been recorded. Even common goldfish have merited just two scientific publications. In fact, said Philip Lobel, a professor of biology at Boston University, “Most aquarium fish are sonic. Keeping fish in an aquarium is like keeping a canary in a soundproof cage.”

Have you ever pressed your ear against a home aquarium? It’s typically a din of bubblers and impellers that are anything but noiseless. I’ve wondered what kind of effect that has on the captive fish. And now doubly so if it turns out the creatures are trying to communicate with each other over the racket.

Dolphin Diner Bell

The article also makes mention of how dolphins listen for soniferous fish. Researchers at my work have noted the prevalence of soniferous fish in the diet of area dolphins. It appears that the dolphins studied do not actively and energetically echolocate all the time. Instead, they passively listen for the calls of their prey to locate them generally. Then when they are closer, they use echolocation to home in for the kill. This also suggests that there is an evolutionary interplay between sound detecting dolphins and sound producing fish. A similar relationship has been demonstrated between calling frogs and frog-eating bats. I wouldn’t be surprised if there is some similar acoustic aposematism going on underwater too.

• NY Times: What’s Making That Awful Racket? Surprisingly, It May Be Fish
• NY Times: Run Noisy, Run Deep, and interactive piece that lets you listen to the noise of soniferous fish, including the fast repetitive ticks (FaRTs) of herring.

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership has a couple of interesting opportunities for teachers and students.

First, is the National Ocean Science Bowl. I will be volunteering at the regional Spoonbill Bowl competition this weekend and hope to report on that soon.

Second, is called the Deep Earth Academy, which is the education arm of their scientific ocean drilling program. In addition to resources to teach climate change and Activities of the Month, they have a free color poster for middle and high school students that shows what an oceanic survey cruise looks like and what kinds of information scientist gain from them.

…this (Anatomy of a Seamount Survey) poster shows the ship’s track, 3D bathymetry plots from the survey, and images from the ship’s dredging operations. On the poster’s reverse side are included: background information on site surveys, mini-profiles of some of the expedition’s key personnel, and four science challenges for middle school students.

You can also request oceanic core samples for use at your school courtesy of the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program.

Third, they have a fellowship for one lucky teacher to help them develop new content. Deadline is Monday, March 3, 2008.

Deep Earth Academy Teacher Fellowship 2008-2009

The Consortium for Ocean Leadership is seeking an enthusiastic teacher for a one-year fellowship in Washington, DC. The teacher will work with DeepEarth Academy staff to develop ocean science curricula, produce teacher-training workshops, maintain communication within a community of educators and assist with conference logistics. The position requires a minimum of 3 years classroom science teaching experience, a strong background in earth or ocean sciences, and temporary relocation to Washington, DC. Strong writing and computer technology skills are a plus. Salary will be commensurate to incumbent¹s current salary. Full time and part-time schedules will be considered.

To apply for the position, send a cover letter, resume, curriculum sample or list of professional development offerings and three letters of reference to learning@oceanleadership.org or mail to Deep Earth Academy, 1201 New York Avenue NW, 4th floor, Washington, DC, 20005 by Monday, March 3, 2008. For more information visit www.deepearthacademy.org

Finally, the COL is also hosting a number of events from February 25-29, billing it as 2008 Washington Ocean Week. This is not to be confused with the other Ocean Week in June.

With the release of the President’s budget earlier in the month and the appropriations season in full swing, this is a critical time for the oceanographic community to sound its voice in the nation’s capitol.

• Consortium for Ocean Leadership
• Deep Earth Academy Teacher Fellowship 2008-2009
• Anatomy of a Seamount Survey poster
• Deep-Sea News: A Valentine’s from Congress

Now that the thanking and the giving is nearly over, take a look at this Wired article to see what the meal looked like under high magnification. There is turkey, gravy, cranberry, bread, beer, potato, peas.

Wired asked Mike Davidson, a biologist and expert photomicrographer at Florida State University’s National High Magnetic Field Lab, to turn his lenses on the all-American meal. The images aren’t particularly appetizing, and they probably won’t help you keep your gobbler moist this year (try brining), but at least you’ll be more intimate with the stuff that’s making you loosen your belt as you collapse on the couch.

• Wired Puts Your Thanksgiving Feast Under a Microscope

SciVee is about the free and widespread dissemination and comprehension of science. Created for scientists, by scientists, SciVee moves science beyond the printed word and lecture theater taking advantage of the internet as a communication medium where scientists young and old have a place and a voice. SciVee is operated in partnership with the Public Library of Science (PLoS), the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the San Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC).

