#Celebrating Life and Science

[delicatelysublimeforester]

The Nature-Inspired Journey of Emperor Hirohito

Walking in the Footsteps of Hirohito: A Greenery Day Exploration The story of Greenery Day which has a name change to “Showa Day” takes us back to the youthful days of Japanese Emperor Hirohito, a man whose passion for marine biology and nature shaped the celebration we honor on April 29. Showa Day is the revamped name for Greenery Day, honoring Emperor Showa’s fondness for plants, also known as…

[sarahmackattack]

Do you like Squid Facts? 🔲Yes 🔲No

This valentines day, we thought you might need a little help from cephalopods to celebrate. Get a pack of 20 cards for your classroom, your coworkers, your neighborhood, frankly anyone who needs both a valentine AND a little bit of science to boot.

Get 'em here: https://squidfacts.bigcartel.com/

Proceeds benefit science education nonprofit Skype a Scientist AND the graduate student who designed these cards who is studying octopuses (Meg Mindlin @invertebabe!). Meg is trying to afford to get to a cephalopod neuroscience conference later this year and these cards will help her get there 🫡

They, of course, come with the classic heart stickers, a range of shades of pink and purple included.

[dewitty1]

Roger Payne, the scientist who spurred a worldwide environmental conservation movement with his discovery that whales could sing, has died. He was 88.

Payne made the discovery in 1967 during a research trip to Bermuda in which a Navy engineer provided him with a recording of curious underwater sounds documented while listening for Russian submarines. Payne identified the haunting tones as songs whales sing to one another.

He saw the discovery of whale song as a chance to spur interest in saving the giant animals, who were disappearing from the planet. Payne would produce the album “Songs of the Humpback Whale” in 1970. A surprise hit, the record galvanized a global movement to end the practice of commercial whale hunting and save the whales from extinction.

[miss-biophys]

Researcher’s dream continues. 🥳🥂🍾

My research papers were cited in 300 scientific studies.

2012 ... 1st paper published as a BSc. student

2019 ... PhD award, start of postdoc, 8 papers published

2020 ... 100 citations

2021 ... 200 citations

2022 ... 11 papers published, others in preparation

2023 ... 300 citations

This is encouraging! Achievements like this bring me joy and motivation to keep doing good science. Especially in times when I feel like the results just don’t come and I have to work really hard for it.

[guardianmonae32]

‼️Feeling limitless is a MINDSET‼️

Just about all my life, I have struggled with imposter syndrome. I worked very hard in school and all extracurriculars, but I never felt quite good enough. My grades and achievements have always said the opposite. I even went to University of Miami for undergrad, and then got into Harvard for my PhD… you would be surprised how often I played this off as ‘luck’ or ‘a happy accident’.

The truth is, as a Black Woman, I’ve frequently been told or regarded as ‘not enough’. This just fed further into my inner feelings of imposter syndrome. I had this nagging voice in my head telling me I didn’t belong, wasn’t good enough, or, and the most horrible of them all, I’m only here because I’m Black.

Impostor Syndrome impacts my science everyday. I frequently would go into the lab, intimidated by my tasks for the day, or being so nervous of messing up that I would do just that. In classes, I would frequently compare myself to other students. I took note of their additional achievements and accolades from their gap years or upbringing from a science-affluent background, and further convinced myself that I wasn’t good enough.

Deep down, I have always felt like I had something so impactful that I could give to the world… My imposter syndrome limited my ability to see how I could help others, in addition to making me feel unsafe in an academic/lab space.

Until one day it hit me like a truck: my grades and work ethic have always been outstanding, and truthfully I didn’t have much evidence that I ‘wasn’t good enough’ to be in the positions I have achieved. I had various remarks from other students or faculty that recognized the quality of my work. I started to change my internal narrative where I focused on all the positive things I bring to the classroom and lab. I started becoming less anxious of speaking up in class, sharing my personal experience, or attempting a new protocol in the lab. I became proud of my background instead of ashamed of what I ‘didn’t have’ in comparison to others, because my background is what curated my character as a student.

Now, this is opening doors for me I couldn’t even imagine! Having a limitless mindset makes me unstoppable, and whenever I can fill my cup, I can also help others more than I could even imagine!

If you have a similar story, I would love to hear it! Want to feel limitless? Send me a DM and lets chat!

[peonybookblog]

Hey, new Dan Egan? And I had to find out by myself, while wandering around the bookstore three months after it came out? Anyway, awesome book. For context if you’ve read The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, it’s a bit shorter, but slightly more jargon-heavy/less accessible. This is also the perfect time of year to read it with unseasonably early blue-green algal blooms starting already. (On that note, pay attention to beach closures, especially if you’re there with your dog!)

