At 14, Mary Fairfax (later Mary Somerville) studied algebra & mathematics, defying her father’s wishes.

Eventually, she began experimenting & writing about #science. Her expertise spanned from astronomy to chemistry to physics & she published articles & books.

Along with Caroline Herschel, Mary became one of the first 2 honorary members of the Royal Astronomical Society. https://pubs.aip.org/physicstoday/article/71/1/46/819012/Mary-Somerville-s-vision-of-scienceThe-Scottish

Henrietta “Etty” Darwin was born in 1843, the eldest of Charles Darwin’s daughters to reach adulthood.

She became a key editor of her father’s scientific writing, most notably The Descent of Man & Selection in Relation to Sex, published in 1871.

Charles Darwin considered Etty a “dear coadjutor, fellow-labourer” & lively member of an intellectually stimulating household. https://www.cam.ac.uk/research/news/unpublished-journal-offers-new-take-on-darwins-daughter #science #HistoryRemix

Travis Rieder's new book, Catastrophe Ethics, "aims to advise the well-intentioned, morally anxious & philosophically curious person" confronting the questions about whether our personal choices about the environment, technology, & justice matter.

Sounds like an interesting read: https://www.the-tls.co.uk/articles/catastrophe-ethics-travis-rieder-book-review-simone-gubler/?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR19D-hRL6rg9nJAbWo2SQGS_7vd9N64fz4WwkPSFd9ervE4Re_tRBogcLM_aem_AWx9zZLA-6Qbe9TD49IQpT4_NCUTkPzyCI599uGf6HoM49zJWkyjDAiD4tawWPNcszU_ShkQLob1-i1w43z43lAE #books #science #philosophy

Catastrophe Ethics by Travis Rieder | Book review | The TLS

Many of our daily pursuits contribute harmful effects to the world. The car that you drive to work contributes to global warming. Your laptop battery

^TLS

Mesmerising microbes: bacteria as you’ve never seen it before – in pictures

“As a side hustle he manipulates and photographs the microbial world; his images are collected in a book, Beautiful Bacteria. Taking bacteria from substances such as wastewater, dental plaque or kimchi, Danino lets them multiply in a petri dish, adding dyes. The results are artworks differing from the digital enhancements often made in scientific photography to make images more informative.”

https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2024/may/18/beautiful-bacteria-encounters-in-the-microuniverse-tal-danino

#News #Photography #Photo #Photos #Image #Images #Microbiology #Biology #Science #STEM #Bacteria #Microbes #Microbes @science @biology @microbiology

Mesmerising microbes: bacteria as you’ve never seen it before – in pictures

Scientist Tal Danino’s incredible images of the microbial world

^{The Guardian}

Pioneering geologist & oceanographer Marie Tharp changed our understanding of the ocean.

When Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia in 1948, women couldn’t go on research ships. So she was hired to assist male grad students.

Back then, many scientists still assumed the bottom of the ocean was featureless. Tharp figured out how to use data to create sketches of the ocean floor. Her hand-drawn maps helped develop plate tectonic theory. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/marie-tharp #science #history

Alphafold 3 server has dropped, kids. https://golgi.sandbox.google.com/about

Can do select small mols, PTMs, Nucleic acids and ions.

#StructuralBiology @strucbio #Science #Research #Crystallography #CryoEM #NMR

Another mRNA #vaccine win:

Scientists have developed a cancer vaccine that can deliver treatments more effectively in people who have brain cancer and teach their immune systems to fight back. They’ve tested it successfully in four people now, and are moving on to more testing.

https://theconversation.com/brain-cancer-in-children-is-notoriously-hard-to-treat-a-new-mrna-cancer-vaccine-triggers-an-attack-from-within-228666
#health #science #vaccine #cancer

Brain cancer in children is notoriously hard to treat – a new mRNA cancer vaccine triggers an attack from within

Cancer vaccines have gained much interest among scientists but face a number of hurdles. A new mRNA vaccine for glioma offers a step forward in training the immune system to fight cancer.

