I’m told I should be using a header for newbies. I don’t currently know how to do that. So in lieu of good marketing, let me just say that this is where I write about science, pop culture, and personal experience from my own idiosyncratic perspective.
This time last year, I had just returned from an environmental retreat in Denver hosted by the State Department for alumni of its international exchange programs.
This year, I’m grading lab reports. No fly in April. Or possibly, I cry in April.
My kid, who was visiting over the weekend (and played in the season finale of my Middle-Earth campaign), is obsessed with the anime Your Lie in April — does a yearly re-watch, makes every friend watch it, evangelizes random strangers. I’m kind of that way about The Maxx (you may have noticed).
April was also the NC Science Festival. I was too busy teaching to attend many things, even the local ones. But here are a few highlights.
North Carolina Community College Association of Biology Instructors
I worked at two different community colleges, part-time, for about three years, 2005-2008. That was long enough ago that I knew literally no one at this professional development meeting, which I dropped in on at the last minute. Thomasville is only like half an hour from Greensboro, and I’d never been there. Also, I no longer had any classes on Fridays, so why not?
DDCC has some cool vocational programs. Their Aquarium Science track does three internships in two years, and their Zoo track does four. We toured their lab facilities, one of which consisted of a big room full of salt-water tanks, next door to the welding shops. The other was a single room of glass tanks containing various reptiles (and one tarantula), plus two parrots that had been donated.
Taking care of parrots is hard, especially when they are stressed or grieving at the loss of a pair bond. They essentially think of their owners as their mates, and they can live as long as a human. Not ideal for a population of rotating students. I suggested hooking up with the NC Falconer’s Guild, as a way of diversifying beyond their relationship with Charlotte’s Raptor Center, which I’ve visited once and would love to again.
Given that ecology is generally an upper-level class at most universities, it might be surprising how many ecologists work at community colleges, until you realize how bad the academic job market has become. Universities are not hiring. UNCG is down to 14 tenure-track biology faculty, with two more expected to retire this summer.
Mostly this small meeting was about teaching, with sessions on best practices for homework or pitches from companies with new products. I made a few informal micro-credential and grantwriting pitches myself. But scientists are scientists, and we lust after fresh research. We collect and trade facts in a status economy somewhat like what the old science fiction fans used to call egoboo.
Anyway, the crowd’s response to the keynote talk on the conservation of the Neuse River Waterdog, a six-inch long salamander that may live for 30 years, was both enthusiastic and knowledgeable. They asked some really good questions of the speaker, a finishing grad student from NC State named Eric Teitsworth. You can read a brag-rag feature about him here. I especially appreciate those scientists who are willing to get their hands dirty on outreach and policy. From our short conversation over a boxed lunch, Eric is hoping to slide out of academia into a full-time wildlife gig with the feds.
Skype a Scientist
Continuing the outreach theme, Sarah McAnulty came to UNCG for a seminar, recruited by the grad students, who were responsible for all her arrangements. Her talk was on “Communicating Science With Empathy,” which meant engaging with non-nerds through any means necessary. She has a big personality. It’s easy to see how she was able to con her grad school alma mater U Conn (pun intended) into making her a professor-in-name-only so she could apply for grants more easily.
At Oden Brewing after work I learned that she spends much of her time running the Fishtown Neighborhood Association in Philadelphia. Skype a Scientist is her baby, though. That network has grown to include thousands of researchers and thousands of classroom visits per year. Current projects include a Squid Facts hotline, advertised through the same guerrilla marketing techniques that indie bands have been using for years, like slap-on stickers and slightly illegal posters glued up with wallpaper paste (which she had small splotches of on the Hawaiian shirt she was wearing for her presentation). There are also more legit pieces of public art in the form of large-scale murals featuring local wildlife, painted by local artists. Supporting the human ecosystem ties the two missions together.
Her enthusiasm and energy during her short visit were infectious, which was a really nice change of pace from the exhaustion that is so evident on campus this time of year. For an example, listen to a podcast interview here.
UNCG’s Science Everywhere
I had originally planned a low-key display of some of my science writing and science fiction work for this university event, where I would also talk to students about lesser-known careers like scientific illustration. The flashier contribution was supposed to come from a group of students, who would get trained on the library makerspace’s 3d printers and produce some protein models they could walk around with. They all bailed on me, though.
Fortunately, one of my permaculture peeps, Chandra Metheny, brought a bunch of flowering plants from her day job as a horticulturist at the Greensboro Science Center (which also does a lot of conservation work). The ladybug larvae who had hitched a ride on a yellow-blossomed yarrow were a surprise hit with the littles, who had an impromptu counting contest to see who could find the most.
I think the record was seven.
I did do my little nerd-table, but inspired by Sarah McAnulty’s visit, I also clamped my camera lucida to one end of a table for kids to try out and printed out a bunch of my cartoons for them to trace or, towards the end of the event, to take home as coloring sheets. The practical demo fit the theme of the day better, anyway.
Coincidentally, there was a Native American pow-wow on campus at the same time. I haven’t been able to find anything online about it, so if you have a link, please post it in a comment.
The High Frontier: The Untold Story of Gerard K O’Neill
Finally, this, which I have not watched yet.
uncovers the legacy of Princeton physicist and space visionary, Dr. Gerard K. O’Neill, who wrote the 1977 book, The High Frontier: Human Colonies in Space. The book and O’Neill’s subsequent activism sparked a grassroots movement to build Earth-like habitats in space in order to solve Earth’s greatest crises; a vision that is still alive today. Through old stories of “Gerry” as many called him, and the social impact he made on the world, this documentary pays tribute to the unsung hero of today’s space race, while hoping to inspire all ages and walks of life to reignite our planet’s space venturing spirit.
There’s a four-minute preview at the link above.
As a little bonus to those watching the comments, this new book is free to download through May 9th.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/elements/an-introduction-to-positive-evolutionary-psychology/9AA9A2F166463956EED7DB525E7C3F37