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Items tagged with: science


This talk is 10 years old & feels more relevant than ever https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rXqLHc5ZbbM #science #politics


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


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


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


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


https://phys.org/news/2024-04-team-potentially-deep-sea-species.html
So cool!
#Science
#Ocean
Great pics of new ocean species recently discovered!


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 kind folks have asked about my dissertation research on #science & #politics so now that I've defended, I posted the abstract at https://sheril.substack.com/p/in-my-defense


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


Fossil stingray (Cyclobatis sp.)
Upper Cretaceous. Approximately 100.5 million to 66 million years ago. When alive, this creature lived in warm, shallow seas and had a very short tail, which was fitted with a venomous stinger. Discovered in Haqil, Byblos, Lebanon. It just happens to look like an ancient space alien. #science #fossil #archeology #evolution #photo #nature #biology #wildlife


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


This puppy is fully vaccinated & finally ready to make friends! Thanks #science 🐾 #dogsofmastodon


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


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!


“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


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


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


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


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


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


Earth has a lot of humans & cattle. But not too many wild mammals. #science #data


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

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


Well, it's #GroundhogDay, again.

“Only in America do we accept weather predictions from a rodent but deny #ClimateChange evidence from scientists.”

I share this meme every year on February 2. #science


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.

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