Southern Fried Science

Frequently asked questions about sharks (and about me)

October 27, 2015 David Shiffman

Blogging

Every week on twitter (and every few weeks on my Facebook fan page,) I host a one hour “ask me anything” session. I also give lots of interviews to the press, and occasionally answer high school students’ questions about what my job is like for class projects. Some of the same questions tend to come up over and over. Here are some frequently asked questions and my answers to them. Feel free to quote anything on this page for a class project or media article and attribute it to me.

1. What is your job?

A: I am a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant at the University of Miami. “Candidate” vs. “student” means that I passed my qualifying exams, an important test for graduate students. Research assistant means that my funding comes from doing research and not teaching. Depending on my audience, I’ve also described myself as a marine biologist, a shark researcher, an ecologist, a conservation biologist, a science communicator, or simply a scientist.

The Extraterrestrial Ocean: Could OpenROV Trident explore the seas of Europa?

October 26, 2015October 26, 2015 Andrew Thaler

Science

Our planet is an ocean, and it is almost entirely unexplored. OpenROV, and their new Trident underwater drone is one of many tools that will help change that by democratizing exploration, conservation, and ocean science. We are poised atop the crest of a wave that may change how humans interact with the ocean as profoundly as the invention of the aqualung.

Earth is not the only body in our solar system that hosts an ocean. As we (slowly) venture out into the stars, could OpenROV Trident dive in extraterrestrial seas?

What the Farm?! A podcast about agriculture by two wanna-be farmers who have no idea what they’re doing.

October 21, 2015 Andrew Thaler 1 Comment

Blogging

What the Farm?! is a completely unrelated side-project that I’ve been developing with Andrew Middleton (@EcoAndrewTRC). It has nothing to do with Marine Science and Conservation, so if you want further updates, subscribe to our SoundCloud stream. RSS feed is here. Enjoy the first two episodes, right here: [soundcloud url=”https://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/229414322″ params=”auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false&visual=true” width=”100%” height=”450″ iframe=”true” /] … Read More “What the Farm?! A podcast about agriculture by two wanna-be farmers who have no idea what they’re doing.” »

OceansOnline: How can internet tools help marine scientists and conservationists?

October 20, 2015 David Shiffman

Blogging

IMCC Next summer’s 4th International Marine Conservation Congress will include an optional full day add-on called OceansOnline. This add-on day, inspired by 2013’s successful ScienceOnline Oceans, will focus on how social media and other internet tools can help ocean scientists and conservation professionals with research, collaboration, and public outreach.

OceansOnline is suitable for total beginners who want to learn how to use these tools as well as advanced users who want to learn much more about their applications. Scientists and professionals who are advanced users of internet tools are encouraged to attend this meeting even if ocean conservation biology is not your primary research specialty.

OceansOnline will consist of three types of events: workshops, presentations, and facilitated discussions:

Politely optimistic: What do the Canadian election results mean for ocean science and conservation?

October 20, 2015October 20, 2015 Guest Writer 2 Comments

Blogging

Julia Whidden completed her Masters in Biology with a focus on marine conservation from Acadia University in Nova Scotia, Canada, in 2015. Her project evaluated population demographics and species identification of two at-risk species of skate in the inner Bay of Fundy. She joins Dr. Neil Hammerschlag’s lab at the University of Miami for the year as a Fulbright Student and shark research intern. Follow her on twitter!

Rachel Skubel graduated with an M.Sc. in Environmental Science from McMaster University where she studied climate impacts on water cycling in temperate forests, and a B.Sc. from the University of Western Ontario. Her current research interests revolve around how oceanic predators will be impacted by anthropogenic environmental changes. She is a currently a shark research intern with Dr. Neil Hammerschlag’s lab at the University of Miami. Follow her on twitter!

