David Shiffman

Reader mail: Sustainable shark finning?

April 5, 2010April 5, 2010 David Shiffman 5 Comments

Our latest reader mail comes from my friend Mike, who writes for the conservative political blog SaveTheGop. Though we don’t agree on much, he’s usually a reasonable guy. His question concerns a post I recently wrote about Hawaii’s proposed bill to ban the sale of shark fins within their state.

WhySharksMatter’s 2nd PCR

April 5, 2010April 5, 2010 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Science

After the failure of my first PCR, we tried again. This one is more successful. Of my 7 samples, 5 amplified. We aren’t sure why the other two didn’t, so I’m going to try to re-extract DNA from them and try a few different primers with them this week.

Read More “WhySharksMatter’s 2nd PCR” »

Might as well eat ’em: A semi-serious April Fool’s Day ethical debate

April 1, 2010April 4, 2010 David Shiffman 38 Comments

Conservation

Bluefin tuna are some of the most endangered fish in the sea. Prized by the sushi industry for their delicious flavor, populations of bluefin have declined precipitously in recent decades.

They also may be the first species of fish to be driven to extinction by commercial fishing. Normally, when populations of fish get low, it isn’t profitable to fish for them anymore- thus they are not driven to extinction. However, a single bluefin tuna can sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars, so it is still profitable to fish for the last one.

Has President Obama broken a promise on offshore drilling?

March 31, 2010 David Shiffman 15 Comments

Conservation

I received an e-mail from Oceana today encouraging me to “tell President Obama to keep his promise”. The e-mail claims that while running for President, he campaigned against offshore oil drilling, which would make his recent announcement about allowing offshore drilling a broken promise indeed. However, I seem to remember that Obama as a candidate was for offshore drilling. I went to my favorite non-partisan fact check website, Politifact, to sort this out.

An update on WhySharksMatter’s first PCR

March 31, 2010April 4, 2010 David Shiffman 1 Comment

Science

I know that many of you have been losing sleep over the questionable quality of my first PCR and gel. Well, the mystery has been solved! My lab partner made the gel with DI water instead of with TAE/agarose solution. Not only is that an easily fixable problem for the future… it’s something that, for … Read More “An update on WhySharksMatter’s first PCR” »

WhySharksMatter in College of Charleston magazine

March 30, 2010April 4, 2010 David Shiffman

Conservation, Science

The most recent issue of the College of Charleston magazine came out this week, and it features an article about sharks by yours truly! Check it out below. Suggestions and critiques are appreciated. I know it’s hard to read- here is a link to the online article.

WhySharksMatter’s first PCR!

March 25, 2010April 21, 2010 David Shiffman 10 Comments

Science

As promised, here are the results of my first ever PCR. Here is some background:

I am going to be running some population genetics on sandbar shark DNA with the intention of comparing subpopulations from South Carolina with those from Virginia.

I am in the very early stages- seeing which primers work for PCR. Four primers each were tested- called A, B, C and D- on three shark DNA samples and a negative control. Ignore the samples on the bottom, they are from another student’s project. The four samples in the upper right are my negative controls.

The PCR was run yesterday (my first PCR), and I ran the gel today (my first gel).

It seems to me that Primer A is successfully copying my DNA during PCR, while B, C, and D are not.

Reader Mail: Aquariums, seafood, and my shark documentary

March 24, 2010April 4, 2010 David Shiffman 2 Comments

Science

I am pleased to present the first in a new series of posts here at Southern Fried Science- reader mail. If a reader has a question for us, shoot us an e-mail with the subject “reader mail” and we may answer it for you on the blog. Our first questions are about my new shark conservation documentary:

Read More “Reader Mail: Aquariums, seafood, and my shark documentary” »

A cry for reason at CITES

March 20, 2010 David Shiffman

Uncategorized

Edward Dorson, the Director of Conservation Strategies for the Shark Research Institute, has published an excellent editorial about CITES in the Gulf Times, which describes itself as “Qatar’s top-selling English daily newspaper”. The editorial can be found here. Here are some highlights, though I recommend reading the whole article. “All trade in a species vanishes … Read More “A cry for reason at CITES” »

Four things everyone needs to know about sharks: A shark conservation documentary and lesson plan

March 20, 2010April 4, 2010 David Shiffman 29 Comments

Conservation, Science

One week after the world premier at the Benthic Ecology conference’s Beneath the Waves Film Festival, I am pleased to announce that my new shark conservation mini-documentary, “four things everyone needs to know about sharks”, is now available on YouTube.

Check it out here:

If you are an educator, the movie is intended to be part of a lesson plan about shark conservation. I have created a middle school version, a high school version, and a college version. Contact me at WhySharksMatter AT gmail DOT com with the subject “Shark Lesson Plan” and I’ll send you what I have, or we can discuss making a custom lesson plan that suits the specific needs of your class.

If you are not an educator but care about sharks, the movie can be a stand-alone way to educate your friends, family, coworkers, classmates, etc.

Please let me know what you think about the video by commenting on this blog post.

Thanks to all of my photographer and musician partners in this project!

Check out their websites: