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Tag: Fukushima

Amazing fish eyes, the real cost of halibut, and protecting local species: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, December 13, 2018

Posted on December 13, 2018December 13, 2018 By David Shiffman
Uncategorized

Cuttings (short and sweet): Follow UBC’s wildlife conservation economics lab on twitter!  The Deep-Sea Fish with the Telescopic Tubular Eyes. By Craig McClain, for Deep Sea News.  How to take action to help endangered species near you. A Revelator News Podcast by John Platt.  Spoils (long reads and deep dives): Why does halibut cost so … Read More “Amazing fish eyes, the real cost of halibut, and protecting local species: Thursday Afternoon Dredging, December 13, 2018” »

Farting oysters, bombing sea lions, and a new trash island? It must be the Monday Morning Salvage! November 20, 2017

Posted on November 20, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • It’s Native American History Month. Southern Fried Science recognizes that our servers are housed on the occupied land of the Timpanogos people while the majority of our writers live on unceded Powhatan territory. This November, Try Something New: Decolonize Your Mind.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Boaters stumble on massive Caribbean “gyre” of plastic garbage. “Gyre is in quotes because I’m almost certain that this is debris from the 2017 Atlantic Hurricane season, rather than an accumulation of decades of plastic is a circulating ocean current. It’s still shocking to see.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSMGKwZBaWM

  • The ARA San Juan, one or Argentina’s two diesel-electric submarines, is missing. Search and rescue is mobilizing and there’s hints that the sailors tried to send out a signal Saturday.
  • Without a Treaty to Share the Arctic, Greedy Countries Will Destroy It. Cosign.

Read More “Farting oysters, bombing sea lions, and a new trash island? It must be the Monday Morning Salvage! November 20, 2017” »

A new Gulf oil spill, opposition to deep-sea mining, DIY drop cameras, and more! Massive Monday Morning Salvage: October 30, 2017

Posted on October 30, 2017October 29, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

I’ve been away for 2 weeks, so it’s a super-massive edition of the Monday Morning Salvage!

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • There’s still an unimaginable amount of work to do in Dominica and across the Caribbean. Support the Rebuild Dominica Hurricane Relief fund or any of the other funds from our list: How to help our island colleagues in the wake of total devastation.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • This is such a cool story: A Trail of Rocks Traces Historical Steamship Routes. We can track old steamship routes from rocks scraped out of the furnaces and tossed overboard.
  • Former Papua New Guinea Attorney General attacks deep sea mining project. They always pick pictures for these articles that don’t show how much life is right around the vents.
Sampling SMS under the sea Photo: Nautilus Minerals
  • Whose ecological footprint is bigger: Medics, economists, or environmentalists? Spoilers: conservationists still have an impact, but they sure ain’t number 1.

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

  • There’s a fresh oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, and it’s pretty darn huge:
    • Coast Guard Responding to 300,000 Gallon Crude Oil Spill in Gulf of Mexico.
    • Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill May Be Biggest Since 2010.
    • New Estimate Doubles the Size of Last Week’s Oil Spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
  • Some fun from Deep Sea News: When real-life marine biologist and mom goes to sea, she takes the octonauts with her.

  • This is fine: Report on U.S. Marine Sanctuary Oil Drilling Sent to White House, Not Released to Public. This is totally fine: Trump Administration Proposes Largest Oil and Gas Lease Sale in U.S. History.
  • Alaska’s Oyster Farmers Are Filling an Acidification-Driven Void. The state’s oyster farming industry is gaining ground as growers elsewhere struggle. From Hakai Magazine, which is great.
  • Nature is one of the most under-appreciated tools for reigning in carbon. From Anthropocene, which is fast becoming my favorite environmental print magazine. Sorry, Orion.
  • Thousands of penguin chicks starve in Antarctica.

Hey, Andrew, how about you give us at least *some* good news today? Ok, fine.

Read More “A new Gulf oil spill, opposition to deep-sea mining, DIY drop cameras, and more! Massive Monday Morning Salvage: October 30, 2017” »

Save our Marine Monuments, replace confederates with ocean animals, worlds of plastic, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 31, 2017

Posted on July 31, 2017July 30, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Fog Horn (A Call to Action)

  • The deadline for comments on Marine National Monuments and National Marine Sanctuaries has been extended due to overwhelming responses. You now have until August 14, 2017 to leave a comment.
  • Scientists, researchers, explorers, and conservationists with particular ties to the Mariana Trench Marine National Monument can sign on the this letter co-authored by me, James Cameron, and numerous researchers who’s worked has benefited from the Mariana Trench.

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • A new generation of robots is set to explore marine mysteries around the world. 5 Ways Underwater Drones Are Helping Citizens Save the Ocean. And check out this very short Wired piece on OpenROV Trident!
  • Earlier this week, Snooty, the world’s oldest living captive manatee died tragically. Now residents of Manatee County want to replace a Confederate statue with a statue of their beloved manatee. How can you say no to this face?
Snooty. Photo via @GWR
  • Personally, I am 100% behind replacing all Confederate statues with beloved ocean animals. H/T Aaron Mannes.

