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Category: Education

My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment

Posted on November 19, 2024 By David Shiffman
My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment
Conservation, Education, Science

As an informal learning assignment, I have my students use social media to follow ocean science and conservation experts for the semester. Each week, they’re asked to check social media for a few minutes, and report on something interesting they learned about marine science or conservation (and why they thought it was interesting.) I’m sharing … Read More “My “Follow ocean science and conservation experts on Bluesky and Instagram” assignment” »

Comparing the OpenCTD to a YSI Castaway

Posted on September 21, 2024September 21, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Comparing the OpenCTD to a YSI Castaway
Education, Featured, Oceanography for Everyone

For close to two decades now, the venerable YSI Castaway has been the gold standard for small, relatively cheap, handheld CTDs. In the early days of OpenROV, the robot’s little payload bay was sized explicitly to fit a Castaway. When Kersey and I started building the OpenCTD, our benchmark for viability was how well the … Read More “Comparing the OpenCTD to a YSI Castaway” »

Catching up with the Cephalosquad on Dugongs and Sea Dragons

Posted on September 19, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Catching up with the Cephalosquad on Dugongs and Sea Dragons
Conservation, Education

The Cephalosquad recently celebrated our 300th episode of Dugongs and Seadragons. Listen along as we reminisce on 6 years of D&D podcasting, getting to old for all this, and the surprising discovery that our younger members do not know who Jennine Garofalo is. Meanwhile, in the ongoing adventure of a bunch of very nerdy marine … Read More “Catching up with the Cephalosquad on Dugongs and Sea Dragons” »

Everything is Crabs: How many crabs do you need to land on the moon?

Posted on March 15, 2024March 15, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Everything is Crabs: How many crabs do you need to land on the moon?
Education, Featured, Science

In 2011, researchers from Japan and the Center for Unconventional Computing in the UK asked one of the most important questions ever asked. How many crabs do you need to build a computer? And then, they answered it. If you want to build a computer from scratch, you must first invent a logic gate. Using … Read More “Everything is Crabs: How many crabs do you need to land on the moon?” »

Updated financial model for deep-sea mining makes more sense, fewer dollars

Posted on March 11, 2024March 12, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Updated financial model for deep-sea mining makes more sense, fewer dollars
Education, Featured

On Friday, I posted about the financial model used to project the potential profits from a hypothetical polymetallic nodule mining model in the Clarion Clipperton Zone. This model, originally commissioned in 2018 and updated in 2021/22, had some puzzling prices for manganese in particular. This model is extremely important. Beginning late this month, member states … Read More “Updated financial model for deep-sea mining makes more sense, fewer dollars” »

We Were Wrong About Megalodon: lessons learned from 10 years combating fake science in popular media

Posted on March 4, 2024March 4, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
We Were Wrong About Megalodon: lessons learned from 10 years combating fake science in popular media
Blogging, Education, Featured

Twelve years ago, Discovery Channel aired a documentary so egregiously bad, so wildly dishonest, and so utterly contemptuous of its audience, that it set the entire Science Blogging Community alight. And then, a year later, they followed it up with another. This was a clarifying moment for science, and especially ocean science, blogging. We weren’t … Read More “We Were Wrong About Megalodon: lessons learned from 10 years combating fake science in popular media” »

Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit

Posted on February 27, 2024February 28, 2024 By Kersey Sturdivant
Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit
Academic life, Education, Featured, Popular Culture, Science

Centuries of exclusion have resulted in a tangible human diversity deficit, where the diversity of oceanographers does not represent the global diversity of people impacted by ocean processes. Let’s explore the history of ocean science to understand how it ties into and influences the lack of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in modern day oceanography. … Read More “Oceanography’s Diversity Deficit” »

Great conservation technology programs thrive on weird little projects

Posted on February 13, 2024February 13, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Great conservation technology programs thrive on weird little projects
Education

I’m Andrew and I like weird little projects. I built a weird little FitBit walking robot. I built a weird little cyborg see turtle. I built a weird little face-mounted Lidar array that lets you see the world like a dolphin. I built a weird little ring light with a panic button to get you … Read More “Great conservation technology programs thrive on weird little projects” »

Weekend electronics projects for kids that love the ocean.

Posted on February 12, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
Weekend electronics projects for kids that love the ocean.
Education, Featured

Note: This is an updated and expanded version of the original article: 3 kid-friendly STEAM electronics projects that harness NOAA’s massive public databases. If you’re anything like me, you probably have a stack of assorted electronics in various stages of disrepair, which is great for your hardware hacking dads and moms, but kids need projects … Read More “Weekend electronics projects for kids that love the ocean.” »

It is your ocean. You should have access to the tools to study it.

Posted on January 26, 2024 By Andrew Thaler
It is your ocean. You should have access to the tools to study it.
Climate change, Conservation, Education, Exploration, Featured, Science

The structure of scientific inquiry has coalesced around a model that is, in general, both expensive and exclusive. This centralizes knowledge production within a circle of individuals, organizations, and institutions which rarely reflects the breadth of identities, experiences, and ways of knowing of those most directly connected to the places being explored. Nowhere is this … Read More “It is your ocean. You should have access to the tools to study it.” »

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