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.

Counting citations hasn't been a reliable measure of scientific impact for a while, especially on platforms like Google Scholar that compile info from random documents. Hyper-authorship, predatory journals, etc have all contributed to the problem.

This preprint just drives home how important it is to measure scientific impact more carefully and without reliance on automated metrics

Google Scholar is manipulatable

https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.04607

#science #academia #publishing #citations

Google Scholar is manipulatable

Citations are widely considered in scientists' evaluation. As such, scientists may be incentivized to inflate their citation counts.

^arXiv.org

Earth has more livestock than humans, wild mammals & birds combined.

Visualizing the Biomass of Life by scientific illustrator Mark Belan ⬇️ #science #art

Spent the day with so many adorable young scientists!

PBS Kids Day was a treat. I love meeting curious kids & watching them marvel at #science. Children ask the best questions.

Ever wonder how pickling works? https://youtu.be/gw6YpN2oRog?si=Bv8DW9o6iqcBaW29

Four years ago our PBS team created this fun explainer on all different types of pickles! And it's still one of my favorite episodes. #food #science

How Does Pickling Work? | Serving Up Science

Pickling! It's that salty, briny process that makes foods taste so strangely good. The pickle garnishes our favorite foods, from burgers & hotdogs to turkey ...

^YouTube

This Saturday I’m excited to meet families at PBS Kids Day in Michigan!

I’m going to be talking to attendees about how oils are “hydrophobic” aka water-fearing with a fun demo where children can squirt colored water droplets into a glass of oil.

If you want to try our experiment with little ones (or adults!) wherever you are, here’s an easy at-home version: https://funlearningforkids.com/oil-water-science-exploration/ #science #art

Born in 1896, biochemist Gerty Theresa Cori became the 1st woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (and the 3rd to win a Nobel Prize).

Cori faced gender discrimination & was marginalized for years. But she never gave up.

With her husband Carl, she discovered how glycogen is broken down & eventually stored as an energy source (aka the “Cori cycle”). They also identified the Cori ester. http://beckerexhibits.wustl.edu/women/cori.htm #HistoryRemix #science #history

#NewSpecies!
New freshwater crab from #indonesia just pinched us:

Lepidothelphusa menneri

Treatment: http://treatment.plazi.org/id/03DE879E-FFF9-FFBE-1FBF-FE0DFCFB7405
Publication: http://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5397.2.3
#Zootaxa

#FAIRdata
#science #OA #openaccess #biology #taxonomy #ecology #biodiversity #nature #wildlife #conservation #animals #invertebrates #arthropods #crustacea #crabs

Born in 1919, Isabella Aiona Abbott became the first native Hawaiian woman to earn a PhD in #science.

A marine botanist, Abbott became the 1st woman & person of color to become a full professor in Stanford’s Biology dept.

She wrote 8 books, >150 articles & was awarded the Gilbert Morgan Smith Medal by the National Academy of Sciences.

In 2005, Abbott was named a “Living Treasure of Hawaii” by the Honpa Hongwanji Mission of Hawaii. https://woc.aises.org/content/isabella-aiona-abbott-becoming-“first-lady-limu” #history

Born in 1794, pioneering marine biologist Jeannette Villepreux-Power collected specimens from local fisherman in Sicily for study. She built a natural history collection & was especially interested in cephalopods like octopus & squid 🐙.

Villepreux-Power invented the modern aquarium was one of the first people to observe living cephalopods & their behaviors.

Unfortunately, much of her work & collections were lost in a shipwreck in 1843. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Villepreux-Power #HistoryRemix #science #history

I just finished putting together a Wikipedia article on plant biologist Mary Clutter, who was so instrumental in determining mechanisms for gene regulation and expression through her work with plant hormones.

She also was one of the foremost scientists involved in expanding opportunities for women scientists in the latter half of the 20th century, including getting them the recognition they deserved for their accomplishments.

#Wikipedia #Women #Biology #Science

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_Clutter

Mary Clutter - Wikipedia

^{en.wikipedia.org}

SpaceX Starlink satellites photobombed my northern lights photos in Iceland!

#space #science #spacex #astrodon #womeninstem

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hTnctQLCIk

SpaceX Starlink satellites photobombed my Northern Lights photos!

We've known for awhile that increasing numbers of satellites are a problem for astronomy and astrophotography. I had my own issues with SpaceX's Starlink sat...

