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Luke feeds Charlie some pizza.
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CNN’s reporting of science issues is admittedly not the best around, but a story on their website this morning looks like it was written by a fifth grader. First of all, the headline is absurd. “Science figures out”? Really? How about something like “researchers determine”? “cats display a mastery of physical dynamics that leaves their … Read More “Another science journalism fail from CNN” »
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Luke and Morgan hanging out with Charlie
Science
Overfishing is most often implicated as the cause of decreasing fish stocks and that makes a lot of logical sense if you’ve ever seen a large commercial trawler unload its catch. But there very well might be another force at work in the precipitous decline in fish stocks worldwide: pollution. The basic premise is that it takes resources to deal with pollutants that normally would be given to growth and reproduction. Through polluting the ocean, we have selected for the fish individuals that can most effectively divert those resources, inadvertently also selecting for smaller fish that reproduce less. That has huge implications for the fish’s population dynamics and potentially total fish stock. More details below the fold…
Read More “A recipe for the evolution of smaller fish stocks?” »
Recently, Andrew shared a video of me Skyping into a sixth grade class to talk about sharks. Long time readers and Twitter followers know that I regularly speak to local schools, community groups, conservation organizations, and even churches. I really enjoy speaking to the public about sharks, and since most of my speaking requests come from people who have previously seen one of my talks, it seems that people enjoy hearing about them from me.
Read More “Wanted: An audience to learn about shark conservation” »
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Chapter 31 of Herman Melville’s classic – Moby Dick. Read along with us and discuss this chapter or the book as a whole in the comments. Visit this page for the complete collection to date: Finding Melville’s Whale. Queen Mab There is wisdom yet in the dreams of fools who question their master, wrathful Ahab and … Read More “Finding Melville’s Whale – Queen Mab (Chapter 31)” »
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Charlie hangs out with Jim Toomey, author of Sherman’s Lagoon
Conservation
Dear Representative Boehner,
Congratulations on your party’s recent election victories. Your speech at the end of the night was particularly touching, and your personal story is inspirational. The election results do seem to signify that many Americans are not happy with how the Democratic party has been running Washington, and some change will likely be good for the country. As a scientist, however, I am deeply troubled by some of what I’m hearing about the new Republican House majority, particularly about global climate change policy.
Read More “An open letter about climate change to soon-to-be Speaker John Boehner” »