^{The Conversation}

Born in 1894, physicist Marietta Blau’s research led to a way to capture the tracks of speeding subatomic particles.

In 1937, Blau & Hertha Wambacher made a discovery that launched the field of particle physics. But she was forced to pause her work in 1938 bc of the Nazis.

Blau was nominated several times for the Nobel Prize but never won. Cecil F. Powell later built on her work & earned the Nobel Prize in Physics. https://www.sciencehistory.org/stories/magazine/the-dark-stars-of-marietta-blau/ #history #science #historyremix

‘We need to slow down scientific publishing’

'We focus on metrics to evaluate a scientist’s career: how many articles they have published, how many times they were cited, what was the impact factor of all these articles. '

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2024-04-26/elisabeth-bik-expert-in-scientific-integrity-we-need-to-slow-down-scientific-publishing.html

#publishing #science #stem #academicchatter

Elisabeth Bik, expert in scientific integrity: ‘We need to slow down scientific publishing’

The Dutch microbiologist has been voluntarily searching for duplicate, erroneous or retouched academic images for more than 10 years and warning universities and scientific journals about it

^{Beatriz Olaizola (Ediciones EL PAÍS S.L.)}

It’s #EarthDay & I’m giving a talk all about the global food system & its impact on the environment.

The agricultural sector is one of the most significant + immediately scalable places to have impact.

Since my talk isn’t public, here’s a great piece from @globalecoguy & the good folks at Project Drawdown. https://drawdown.org/news/insights/how-food-and-farming-will-determine-the-fate-of-planet-earth
#climatechange #science #food

How food and farming will determine the fate of planet Earth

Agriculture has disrupted the planet more than anything we have ever done, including burning fossil fuels. A sustainable future depends on recognizing this fact – and radically changing how we farm and eat.

^{Project Drawdown}

Born in 1750, Caroline Herschel worked as assistant to her astronomer brother William. But she also made her own discoveries of nebulae, stars & 8(!) comets.

In 1787, King George III employed Caroline as her brother's assistant, including a small salary that made her one of the first women paid for their contributions to #science.

Caroline submitted over 550 stars to the existing star catalog & received honorary membership in the Royal Society. https://www.space.com/17439-caroline-herschel.html #history

Powerful eruption occurring now at Ruang volcano in Indonesia's North Sulawesi Province. Hundreds evacuated so far.

Photos show the lava flow, huge ash cloud, and volcanic lightning.

https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/hundreds-evacuated-after-indonesias-ruang-volcano-erupts-2024-04-17/ #volcano #science #nature

Most members of my lab are international, and I'm often surprised at the expansive bureaucracy they have to work with just to attend some meetings or visit home.

"Citizenship privilege harms science"

"Researchers from the global south face often-distressing immigration bureaucracy that most from the global north do not"

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-024-01080-x

#science #stem

Citizenship privilege harms science

Researchers from the global south face often-distressing immigration bureaucracy that most from the global north do not. Six steps can begin to counteract this inequity.

^{Joseph, Tiffany}

Ben Barres was a trailblazing transgender neurobiologist who promoted equity & diversity.

His pioneering research on glial cells changed science & he became the 1st #trans person admitted into the National Academies of Science.

Barres was a strong advocate for women, early career scientists & the #LGBTQ+ community at a time when few people openly discussed gender identity. https://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2017/12/28/mourning-ben-barres-the-transgender-scientist-who-changed-neuroscience/ #history #science

Excerpt from his autobiography: https://stanmed.stanford.edu/ben-barres-autobiography-transgender-scientist/

Our little show about the science behind what we eat & its impact on the planet made the ‘Championship Round’ of the local PBS ‘March Madness’ brackets…

If you have an Instagram account, this is the last time I’ll request support from the fediverse https://www.instagram.com/wkarofficial?igsh=ZjBqZ3E0azd3N294 (click on the profile icon for stories)

The competition is just for fun of course, but I do love that we’ve made it this far with a family program about #science ✨

The “History” channel 😆

I simply adore this comic by Sketching Science #science #art

When I post about #science & #history, I tend to highlight the trailblazers we don’t usually read or hear about in #HistoryRemix.

