Uncategorized – Page 33 – Southern Fried Science

Gills Club launches to inspire girls to pursue a career in marine biology

February 17, 2014 David Shiffman 2 Comments

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A new organization called the Gills Club is connecting girls with female marine biologist role models. Cynthia Wigren, President of the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, told me that, “Through Atlantic White Shark Conservancy (AWSC), I’ve met a lot of young girls who love sharks. The goal in founding the Gills Club was to connect girls … Read More “Gills Club launches to inspire girls to pursue a career in marine biology” »

Fun Science Friday – My Heart Will Go On

February 14, 2014February 14, 2014 Kersey Sturdivant

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Valentine’s Day is generally filled with love, flowers, and lots and lots of anatomically incorrect hearts. See —> <3 This week on FSF we revel in the spirit of VDay and bring you hearts, but the appropriately shaped kind.

For years, in order to transplant a heart or a lung, there is a narrow window between the death of the donor and the surgical input of the recipient. How narrow, about 5 to 10 hours! Yes, basically doctors have 5 -10 hours to surgically remove the heart from a donor, transport it to the recipient, and surgically implant it. Crazy! The Doctors are battling the period of time it takes for a heart or lung to stop beating once senescence of a person’s body is achieved.

No bones about it

February 7, 2014February 13, 2014 Sarah Keartes 2 Comments

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Hello, dear internets! Thank you for the warm welcome. I am extremely excited to be joining Southern Fried Science—talk about being in good company! For those of you who don’t know me, I am a student at the University of Oregon, where I study marine biology and journalism. I love all things science, but I have a small (ok, not so small) love for shark biology. I look forward to promoting ocean outreach through kick-ass science communication with the rest of the team, here at SFS.

Enough about me, on to some animal insides.

In honor of #unshark week’s end, I return to the awesome that is shark science. Like skates and rays, sharks are chondrichthyans, cartilaginous fishes whose skeletons are made primarily of cartilage rather than bone. Ever wonder what a mostly-boneless skeleton looks like? Sure you have (and if not, you are now thinking about it and the suspense is killing you, I say).

Shark skeletons are complex, beautiful, and thanks to Dr. Gavin Naylor, and his team at College of Charleston Naylor Lab, they are here for you to see.

7 ways to make beaches safer without killing sharks

January 26, 2014January 27, 2014 David Shiffman 12 Comments

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This past weekend, the shark cull officially began in Western Australia as the first shark was killed. The scientific evidence is clear that culls do not lessen people’s risk of shark attacks, and more than 100 scientific experts from around the world have signed an open letter opposing this cull. While the only sure way to reduce the risk of a shark bite by 100% is to stay out of the water, there are many strategies that actually can reduce someone’s risk significantly without harming populations of threatened animals.

1) Aerial patrols. Planes or helicopters flying above the beach can help identify when potentially dangerous sharks are present. The Australian Aerial Patrol has done this for decades. Though the spotting rate is relatively low and the patrols are expensive, new technologies like drones can help reduce the cost of these patrols.

Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Eat Good Food

January 24, 2014January 18, 2014 Andrew Thaler

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Over the last few years, I’ve written several posts on surviving graduate school, including dealing with expectations, managing your finances, coping with failure, and some more general advice. During that process, I’ve also come up with some small, helpful tips that just don’t fit into a broader theme. It seems a shame to let those tips disappear, so, for the next week I’ll be posting Andrew’s Quick Tips for Surviving Graduate School.

Tip #5: Eat good food

Don’t eat like a rabbit*. Maintaining a healthy lifestyle in the midst of grad school can be extremely challenging for some people. Your schedule is often unpredictable. Your income is limited. You might have a university dining hall that just seems so convenient. You may think that you simply don’t have the time to prepare a decent meal. It seems so easy to grab a quick burger from the fast food joint down the street, grab a cheesy burrito to go from the dining hall, or pop a frozen pizza into the oven.

Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Write a Book Review

January 23, 2014January 19, 2014 Andrew Thaler

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Over the last few years, I’ve written several posts on surviving graduate school, including dealing with expectations, managing your finances, coping with failure, and some more general advice. During that process, I’ve also come up with some small, helpful tips that just don’t fit into a broader theme. It seems a shame to let those … Read More “Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Write a Book Review” »

Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Ask for Free Textbooks

January 22, 2014January 22, 2014 Andrew Thaler 2 Comments

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Tip #3: Ask for free textbooks

This one is so simple it’s often completely overlook. Textbooks are expensive. They get more specialized and more expensive as you advance. If you’re lucky, you have access to an awesome library that will stock whatever you need. Sometimes, you won’t be that lucky.

Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Invest in a Good Navy Blazer

January 21, 2014January 18, 2014 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

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Tip #2: Invest in a good navy blazer.

We’ve all heard the line: “you can dress however you want, as long as you do good science.” This is a lie. Don’t believe it. You will, during the course of you graduate student career, actually find yourself in situations where you will, most certainly, need to dress a bit more professionally than ripped jeans, keens, and a t-shirt. Scientific conferences, professional workshops, or meeting the people who fund your grants all require at least an attempt a formality. And for that, there is the Navy Blazer*.

Quick Tips for Graduate Student Life – Get a Shop-Vac

January 20, 2014January 18, 2014 Andrew Thaler

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Tip #1: Get a Shop-Vac

Bear with me, here.

There’s a million different kinds of vacuum cleaners on the market, from super-cheap uprights to $1,500 technological behemoths. Unfortunately, graduate students live on a small-stipend, and cheap vacuums are cheap for a reason: they just don’t last. During my graduate school career, I burned through three dirt-cheap models (granted, we had a lot of square footage thanks to the low cost-of-living in rural North Carolina). You could scale up, get one of those nice, $200+ models that should last for years, but there is another option.

Fun Science Friday – Mars One

January 17, 2014January 17, 2014 Kersey Sturdivant

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Theoretical schematic of the Mars One habitat, Photo Credit: Mars One — Theoretical schematic of the Mars One habitat,
Photo Credit: Mars One

Maybe you have heard about it, or maybe you haven’t, but Man… Man is headed to Mars! …. or at least Man is going to try!

In recent years space expeditions have shifted focus towards reaching the red planet. Of the different campaigns to travel to Mars, Mars One has probably gotten the most press recently. As stated on their site, Mars One’s goal is to establish a permanent human settlement on Mars. Crews of four will depart every two years, starting in 2024, with a first unmanned mission in 2018.

For good or bad, Mars One is taking the Colonialism Era approach. Send out explorers without the guarantee of return and see what happens. And despite the obvious one-way ticket approach of their endeavor, there are an abundant source of participants ready to step up for this, literally and figuratively, ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity. Mars One had over 200,000 applicants, and recently whittled that field down to a little over a thousand. Over the next few years these individuals will undergo training that should in theory prepare them for one of the most daunting missions mankind has ever undertaken.