Southern Fried Science

Momentary Distractions: Bonus Fleet short story for Southern Fried Science readers

September 13, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler

Fleet, my fist foray into book-length, serialized science fiction, is a decidedly salty vision of the near future, where an unknown plague has left land uninhabitable and sea level rise has created vast new oceans to explore. The last survivors of the human race are scattered across new and dangerous seas. The only traces of a previous world are lost among the flotsam.

Fleet is an experiment in serial self-publishing. New parts will be released the first Monday of every month through the end of 2013, but Southern Fried Science don’t have to wait a whole month to revisit the fleet. Near the middle of each month, I will post a short mini-chapter for anyone to read and enjoy. While not part of the central story line, these mini-chapters will add details to the world of Fleet and provide glimpses into the lives of minor, yet still important, characters.

The first Momentary Distraction, Genesis, tells the story of the fleet’s ancient origin, as remembered by the last survivors of global disaster.

Dolphin intelligence researcher did not say that dolphins aren’t intelligent as Daily Mail, Sunday Times claim

September 12, 2013October 27, 2013 David Shiffman 11 Comments

Science

davesquare

A screen capture of the Daily Mail's headline for this article — A screen capture of the Daily Mail’s article headline

Earlier this week, the Daily Mail ran an article which claimed that dolphins are not as intelligent as is commonly believed. The crux of this provocative argument comes from an interview with Dr. Justin Gregg, a research associate with the dolphin communication project who studies social cognition.

According to the Daily Mail article, Justin Gregg said, “Dolphins are fascinating in their own right, but in terms of intelligence they are nowhere near as special as they have been portrayed…they are less sophisticated than chickens.” In an editorial that was likely the source of the Daily Mail article, the Sunday Times claims that he said “Not only are dolphins dimmer than the average chicken, says Justin Gregg, a zoologist, but they are also capable of gang rape and acts of violence. So don’t be taken in by those winning smiles.”

Unsurprisingly, this article has ruffled some feathers in the marine mammal researcher community.

Cocktail Week Reboot: How to brew beer in a coffee maker, using only materials commonly found on a modestly sized oceanographic research vessel.

September 11, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Science

It’s Cocktail Week over at Deep Sea News. In honor of this most auspicious event we’ve dredged up the post that put Southern Fried Science on the chart, nearly five years ago. Enjoy this blast from our southern fried past.

The Flip - One research vessel you may a drink on — The Flip – one research vessel that mandates a drink

Introduction

Beer brewing is the delicate and dedicated blending of art and science. Finding the perfect balance of grains, hops, malt, adding just the right flavoring agents, boiling for exactly enough time to release the tannins, starches, humic acids from you wort, activating enzymes to break down those starches, forging the perfect mash from the ether of sobriety to give birth to that most glorious pint, these are skills that take a lifetime to master. Perfect beer is meticulously planned and carefully crafted.

Screw that.

You’re six days into a 2 month expedition, and if you were lucky enough to not be on a dry ship, it’s de facto dry by now anyway. You’re eying the ethanol stores, the crew is eying each other, and all hell will break loose if y’all don’t get some sweet water soon. This is no time for artistry.

This is not, as a rule, a terribly good beer (though, with a good brewmaster on board, it can be). This is a beer to pass the time and ease the pain of life at sea. I can guarantee that if you are careful, it will be at least as good as the cheapest commercial alternative.

One month until ScienceOnline Oceans: Here’s what you need to know!

September 11, 2013October 27, 2013 David Shiffman

davesquare ScienceOnline Oceans starts on October 11th, one month from today! Here’s what you need to know in order to make the most of the meeting.

1) There are still spots available! If you’ve been considering attending (or if you are already planning attending and know others who might be interested), there are still spots available! The conference registration fee remains $150 for students and $200 for others. Register here.

2) Make your hotel reservation this week! If you haven’t yet made your hotel reservation, you need to do it THIS WEEK! We strongly recommend staying at the conference hotel, as bus transportation to conference events and field trips is to and from the hotel. Additionally, the hotel bar is the evening social gathering place for the conference. We consider time at the hotel as part of the conference! You don’t need to pay at the time you make the reservation, you pay when you check out.

Information about hotel reservations can be found here: http://oceans.scienceonline.com/hotel-information/

If you do not reserve before the weekend, then

you may not be able to get a room at the conference rate
you may not be able to get a room at all, and, most importantly
ScienceOnline is financially responsible for paying for the rooms we contracted for (if we don’t get enough reservations)!

There is also a roomshare Wiki: http://sciooceans.wikispaces.com/Roomshare

**Please note that if you are planning on participating in a Friday afternoon workshop, it may be easier to fly in Thursday night, and if you are participating in a Sunday field trip, it may be easier to fly home Monday morning. A limited number of hotel rooms are available at the conference rate on both Thursday and Sunday evening.**

Six sea monsters that make their horror movie counterparts look tame

September 8, 2013January 3, 2017 Andrew Thaler

Popular Culture, Science

Evolution is infinitely creative. Sometimes, amid the beauty and wonder, the awe that emanates from the shear power of natural selection, and the poetry of descent with modification, evolution produces something that terrifies. I am not talking about our natural predators, for whom fear is part of our evolutionary heritage, but rather creatures that appear as though they emerged from our darkest nightmares. But even our nightmares are limited by our finite minds.