But tonight I want to share this beautifully composed piece about Nikola Tesla.

While his inventions are legendary, you may not know how Tesla’s OCD shaped his approach to science & ultimately led to his world-changing ideas. It also left him isolated & alone. But he still experienced deep connection by caring for birds. https://nautil.us/teslas-pigeon-460446/

Several of us overly online biologists spent years quietly doing an experiment on Twitter, trying to find out if tweeting about new studies from a set of mid-range journals caused an increase in later citations, compared to set of untweeted control articles.

Turns out we had no noticeable effect; the tweeted papers were cited at the same rate as the control set.

Our paper, headed by Trevor Branch, was published today in PLOS One:

#SciComm #Twitter #X #Science

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0292201

Controlled experiment finds no detectable citation bump from Twitter promotion

Multiple studies across a variety of scientific disciplines have shown that the number of times that a paper is shared on Twitter (now called X) is correlated with the number of citations that paper receives.

^{journals.plos.org}

On Friday morning, I will defend my dissertation.

The research explores how congressional staffers make #science policy decisions at the national level. I used to work in the Senate, which inspired this journey into the social sciences.

(Friday is also the first day of my kids' Spring Break, so they'll be coming along which should be interesting).

For those curious about the topic, I share a bit about the research on my substack. More results will there soon https://sheril.substack.com/p/a-dissertation-on-democracy

A Dissertation on Democracy

Consider this the Cliffs Notes

^{Sheril Kirshenbaum (Unelected Representative)}

I have an article out today in the new issue of the Journal of Science Policy & Governance.

“Barriers to Serving in Senior Congressional Staff Roles May Limit Representative #Science Policymaking” https://www.sciencepolicyjournal.org/article_1038126_jspg230203.html

Left out of the Room Where it Happens: Barriers to Serving in Senior Congressional Staff Roles May Limit “Representative” Science Policymaking

^{Journal of Science Policy & Governance}

Beatrice ‘Tilly’ Shilling was born in 1909 in Hampshire. She became an aeronautical engineer & daredevil motorcycle racer.

In 1936, Shilling joined The Royal Aircraft Establishment. 5 yrs later, she led a team that designed a device to prevent Merlin plane engines from stalling during flight, which helped the Allies win WWII.

Shilling was also the 2nd woman to earn a Brooklands Gold Star for lapping the track at >100mph. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beatrice_Shilling #science #history

There is still much we have yet to discover…

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/10/science/new-species-sea-discovery.html?unlocked_article_code=1.b00.1Lks.49EomDvTgD25&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #science #nature #giftlink

Want to hang out next Thursday night (or Friday depending on where you live)?

I'm joining the one & only @bschillace for a live conversation about #science #politics & culture.

We may discuss why so many people believe things that aren't true. Or explore how we got into this predicament. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOEPE92MBE

The Pecular Book Club is "a safe haven of nerdery for all peculiar people w bizarre interests." https://brandyschillace.com/peculiar/

Livestream: https://www.youtube.com/live/a3ev1p20acc?si=H8Q35vWytgmC9m9K

This should be fun!

14-MAR: SHERIL KIRSHENBAUM, UNSCIENTIFIC AMERICA

The earth is not flat. Vaccines work and they don’t make you magnetic. Global warming is real. Covid is airborne. But you will hear a great deal to the contr...