Read More “Save our Marine Monuments, replace confederates with ocean animals, worlds of plastic, and more! Monday Morning Salvage: July 31, 2017” »

Monday Morning Salvage: January 23, 2017

Posted on January 23, 2017January 23, 2017 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Come back to the Mariana Trench with me! I’ve taken the almost ten hours of assorted dive footage from our adventures in Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam and edited it down to just the best four minutes. Share, subscribe, and enjoy!

Jetsam (what we’re enjoying from around the web)

Read More “Monday Morning Salvage: January 23, 2017” »

Monday Morning Salvage: December 5, 2016

Posted on December 5, 2016December 4, 2016 By Andrew Thaler
Weekly Salvage

Flotsam (what we’re obsessed with right now)

  • Bobbit Worms (terrible name, amazing polychaete). This video of a fisherman catching bobbit worms for bait is just a little bit unnerving.bobbit
  • Chris Mah did some deep digging to determine how the Bobbit Worm got its name (spoilers: It’s exactly what you expect).

Read More “Monday Morning Salvage: December 5, 2016” »

Social media as a scientific research tool: Background info for my #scio14 session

Posted on February 6, 2014February 6, 2014 By David Shiffman 1 Comment on Social media as a scientific research tool: Background info for my #scio14 session
Blogging, Science

ScionlineAt the 2014 ScienceOnlineTogether conference, I will be moderating a session focusing on how to use social media as a scientific research tool (2:30 P.M. on Friday, February 28th in room 3).  The hashtag is #ScioResearch , so be sure to follow along, and I’ll make a Storify afterwards. This post is primarily intended to be a source of background information for participants in my session, though feel free to read, share and ask questions in the comments if you are not planning on participating in my session.

ScienceOnline community members understand the value of social media for collaborating with colleagues and communicating science to the public, but few think of the incredible resource that these tools are for scientific research. Hundreds of millions of people all over the world are constantly sharing their experiences and opinions in a format that is public, archived, searchable, and accessible, giving researchers access to this enormous dataset without the expense or logisitical difficulties involved in organizing a large-scale survey or series of focus groups. To use a technical term, for many types of scientific research, social media and “big data” is what is called “a freakin’ gold mine.”

Onion

Below are a few examples of how social media can be used for scientific research.

Read More “Social media as a scientific research tool: Background info for my #scio14 session” »

Debunking Fukushima: Your Radiation Roundup

Posted on January 8, 2014January 8, 2014 By Andrew Thaler 9 Comments on Debunking Fukushima: Your Radiation Roundup
Blogging, Science

Fukushima continues to dominate the ocean news cycle, and while no one is denying that it is a real and ongoing tragedy, the woo is strong in the Fukushima fear-mongering community. Fortunately, the scientists are out in force, debunking the bunk and cutting through the crap to keep you informed. Here is a handy collection of detailed links, from trusted source, tackling some of the most egregious pseudoscience coming out of Fukushima.

Southern Fried Science

  • 28 fallacies about the Fukushima nuclear disaster’s effect on the US West Coast

Deep Sea News

  • True facts about Ocean Radiation and the Fukushima Disaster
  • Three Reasons Why Fukushima Radiation Has Nothing to Do with Starfish Wasting Syndrome
  • Is the sea floor littered with dead animals due to radiation? No.
  • All The Best, Scientifically Verified, Information on Fukushima Impacts

Skeptoid

  • Are Your Days of Eating Pacific Ocean Fish Really Over?
  • More Fukushima Scaremongering Debunked
  • Dire Warnings and Melting Starfish: Fukushima Fearmongering, Volume 3

If you know of any other good articles debunking Fukushima fear-mongering, please leave them in the comments below.

If you feel the need to accuse any of the authors above of being shills for Big Nuclear, The Government, any Secret Board of Shadowy Figures, Tepco, or any combination thereof, I have an experiment for you: This website is ad free and run entirely by volunteers. Head on over the our “Support Southern Fried Science Page” and make a donation help to keep us running. Maybe, if you donate enough, we’ll start shilling for you (disclaimer: we won’t, but we will continue to produce high quality marine science and conservation articles from a diversity of voices).

Read More “Debunking Fukushima: Your Radiation Roundup” »

28 fallacies about the Fukushima nuclear disaster’s effect on the US West Coast

Posted on October 29, 2013November 4, 2013 By Andrew Thaler 51 Comments on 28 fallacies about the Fukushima nuclear disaster’s effect on the US West Coast
Conservation, Science

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is back in the news, with recent reports of continued leaks. Coming on the heels of these new reports is a viral blog post entitled 28 Signs That The West Coast Is Being Absolutely Fried With Nuclear Radiation From Fukushima. The article is a paranoid, poorly reasoned attempt to link the tragedy of the Fukushima disaster to just about every environmental issue facing the US west coast in the last few months. At its best, it’s an illogical piece of post-modern absurdism. At its worst, its empirically false and intentionally misleading, rife with out-of-context quotes and cherry-picked data. The author had 28 chances to make a single reasonable point, and every single one rang hollow.

Of course it went viral.

Read More “28 fallacies about the Fukushima nuclear disaster’s effect on the US West Coast” »

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