SciVee^alpha is a video sharing site for science. The concept is that a researcher links the PubMed ID or DOI of their paper to SciVee, then records ten minutes of video or audio discussing the highlights and concepts in the article. The site allows the video or audio to be synchronized with figures from the article. The next step involves the SciVee community then commenting on and discussing the new pubcast.

For an example, here is Christopher L. Dupont from Scripps discussing his co-authored work, Modern proteomes contain putative imprints of ancient shifts in trace metal geochemistry from PNAS.

Currently the site is in its alpha release. There does not appear to be any way to embedded SciVee videos on your own blog, a la YouTube. It would also be nice if their was a recommendation scheme, where the site suggested related materials or similar research. But it might be too early to effectively do that with a small database.

In addition to discussions of original research, there are several educational science shorts you can view. In particular, BioMEDIA has snippets from several of their videos on animal diversity (see below). BioMEDIA allows some limited educational use of their content. They are also offering a couple of free posters if folks register with their site.

So what do you think? Can scientist master the art of communicating to an Internet audience? Should they be expected to? Know anyone who has uploaded content to SciVee?

• A Video Overview of SciVee
• BioMEDIA Associates: Biology of Echinoderms (seastars and sea cucumbers)
• BioMEDIA Associates: Biology of Cnidarians (sea jellies)
• BioMEDIA Associates: Biology of Annelids (worms)
• Microbe World: Save the Oysters
• Robert Alan Weiss’ free love Protein Synthesis

The Circus of the Spineless is a blog carnival celebrating the diversity of invertebrates. This month’s festivities are hosted over at the Other 95% blog. I submitted my What The Shell #2 for your consideration.

It’s National Chemistry Week from October 21-27, 2007. And October 23 is an especially auspicious day, since it is Mole Day.

Celebrated annually on October 23 from 6:02 a.m. to 6:02 p.m., Mole Day commemorates Avogadro’s Number (6.02 x 10^23), which is a basic measuring unit in chemistry. Mole Day was created as a way to foster interest in chemistry. Schools throughout the United States and around the world celebrate Mole Day with various activities related to chemistry and/or moles.

For a given molecule, one mole is a mass (in grams) whose number is equal to the atomic mass of the molecule.

• Wikipedia: Mole Day

How not to overwhelm with Charts and Graphs

Over on the 43Folders blog, Matt Turk is asking how he can improve his academic presentation style.

I am in a fairly quantitative science…Unfortunately, what most people in my field do is to simply overwhelm the audience with lots of facts and charts and bullet points. Obviously this is a bad idea — but on the other hand, if you don’t give enough ’serious-looking’ plots, you run the risk of being dismissed by the majority of the people in the audience.

So how do I strike a balance? How do I keep my presentations in the manner of a good narrative, with appropriate display methods, when constrained by an audience that could liberally describe as ‘hostile’?

There are obligatory recommendations of Tufte, but also to The Craft of Research by Booth, Colomb, and Williams.

If you have any ideas about effectively communicating science information, head on over to 43Folders and chime in.

Microbe Week continues over at the Deep Sea News Blog. But if you need an additional inoculation, consider tuning into the very well produced MicrobeWorld radio/podcast.

MicrobeWorld Radio is an educational outreach initiative that revolves around a daily, 90-second radio series designed to increase public understanding and appreciation of the vital role microbes play on our planet and to promote the science of microbiology.

Thought I was generally familiar with the federal agencies tasked with ocean management. But I have never heard of this one before: Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs, part of the Department of State.

The Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) is a bureau within the United States Department of State. It coordinates a portfolio of issues related to science, the environment, and the world’s oceans.

The Oceans and Fisheries Directorate has two offices dedicated to international oceans issues. The Office of Marine Conservation focuses on international fisheries matters and related problems and the Office of Oceans Affairs has primary responsibility for international ocean law and policy, marine pollution, marine mammals, polar affairs, maritime boundaries, and marine science.

• Wikipedia: Bureau of OES

Last summer we started noticing upside-down jellyfish (Cassiopeia sp.) appearing in abundance in Sarasota Bay, Florida. These are typically saucer-sized animals that are content to pulse upside-down (hence the name) on the bay bottom, exposing their frilly, weed-like tentacles to the sun. They aren’t supposed to have much of a sting, but apparently some people do get an allergic reaction to touching them.