^YouTube

“Engravings, first in Arabic script, then in Hebrew, tell the story of how knowledge was created, shared & developed by Islamic & Jewish scholars living & working side by side.”

https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/05/extraordinary-islamic-and-jewish-science-merge-in-11th-century-astrolabe #history #science

Latest cartoon on Alabama decision that IVF embryos are people

#theorcracy #reproduction #ivf #health #medicine #science

Wonderful! I love the runner-up, 'The Scholar's Dream', on browntail moths, to the music of Saint-Saëns' Danse Macabre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFwRMZKODbc

Overview & other category winners here: https://www.science.org/content/article/kangaroo-research-wins-dance-phd-contest

#DanceYourPhD #moth #kangaroo #epigenetics #circadian #dance #zoology #science #SciComm #SocialScience #biology #chemistry #physics

The Scholar's Dream- Dance Your PhD 2024 [𝓡𝓾𝓷𝓷𝓮𝓻-𝓤𝓹]

[2/27/2024: I had a sudden jump in views- turns out my video was a runner-up for Science's Dance your PhD and "might have won the whole thing if not up again...

^YouTube

Every year, students around the world submit videos to a "Dance Your PhD" contest. The goal is to "explain your research through interpretive dance."

This year's fabulous winner, Weliton Menário Costa, explores kangaroo behavior & promotes diversity. It is, by far, the best I've ever seen.

Go watch! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoSYO3fApEc #science #dance #art #animals

WELI - Kangaroo Time (Club Edit) (From Dance Your PhD 2024 - OVERALL WINNER)

Subscribe. My EP "Yours Academically, Dr. WELI" out on March 1st.Official video for WELI “Kangaroo Time (Club Edit)” made for the 2024 'Dance Your PhD' Thesi...

^YouTube

There are massive differences in the GHG emissions of different foods & "local" isn't always best for the environment.

This chart continues to be a great reference I return to in my work. Source: https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local #science #climate #food

Born in 1906, computer scientist Grace Hopper invented the first compiler for computer programming language & was among the first programmers of the Harvard Mk1 computer.

Hopper popularized the idea of machine-independent programming languages & paved the way to develop COBOL (an early high-level programming language). She originated the term "bug" to describe computer glitches & became a celebrated Rear Admiral in the US Navy. https://news.yale.edu/2017/02/10/grace-murray-hopper-1906-1992-legacy-innovation-and-service #science #history

Sorry I missed this symposium at the #Denver #AAASmtg. If there’s interest, I can send the transcript of a similar event during the 2019 #Tennessee #STEAM Festival; “From Plato to #CRISPR : Communicating #Science through Story-telling.” #STEAMfest #SciComm

https://www.codrescu.com/happeningsappearances-1/2019/10/16/from-plato-to-crispr-communicating-science-through-storytelling

From Plato to CRISPR: Communicating Science through Storytelling — Andrei Codrescu

Third Annual Tennessee STEAM Festival @Middle Tennessee University Through his talk, From Plato to CRISPR , Andrei brings light and heat to the space between science and art

^{Andrei Codrescu}

It was a treat to chat with my brilliant co-panelists Lindsay Patterson, Clifford Johnson & Ann Merchant all about science & storytelling at AAAS.

Layne Kyung shared these incredible & colorful notes/art from our session. #science #art #media

Tis the season…

I spoke with The New York Times about my book, The #Science of Kissing https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/13/science/archaeology-sumeria-kissing.html?unlocked_article_code=1.VE0.Ku_7.vxJnkibLUVQB&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare #ValentinesDay #GiftArticle #books

If anyone is headed to #AAAS this week, I’m in 2 sessions so come say hello 👋

Friday at 10am - https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Session/31685

How scientists can connect w legislators & staff, inform decisions & collaborate to address global challenges.

Sat at 2:30pm - https://aaas.confex.com/aaas/2024/meetingapp.cgi/Session/31830

Sharing stories about #science & scientists can promote evidence-based thinking, counter misinformation, lead to a more diverse & inclusive workforce & create transdisciplinary opportunities to meet global challenges.