I find squid pretty inherently interesting. They’re believed to be smart, and I’d call them beautiful, but they’re also so alien to our terrestrial, vertebrate selves.
Even more interesting, or perhaps alarming, is what’s happening with the Humboldt squid in B.C. waters.
First, why are they here? They’re native to northern Mexico, but in the past [...]
Posts under ‘Science communications’
Squid surveillance, in several ways
A decent year for some threatened whales
One whale story begets another, I suppose.
Researching another story this week on humpbacks, I called up Dr. Lance Barrett-Lennard at the Vancouver Aquarium. He’s a scientist with a gift for speaking clearly, and he studies marine mammals on our coast. He’s also the co-chair of the Killer Whale Recovery Team organized by Fisheries and [...]
The dirt on clean: avoiding antibacterials
With all the talk about swine flu and handwashing, I decided to take questions from parents to an expert in public health, Dr. Bonnie Henry with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control. (CBC story here).
Dr. Henry just published a book on preventing disease spread, called Soap and Water & Common Sense, and has been [...]
Coming up: Storytelling for scientists
I’m giving a talk next month to a group of health science graduate students, on how to communicate their work in the media.
I’m no expert, but I have worked in both worlds, and understand a bit about how they often clash.
Both sides have work to do. For example, many (most?) reporters will cover a story [...]