^YouTube

A new hope for algae biofuel (microalgae, that is)

#algae #biofuels #biofuel #microalgae #fuels #energy #decarbonization #carboncapture #carbonemissions #aquaculture #agriculture #biobased #bioeconomy #bioenergy #renewableenergy #renewable #sdg7 #sustainableenergy #energytransition #science #research

https://cleantechnica.com/2023/12/19/algae-biofuel-haunts-fossil-fuel-stakeholders/

Algae Biofuel Rises From Grave To Haunt Fossil Fuel Stakeholders

After ExxonMobil walks away, algae biofuel gets another shot at success and the US Department of Energy is here for it.

^{Tina Casey (CleanTechnica)}

You see #FAFO, I see the Scientific Method™

#science #STEM #society

Over 100M years ago, titanosaur ‘Patagotitan mayorum‘ wandered around what is now Argentina. It grew >120 feet long, 28 feet tall & weighed ~ 70 tons. (That’s longer than a blue whale!)

https://www.amnh.org/explore/news-blogs/news-posts/meet-patagotitan-mayorum #science #history #SharedPlanet

Born in 1938, Jeanne Hoff, was the 1st openly transgender psychiatrist. She used her voice to speak out for others, such as a Black transgender woman diagnosed by doctors w “mental retardation" & “sexual perversion” due to her gender identity.

Hoff shared her transition experience in a documentary to encourage her transgender patients to live openly & confidently. She passed away earlier this Fall & absolutely belongs in #HistoryRemix.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/18/us/jeanne-hoff-dead.html?unlocked_article_code=1.G00.yoQ3.XAMf8tJ0HHtn&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
#history #science #lgbtqia

The National Science Foundation has issued a notice about the use of generative AI in the NSF merit review process: https://new.nsf.gov/news/notice-to-the-research-community-on-ai

#AI #Research #Science

Notice to research community: Use of generative artificial intelligence technology in the NSF merit review process

Generative artificial intelligence1 (GAI) systems have great potential to support the U.S. National Science Foundation's mission to promote the progress of…

^{National Science Foundation}

One of the world’s longest-running experiments has been going for 144 years!

In 1879, botanist William Beal wanted to study how long buried seeds would remain viable. He buried bottles w different seeds in a secret spot on Michigan State's campus.

Every 20 yrs, a small group scientists dig up the bottles & seeds continue to germinate 🌱 (My husband @DavidLowry is the one on the right).

The paper from their last dig is now out so this #science story is back in the news. https://www.yahoo.com/news/discovery-inside-unearthed-bottle-ve-103236780.html

‘Tis the season to remember that all of Santa’s reindeer are female.

You see, males drop their antlers after the Autumn mating season, so since the world’s most celebrated reindeer are always depicted with spectacular antlers, we must assume that Ol’ Saint Nick’s entire intrepid team - including Rudolph - are female. #science #Christmas

Scientists and the general public have long dismissed the cognitive abilities of cows, pigs, and other livestock. But farm animals are capable of much more than we think.

#Science #Biology #AnimalBehaviour #Behaviour #Cognition #intelligence #Cattle #Cow #Pig #Livestock #Chicken

📄 Grimm D (2023) What are farm animals thinking? Science 382:1103–1107 http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.adn3270

“Following the #science” is not quite as simple or straightforward as it sounds.

https://sheril.substack.com/p/follow-the-science?r=1j872&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web #politics

"Follow the Science?"

Data isn't enough to achieve the best possible evidence-based policy outcomes.

^{Sheril Kirshenbaum (Unelected Representative)}

"Majority......aren’t scientists"

That's ridiculous, considering.

However, the main focus of #COP28 is #money

And those with the money often lie about the science, if the #science doesn't align with their monetary agendas. And or only focus on a narrow bandwidth of scientific knowledge (confirmation bias)

Only the people who generally are honest are aware of just how many adults lie. They also lie to cover up their lies by calling honest people liars

That's why I value #science

Born in 1848, Caroline Still Anderson completed high school at 15. When she enrolled at Oberlin College, she was the only Black student in her class.

Anderson went on to become a physician, driven to improve the social & political conditions of Black people. She also served as a prominent a social reformer in Philadelphian society.

http://stillfamily.library.temple.edu/stillfamily/exhibits/show/william-still/historical-perspective/biography-of-caroline-still-an #HistoryRemix #history #science

Welp, so. I guess I'm here now and it's #introduction / #introductions time? I'm a #science writer, #journalist, #podcast host & video maker with a special fondness for weird/gross biology. I'm also a #DnD GM and a huge nerd for #books (especially #scifi) and #comics.

