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Important blogging scholarship update: All votes reset to zero and you can now vote every day!

Posted on November 18, 2011December 9, 2011 By David Shiffman 2 Comments on Important blogging scholarship update: All votes reset to zero and you can now vote every day!
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Earlier tonight, I received an e-mail from the Blogging Scholarship organizers indicating that there have been some irregularities with the voting. In response, they have reset all votes to zero and have changed the rules. Everyone may now vote once every day, and the voting period has been extended one full week until November 30th. … Read More “Important blogging scholarship update: All votes reset to zero and you can now vote every day!” »

Vote for me in the blogging scholarship and support our shark conservation research!

Posted on November 17, 2011December 9, 2011 By David Shiffman 4 Comments on Vote for me in the blogging scholarship and support our shark conservation research!
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Yesterday, I asked for your support and vote in the 2011 Blogging Scholarship. Since that time, over 7,000 of you have voted for me, and as of this writing, I am in the lead! Thanks for your help and encouragement. Andrew announced earlier today that for every day I’m in the lead, he’ll post an embarrassing picture of me. For many of you, that’s incentive enough to vote for me. However, I also want to tell you what I would use the $10,000 scholarship for if I won.

In addition to boring stuff like tuition, supplies, and travel support, for my own dissertation (assessing the ecological importance of sharks to coral reefs) , I will use the money to support our lab’s ongoing shark conservation research. My lab, the RJ Dunlap Marine Conservation Program at the University of Miami, has many shark research projects taking place. Yesterday, some of that research was used by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission as background in their decision to make hammerheads (great, smooth, and scalloped) and tiger sharks protected species in Florida waters- a proud moment for us and for the Abess Center for Ecosystem Science and Policy, which we are affiliated with.

Read More “Vote for me in the blogging scholarship and support our shark conservation research!” »

Blogging Scholarship – what’s in it for our readers

Posted on November 17, 2011December 9, 2011 By Andrew Thaler 2 Comments on Blogging Scholarship – what’s in it for our readers
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You love us, I know. You want to David Shiffman win a $10,000 scholarship to help fund his education. But clicking a link, then clicking a radio button, then clicking another link is a commitment. It requires work. You deserve to be rewarded for you efforts and I’m happy to oblige. You see, I’ve know … Read More “Blogging Scholarship – what’s in it for our readers” »

2011 Blogging Scholarship: Please vote for me!

Posted on November 16, 2011December 9, 2011 By David Shiffman 1 Comment on 2011 Blogging Scholarship: Please vote for me!
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The finalists for the 2011 blogging scholarship were announced last night, and I’m thrilled to announce that I made the list! The scholarship provides $10,000 towards education and research expenses to the winner. Voting opened last night, and continues until November 23rd. Please consider voting for me! You can see a list of all the … Read More “2011 Blogging Scholarship: Please vote for me!” »

Happy Hagfish Day!

Posted on October 19, 2011 By Andrew Thaler
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It’s finally here, that momentous day where, once a year, we come together to celebrate the strange, weird, gross, and outright ugly in the animal kingdom. It’s Hagfish Day! Check out WhaleTimes for some outstanding educational material on the beauty of the ugly, including an interview with yours truly on a pair of exceptionally cool … Read More “Happy Hagfish Day!” »

The Importance of Word Choice: Terms with multiple meanings for scientists and the public

Posted on October 18, 2011January 10, 2024 By Andrew Thaler 18 Comments on The Importance of Word Choice: Terms with multiple meanings for scientists and the public
The Importance of Word Choice: Terms with multiple meanings for scientists and the public
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If you haven’t seen the excellent post on Mountain Beltway – Words matter – you should head over there and take a look. The post brought up some interesting ideas about word choice, and how the common definition of a word may convey a different meaning than the scientific definition. For science communicators, this may lead to confusion … Read More “The Importance of Word Choice: Terms with multiple meanings for scientists and the public” »

The Curse of Gold: Dimensions of Injustice in Gold-Mining Communities

Posted on October 11, 2011October 5, 2011 By Bluegrass Blue Crab
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Protests at Esquel, one of the communities examined in the article. Thanks articles.riderdownload.com

Buried within the depths of Andean geology lie small seams of gold tempting worldwide investors. These money-lined pockets aid the development of new extraction methods that dissolve gold from the mountains using cyanide. Cyanide is a metabolic poison, shutting down cellular respiration. In the wake of cyanide leaching stand piles of rubble and contaminated rivers where forested mountains and their people once stood. Surprisingly, Andean residents are willing to entertain the possibility of gold mining by this poisonous method, but oppose current mine development on environmental justice measures. A recent study by Urkidi and Walter in the journal Geoforum documents the emergence of justice narratives from mining conflicts in the Andes and predicts impacts on future development planning.

Read More “The Curse of Gold: Dimensions of Injustice in Gold-Mining Communities” »

Misunderstood Marine Life #2 – moray eels

Posted on October 7, 2011October 7, 2011 By David Shiffman
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Image courtesy ReefGuide.org

Since they are typically observed hiding in dark crevices while opening and closing their mouths in an apparently menacing gesture, it isn’t surprising that moray eels get a bad reputation. The fact that their sharp teeth face backward (causing severe damage to anyone trying to pull their hand out of a moray’s mouth) doesn’t help this reputation, and neither does the recent discovery that morays have a second set of “Alien”-like jaws that drags prey deep into their mouth and throat. The truth isn’t quite so simple. Most people know very little about these amazing animals.

The green moray (pictured above) is the most famous member of this group, but there are more than 200 species in the family Muraenidae.  Green morays are not even really green (a yellow mucus deposited on a dark body creates the illusion of green skin). Snyder’s morays are less than a foot long when full grown, while giant slender morays can reach lengths of over 10 feet. Morays live in an impressive variety of habitats, including temperate and tropical seas, depths of several hundred meters, and even freshwater.

Read More “Misunderstood Marine Life #2 – moray eels” »

Deep Fried Sea: Here be dragons

Posted on October 7, 2011October 1, 2011 By Andrew Thaler
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Pseudoscience Redux: Greenwashing – Is there really a sustainable Orange Roughy fishery?

Posted on October 6, 2011October 4, 2011 By Andrew Thaler 6 Comments on Pseudoscience Redux: Greenwashing – Is there really a sustainable Orange Roughy fishery?
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This post was originally published on September 6, 2010 as a part of our first Week of Ocean Pseudoscience. Enjoy!


Wandering through the grocery store the other day, I noticed something strange in the fish bin. Now, in general I’m pretty conscious of where my fish comes from, how it was caught, whether the fishery as a whole or the specific population is sustainable. I pay attention to those details and I can usually tell when a company’s branding is legitimate and when it’s just greenwashing.

Imagine my shock when I found a packet of Orange Roughy, sold by the Full Circle brand, and marketed as sustainable.

Read More “Pseudoscience Redux: Greenwashing – Is there really a sustainable Orange Roughy fishery?” »

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