The Devil’s Element is definitely the 10,000 foot view of phosphorus, and I do (unfortunately for my limited free time) want to read a lot more. Egan covers everything from its discovery, to its use in WWII, to the politics of ethanol, to current issues in Florida’s Lake Okeechobee and the surrounding area. There is also a very brief mention of corporations trying to refuse to change their irresponsible business practices on the basis that it would upset America’s housewives. There are a ton of citations and a bibliography in the back, so if you want to learn more, you’ll have a good place to start!

I read The Devil’s Element through the Libby app (which saves me so much money, and I can’t recommend it enough), but my Bookshop affiliate link if you’d like to purchase your own copy is here. Don’t forget to check if your favorite local indie bookstore as an affiliate page instead!

[arthur-r]

had a really good night. feeling a little bit sick to my stomach but what can you do

[praveendaskumar]

The old religious scripture Shrimad Bhagwad Gita, the history of human duty of man, is currently told by Jagatguru Tatvdarshi Sant Rampal Ji Maharaj that how a person should live and worship in which he should worship.

[ujunxverse]

i said no more kpop gotcha i lied i'm a zerose now

[rlewisphilly]

Today could be a little rocky

National Geology Day (4/7)Geology rocks but geography is where it’s at. I’m not sure I like geologists.  They find “faults” in everything. :0)BTW: Wyoming is the “rockiest” state.  We both learned something new today.

[jackie-elysium]

Albert Einstein

[forbiddennhoney]

sometimes i wish i didnt work in a (somewhat) specialized field bc i wanna share my successes with my friends but always shy away from it bc having to explain Why what i did was a success truly sometimes just sucks the joy out of it ):

[thecookieworld]

New Year, New Me: A Hilarious Guide to Embracing the Crap Edition!

January, new year, new me! It’s another time of the year when the only weight we’re lifting is the remote control, and our idea of a marathon involves Netflix, not running shoes. As the New Year rolls in, so does the onslaught of resolutions that promise to transform us into the best versions of ourselves. But here at Kamechan House, I’ve decided to take a slightly different approach – because…

[askshivanulegacy]

I get people like to hate on celebrities for any number of flippant reasons.

But when you start using carbon emissions as your chief complaint, not only are you demonstrating the effectiveness of corporate Kool aid, but you are deeply unserious.

[fearlesshades]

Massive science news everyone!

The FDA has approved the first use of CRISPR gene editing as a therapy for sickle cell!

This is a huge development as it shows that CRISPR is at least acceptably safe, and effective. Only time (and more studies) will tell how widespread effective it is, and how many other things it could work on (as well as any potential negative impacts) but for right now, this is happy news! Potentially millions of people suffering from sickle cell now could be COMPLETELY CURED! And this paves the way for other therapies for things like (potentially) cancers, autoimmune disorders, genetic conditions like Huntingtons, and so many more.

[foone]

I love trans fursonas. Like, this is not a person who lived a life. They aren't AMAB or AFAB because they weren't born: they were drawn or modeled or written or whatever, and what parts of their non-life that covers are entirely up to the creators. They can't be "trans" in the traditional sense because they didn't exist prior* to being a person who is trans, you know? They aren't transitioning from anything, there's no from to transition from.

They could look cis, in their appropriate gender. But they don't. They look trans, in all the forms that can take. Wolfgirls with bulges and catboys with top surgery scars... And that's why it's amazing. They could look like anything. Infinite possibilities and they look visibly trans. It's such a celebration of the trans experience because it's saying "this isn't just an unfortunate period between looking like my AGAB and passing perfectly", this is how I look, this is a valid way to look, this is a beautiful way to look, and there's reasons why you might want to look this way. This is can be a desirable way to look, in both non-sexual and sexual ways: you can want to look like this, and you can find looking like this attractive.

It's about the wish-fulfillment. It's about how it's explicitly saying "even in my wildest dreams where I can be a wolf who is a secret agent ninja with a billion dollars and five girlfriends... I'm still trans, and that's fine."

Cause like, there's no reason why your fursona couldn't just be cis, or trans but using magic or future science to pass perfectly! You could totally do that, and it's completely valid if you do want to do that.

But the fact you had that option and didn't choose it is what gives me such hope and love. It's the explicit confirmation that this is how you wanted to be that's so great.

* technically there are some cases where this isn't true: some people had a fursona that was the same gender as their AGAB, then they realized they were trans, and they transitioned their fursona alongside themselves. Those people are awesome, btw, and probably braver than any marine.