This week, I wrote about a type of lemur that picks its nose with an incredibly spindly finger that's so long it can reach up through its nasal cavity and touch its pharynx.

Nice to meet you, too!

https://www.livescience.com/aye-ayes-primates-nosepickers

My research focuses on how senior congressional staffers in the U.S. make decisions on #science policy.

For over a year, I’ve been sifting through hours & hours & hours of transcripts from my interviews while analyzing the data & writing.

Now, it's time to begin sharing what I've learned... https://sheril.substack.com/p/lets-begin #politics

Let's Begin.

Within hundreds of pages of text from my interviews with senior congressional staffers are hours of insightful commentary.

^{Sheril Kirshenbaum (Unelected Representative)}

A few folks have asked for details on my last post & I realize many may not know I am finishing a Ph.D. related to how Congress makes science-related policy decisions. https://sheril.substack.com/p/a-dissertation-on-democracy

Nearly 20 years ago I worked in the Senate & now my research considers where staffers go for #science information & who they trust. The literature largely focuses on politicians, but staffers are responsible for policies w/o electoral accountability. I'll share more once it's published. #politics

A Dissertation on Democracy

Consider this the Cliffs Notes

^{Sheril Kirshenbaum (Unelected Representative)}

"Most politicians are honest about not knowing enough science & rely on experts." [Source: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-03706-y]

As someone writing a dissertation on where policymakers seek out information related to #science policy, I wholeheartedly disagree.

Scientists & other experts are not a top source for information. They're not even a 2nd or 3rd source. #politics

‘Politicians don’t understand science’: advisers give evidence at UK COVID inquiry

Patrick Vallance, Chris Witty and others reflect on advising the UK government during the ongoing investigation into the country’s pandemic response.

^{Sanderson, Katharine}

Born in 1917, Egyptian physicist Sameera Moussa studied radioactive isotopes used to create medical images. Her work “laid the groundwork for a revolution in the affordability & safety of nuclear medicine.”

Concerned about the potential use of nuclear weapons during WWII, Moussa organized the Atomic Energy for Peace conference.

She was likely assassinated at age 35 in a case that remains unsolved. https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/04/the-strange-tragic-story-of-egypts-foremost-female-nuclear-scientist/ #science #history

About 250M years ago, 90% of species on Earth died during the Permian extinction. All of that loss created a lot of vacant niches to fill. And not long after, the first mammals, our ancestors, appeared.

Life on this pale blue dot will continue to be resilient - whether or not we’re part of it. #Thanksgiving #science #history

Scientists paid large publishers over $1 billion in four years to have their studies published with open access.

Nature Comms and Sci Reports cornering the market.

Open access = good.
Extortionate APCs with little or no actual editorial service = bad.

#Science #Research

https://english.elpais.com/science-tech/2023-11-21/scientists-paid-large-publishers-over-1-billion-in-four-years-to-have-their-studies-published-with-open-access.html?outputType=amp

Scientists paid large publishers over $1 billion in four years to have their studies published with open access

A study reveals that academic megajournals ‘Scientific Reports’ and ‘Nature Communications’ have cornered the market

^{Manuel Ansede (Ediciones EL PAÍS S.L.)}

Born in 1918, Gertrude Elion faced discrimination in #science, unable to get a job as a woman. So she volunteered as a lab dishwasher, earning enough $ for grad work at NYU, where she was the only woman in chemistry classes.

Eventually Elion helped revolutionize medicine w George Hitchings. They figured out how to interfere with cell growth, leading to effective drugs for treating leukemia, gout, malaria, herpes & more, earning a 1988 Nobel Prize. https://www.acs.org/education/whatischemistry/women-scientists/gertrude-elion.html #HistoryRemix #history

I thought I’d kick my feed off with an #introduction 😊

Hi! I’m Isabel, a next-gen #scicommer, #cyberneticist and #podcaster based at the #AustralianNationalUniversity ☀️

My research interests include #science in #popculture (particularly #solarpunk), the #cultural meanings of science, and the relationships between people, the natural #environment, and #technology 👩‍🔬🤖

I also co-host #Sci_Burst, a science in pop culture podcast, which you can learn more about here: https://linktr.ee/sci_burst

sci_burst | Instagram, TikTok | Linktree

View sci_burst’s Linktree. Listen to their music on Spotify here.

^Linktree