These creatures have a symbiotic relationship with the algae that packs their tentacles. It is similar to the relationship between reef-forming, stony corals and their algae partners. These partners are called zooxanthellae (zoe-zan-thelly), or as we like to tell the kids, they are the green jelly in the belly of the corals. Not strictly accurate, but catchier than saying the dinoflagellate symbionts in the endoderm of hermatypic cnidarians. The algae photosynthesizes, producing oxygen and sugars that the animals use. In return, the animals give the algae a protective matrix to grow in, carbon dioxide and other waste products that act like fertilizers.

Typically you find these jellies further south in Florida and it’s unsual to see them this far north. This story just recently got some mainstream press coverage and by coincidence the inkspot blog posted some beautiful pictures and video of upside-down jellies nearly the same day.

It’s interesting to note that this article by Karla C. Garcia states that the upside-down jellies tend to expel their zooxanthellae under stressful conditions, like extreme water temperatures and changes in salilnity. In coral reefs, this process is commonly referred to as bleaching. Presumably the conditions in Sarasota Bay have change now in favor of recruitment by Cassiopeia larvae and their algae. Sarasota Bay has also been affected by several seasons of serious red tide outbreaks. It is interesting to speculate if this may have influenced the natural predators of the planktonic larvae.

And here’s the obligatory disclaimer. These animals are not fish, of course, and some people object to calling them jellyfish. They are an ancient lineage of animals that predate any finny creatures with backbones. Instead, simply call them sea jellies and you should be okay.

• Herald Tribune: Strange jellyfish move into Sarasota Bay
• inkspot: jellicles
• A Symbiotic Lifestyle: C. xamachana and Zooxanthellae

So the meme of the moment is focused on science tattoos. It is something the kids seem proud of today and they are not alone.

Naturally enough, cephalopods provide a lot of inkspiration when it comes to tattoos. Over at TONMO they did a reader survey to find out what motivates people to go under the “pen.”

The most popular location for a cephalopod tattoo is the lower back, with four (25%) tattoos residing there. The left arm was a close second (3), followed by a 3-way tie for right arm, left leg, and upper back (2 each).

So why do people choose to get a cephalopod tattoo over something different? Here is some of the insight provided by our responders. It’s interesting to note the prevailing observation that cephalopods are so “alien”-like.

• When I was a kid my uncle took me scuba diving, and I held a small octopus on that arm [where I got my tattoo]. It was such an amazing experience…
• I’m a scuba instructor, and they’re my favorite…
• my favorite animal since i was a kid
• Cephalopods are my favorite creatures on the planet. They are not only highly intelligent and full of personality, but they are both entirely alien looking (compared to all other animals) and adorable at the same time.
• I like cephs a lot, and have devoted a lot of time to them. More importantly, I found an image of a ceph that resonated with me, and seemed to reflect other aspects of my life besides cephs.
• …you can’t really sail to French Polynesia and not get a tattoo, so i got one of an octopus…
• I love cephalopods - the last (known) living sea monsters, intelliegent, and alien to us - but given that most of the earth’s surface is covered by oceans, they’re probably more abundant than even all 6 billion of us. Their colors and elegance of motion make them living art (to me, anyway).
• ‘cuz they’re just so gosh darn squidly!

They have galleries containing tattoo images broken down into three categories: octopus, cuttlefish, and squid. An interested cephaloblog reader was also kind enough to share his sinewy octopus tattoo with me and I am glad to see it turned out pretty well.

But I’ve never been inked myself. I’m afraid if I did, it would end up looking something like Dicrostonyx torquatus.

See also

• Love Lab: Sea life tattoos (over 12 pages!)
• TONMO: Cephalopod Tattoos
• Paryngula: Tats for Science and discussion
• The other 95% tattoos
• eMedicine: Histology of Tattoos
• “The most intense tattoo you will ever see [via digg]

UPDATE: The meme continues.

• Metafilter: Awesome science tattoos
• Street Anatomy: the anatomy tattoo gallery

[via Informal Science Educators Network Listserv]

Reading PZ Myers, one gets the inkling that Minnesota is an anathema to science education. But these sites seem to be fighting that impression.

Over at the Minnesota Children’s Museum there is an interesting and economical idea for teaching science.

Science StoryPacks™ are backpacks filled with literature and fun science activities for students Pre–K – 5. They’re a great addition to educational settings: as a science book nook for students, a parent involvement activity, or a small group instruction. Shipping: Pick–up available at Minnesota Children’s Museum for free, or a shipping fee of $10 each way is charged for each kit.