Evolution has no such limits and the immense size and incomprehensible diversity of the oceans has produce animals that make us yearn for the comforting familiarity of the common Pumpkinhead. Submitted for the approval of the Midnight Society, I present six sea monsters that make their horror movie counterparts look tame:

1. These mind-bending tapeworms crawled straight out of Slither.

Here is a classic horror movie scenario for you: alien/parasite/mutant invaders enter your body, latch on to you brain, and take control, forcing you to do their bidding as they multiply and infect those around you. From Body Snatchers to Slither, mind-controlling parasites are a mainstay of the genre. But you’re a reader of Southern Fried Science. You already know all about barnacles that take over crab brains and induce sex-changes when necessary or fungi that invade ants and force them to climb to their doom. Mind control parasites aren’t really all that uncommon, but they mostly infect invertebrates. There aren’t any deadly mind-melting monsters that can take over us higher organisms, right? Right?!

Wrong.

Read More “Six sea monsters that make their horror movie counterparts look tame” »

Conserving the Endangered African Wild Dogs of Zimbabwe

September 6, 2013September 6, 2013 Guest Writer

Conservation

Dr. Rosemary Groom grew up in Zimbabwe and has spent the last 12 years working in wildlife conservation in East and southern Africa. She is a dedicated conservation biologist, with a strong belief in the importance of large scale multidisciplinary conservation programs. Rosemary has worked on various different projects, from reptiles to large African herbivores, but for the past five years she has been working on large carnivore conservation in Zimbabwe, for the small, home-grown, hands-on charity The African Wildlife Conservation Fund. The endangered African wild dog is the focal species for the program, but Rosemary also runs the Gonarezhou Predator Project, focussing on African lions. Rosemary is a member of the IUCN canid specialist group and is currently acting as the southern African coordinator for the Rangewide Conservation Program for Cheetah and Wild Dogs. She has published several papers in peer reviewed scientific journals and currently holds a post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Johannesburg.

African Wild Dogs. Photo courtesy Rosemary Groom

African wild dogs are the most endangered large carnivore in southern Africa. There may be as few as 660 packs left in the wild – that’s only 660 breeding females! African wild dogs are beautiful, amiable and charismatic animals with very endearing pups – not the feral domestic dogs that some people believe them to be.

In fact, African wild dogs have their own evolutionary lineage and are more closely related to wolves than they are to domestic dogs.

But unfortunately they are highly endangered and their global population is declining… Threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, wire snaring, disease, human persecution and even predation by lions.

Sick of fictional mermaid documentaries? Try some dystopian maritime science fiction, instead!

September 2, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 4 Comments

Popular Culture

Welcome to the Fleet! It’s the near future, the rising tides have swallowed much of the world’s coastlines, and the last survivors of a deadly plague are scattered across a new and vastly different ocean. But all is not well in the Reach. The fish are dwindling, the currents are shifting, and secrets long thought … Read More “Sick of fictional mermaid documentaries? Try some dystopian maritime science fiction, instead!” »

And now for something completely different: An experiment in Science Fiction and Kindle Direct Publishing

August 29, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler 3 Comments

Popular Culture

Longtime readers have occasionally humored my attempts at short science fiction stories, the like of which can be found in Eno Magazine and Nature. Writing these short pieces is fun, but there’s a longer story that’s been festering in my head for the better part of a year and it’s finally time to come out.

Welcome to the Fleet.

Fleet is set in the near future, in a world of maximum sea level rise where the human population has been reduced to a few small enclaves and disease outbreaks are rampant and devastating. Amid the hardships, a trio of fishers slowly begin to unlock a long buried mystery that will challenge their loyalty to the fleet and each other.

#Ocean2Ocean: The final entry.

August 28, 2013October 27, 2013 Andrew Thaler

Blogging

We arrived in sunny California last Thursday evening after 6 days of driving and more than 3000 miles covered. The goats were delivered to their new yard, where they have settled back down to an enviable routine of eating, sleeping, and headbutting each other. Our little neighborhood in Vallejo is delightful, it not a touch … Read More “#Ocean2Ocean: The final entry.” »

The Pizza of Privilege: My Experiences with Anti-Semitism in Academia

August 22, 2013October 27, 2013 David Shiffman 45 Comments

Science

davesquare

Anti-Semitic graffiti similar to this has been found on U.S. universities. This comes from a private residence in New York. Photo credit: Alex Silverman/WCBS 880.

Since I joined Southern Fried Science in 2009, I’ve written almost 1,000 blog posts. This post has unquestionably been the most difficult one for me to write. Although I’ve always enjoyed sharing and debating my opinions (even when they’re unpopular in certain circles,) I’ve never been comfortable discussing negative personal experiences. And yet, I feel that the topic of anti-Semitism in academia , something that is in fact much more pervasive than most non-Jews believe, is too important for me to remain silent any longer. More than 40% of Jewish students reported being the victim of some degree of anti-Semitism at their college or university. This can range from mockery to exclusion to the Michigan State student who was beaten while his attackers made the Nazi salute last summer.

I want to state upfront that it is not my intention in writing this post to start a “which minority group is the most oppressed” competition, nor am I naive enough to believe that my post will be the proverbial straw that breaks the camel’s back and fixes these issues once and for all. I also want to state that while I could write a whole book about my experiences with anti-Semitism in the context of my personal pro-Israel advocacy, this post is not about that, other than to say that while not all criticism of Israel and Israel’s policies and actions can be considered anti-Semitic in nature, some of it certainly can. Finally, it’s important to note that while not all of these examples are necessarily anti-Jewish specifically, all are anti-someone-different-from-me and contrary to a culture of diversity and inclusiveness. My goal is simply to continue an important and ongoing conversation about academic culture by sharing my personal experiences, and perhaps to bring another group into that conversation. Please feel free to share your own experiences in the comments section.