Up until this past year, the thought of Canadian politics had probably never crossed your mind. For some of you, your introduction to the topic may have been via the astute criticisms of John Oliver published this past weekend. His YouTube video currently skyrocketing at just under 3 million views in less than 48 hours, may have even been the introduction to Canadian politics for some Canadians. Let’s face it: in comparison to the flashy and sometimes trashy race of our neighbors to the south (ahem, you Americans), Canadian politics are usually tame, boring, and dry. In 2011, our last major election, 61.1% of Canadians voted (14.8 million), but up until the election last night, at least 68.5% have actively contributed to changing the dire political and environmental landscape formed by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative cronies over the past 10 years. This voter turnout is the highest since 1993, and certainly demonstrates that – not unlike your defeat of Republicans following the Bush years – Canadians were ready for change.

To our newly elected Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, we say welcome and we’re ready for action.

Oceanography for Everyone: Empowering researchers, educators, and citizen scientists through open-source hardware

October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 Andrew Thaler

Oceanography for Everyone

Three years ago, Kersey Sturdivant and myself launched an ambitious crowdfunding project–the OpenCTD–with the plan to produce a low-cost, open-source CTD for thousands of dollars less than the commercial alternative. That campaign fizzled, bringing in barely 60% of our target goal. After taxes and fees, that amounted to about $3500 available to us to play around with. The OpenCTD wasn’t dead, but it was on life support.

We had a vision: to make to tools of oceanography accessible to the widest range of people, not just ocean researchers, but citizen scientists, boat-owners, fishermen, surfers, swimmers, any one who enjoyed the ocean and wanted to better understand their local waterways. The OpenCTD was ambitious, not only in its scope, but also in our ignorance of the knowledge required to achieve that goal. In the three years since, I moved to California (and then moved back East) to meet with some of the best underwater engineers in the open-source movement. We added Russell Neches, an experienced hardware hacker to our team. We partnered with OpenROV to learn from their vast experience. And I’ve spent the time re-skilling: learning to code, design and fabricate 3D printable materials, build electronic components from the ground up, and manage an open-source project.

Contribute to science communication research, take the Southern Fried Science reader survey!

October 19, 2015 David Shiffman

Uncategorized

We have partnered with Dr. Paige Brown Jarreau, a science communication researcher, to create a survey of Southern Fried Science readers. By participating, you’ll help contribute to scientific understanding of blogs and blog readership. You’ll also get some free science art from Paige’s photography, as well as chances to win a t-shirt and other prizes. … Read More “Contribute to science communication research, take the Southern Fried Science reader survey!” »

In the future all scientific research will be funded by Taco Bell …

October 15, 2015October 15, 2015 Chris Parsons 1 Comment

Science

At my university, we recently received a missive from the academic powers that be that faculty research productivity (and thus promotion, raises and tenure) will primarily be measured by the “amount of research funding (direct and indirect) received by the department and the college”.

I think this is a major problem and is a common one across universities.

It’s well known that some fields have lots of research funding available, while other fields don’t (for example). So effectively the above missive means that academic hiring and promotion decisions will not be done on a level playing field.

How to pitch an Ocean Kickstarter for us to review

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 Andrew Thaler

Blogging

I put this up as a closer on our last Ocean Kickstarter selection, and am posting here as a standalone for anyone who may have missed it.

Email me at southernfriedscientist@gmail.com with the subject heading: Ocean Kickstarter: Your Project. This isn’t limited to Kickstarter, projects on IndieGoGo, RocketHub, GoFundMe, or any other site are eligible for an Ocean Kickstarter of the month. We will review based on three criteria:

1. Is it sound, reasonable, and informed by science?

2. Is there a clear goal, timeline, and budget; and are they partnering with the people who have experience hitting those marks?

3. Do some of the parties involved have a successful record with other crowdfunding projects and experience delivering on rewards.

Watch my Nerd Nite talk, “everything I needed to know in life I learned from a shark”

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 David Shiffman

Science

On Thursday, October 8th, I presented at Nerd Nite Miami. A YouTube link to view my talk, “everything I needed to know in life I learned from a shark,” can be found below. CAUTION: the talk contains some NSFW language. httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3D7XJreU-Ao&feature=youtu.be Thanks to Ta-Shana Taylor for filming my talk!