And over at The Science Museum of Minnesota, they have a website called Science Buzz, which is a, “regularly updated community newsletter highlighting current science news, events, and findings.” One contributor has written an entry on the recent Humboldt squid invasion off the coast of California which has generated so much…buzz.

Teachers can browse the Buzz Blog by science standards.

• Science StoryPacks™
• Science Buzz

UPDATE: Got in touch with Maija from the Science Museum of Minnesota. Their MathPacks website is www.smm.org/mathpacks. They have also published an article in Teaching Children Mathematics, the NCTM elementary journal:

Measuring Growth on a Museum Field Trip: Dinosaur Bones and Tree Cross Sections
The MathPacks program at the Science Museum of Minnesota provides students with in-depth understanding of real-world applications of mathematics and science. Students measure museum specimens and investigate ratios, patterns, and mapping while simulating the work of scientists.

The Prelinger Archives are a great source for royalty free videos. They have many vintage instructional films and ephemra.

Its goal remains to collect, preserve, and facilitate access to films of historic significance that haven’t been collected elsewhere. Included are films produced by and for many hundreds of important US corporations, nonprofit organizations, trade associations, community and interest groups, and educational institutions.

I recommend checking out two selections from the extensive archive. The first is the Hanford Science Forum, featuring “science student of the week” Doyle Burke, circa 1950s:

Television program (one of a series) sponsored by General Electric Company for telecasting to residents of the Richland, Washington area. This interview with Dr. Richard F. Foster, manager of the Aquatic Biology Division at the Hanford plutonium plant, presents his research that the plant’s radioactive effluents have no effect on aquatic life in the Columbia River.

You might also want to check out one of my personal favorites, Fish from Hell Part I and Part II. Some might argue that our attitudes towards the oceans have not changed much since then.

Essentially, this “film” is just murky stock footage of men on a fishing trawler. What transforms it into an epic tale of Man vs. The Sea is an amazing narration by somebody named Wilfred Lucas. Mr. Lucas pulls no punches; in this violent world, decent men kill every fish they meet. But that’s okay, because — as Mr. Lucas explains — fish are evil and deserve to die. A manta ray gets a harpoon in its skull because it’s a “devil fish,” and a “terror of the deep.” An octopus barely escapes with its life, even though it’s a “slimy, death-dealing monster” and a “black-hearted scoundrel.” Even porpoises are slandered, being derisively referred to as “clowns” and “good for lubricating oil.” As if this weren’t enough, a whole section of this film is devoted to a battle between a whale and a swordfish, which is the whale’s “greatest enemy” (something many ichthyologists would be interested to learn). As the camera cuts rapidly between stock shots of a leaping swordfish and completely different footage of a sleeping whale, Mr. Lucas tells us that “no one has ever been lucky enough to photograph a scene like this before.” Truly a triumph of style over content; great fun to watch. Look for the cameo by Wumpy the parrot.

• Prelinger: Day at the River: A Film Lesson in Nature Study, A (1928)
• Prelinger: Pennsylvania Fish Commission (ca. 1953)
• Something more contemporaty too: An Ocean Blueprint for the 21st Century (4)
• See also, BoingBoing: Trailers from Hell: directors muse on schlocky movie faves
• And this one from Digg: Something is Fishy in Hollywood. Classic movie posters with a fishy, photoshopped twist.

Looking for ways to make a difference by beginning or improving a youth water education program? Educating Young People About Water (EYPAW) is a searchable oline database of over 150 water-related curricula. The fine folks at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Environmental Resources Center have cataloged all of them according to topic, format and education goals.

Glance at them all at once, or focus in on selections like Liquid Explorations or Your Impact on Salmon/Fish: A Self-Assessment.

But don’t wait too long to check these out. You want to be ready for World Water Monitoring Day, which is only two months away!

The NewHour with Jim Lehrer did a profile on Claire Nouvian’s new book, The Deep.

French wildlife journalist Claire Nouvian has put together a book of newly discovered sea life called “The Deep.” Her work demonstrates new techniques scientists are employing to discover and document these creatures.

• PBS NewsHour: Claire Nouvian audio interview download
• PBS NewsHour online slideshow: Deep Ocean Creatures
• Additonal Science Reports from the NewsHour
• The website: The Deep
• The book: The Deep