Katherine Middleton

The Canadian Network for Ocean Education (CaNOE) has a symposium coming up in July 2018 in St. John’s, Newfoundland. This month I created the symposium logo and save the date graphic to help promote the event. 

Science Communicators, Get Your GIF On

The first animated GIF I ever made was a flaming red danger sign. The year was 1997, and I’d just started my own graphic design page on the free website-building platform, Geocities. The most popular GIF at the time was the Dancing Baby, known for its appearance that same year on the TV show Ally McBeal. My GIF obsession started as a childhood hobby but has since become a major part of my job as a science communicator. These fun flickering images are an efficient and effective form of digital communication and should be used more as a science communication tool.

Profiling Canadian Science Communicator Dan Riskin

Not many researchers have had their work published in the journal Nature and the front page of Reddit. Dan Riskin has done both. “I felt like I’d won the lottery,” he explains. “They’re both a big deal for their own reasons.” Dan Riskin is best known as the co-host, alongside Ziya Tong, of the Canadian science television series Daily Planet. Dan replaced the show’s longstanding host Jay Ingram in 2011. In addition to being a well-known television personality, Dan is also an accomplished evolutionary biologist. Having met Dan in person I can also add that he is a high energy and hilarious bat scientist As one of our country’s most accomplished science communicators, Dan has gone from giving engaging talks at elementary schools and science conferences as a graduate student to being a regular guest on late night television and hosting Animal Planet’s popular show Monsters Inside Me. 

IMCC4 by Ocean Science Radio

David Suzuki: Canada's science communication forerunner

In this new blog series we aim to highlight some of Canada's greatest science communicators, past and present. We will explore and learn from their years of dedication and work in science education, while focusing on major influences they've had on Canadian science culture. If there's one person who knows how to tell a good science story, it's David Suzuki. Dr. Suzuki has been communicating the public understanding of science to Canadian citizens at large for well over 50 years. For those of you who don't know, Dr. Suzuki is a Canadian icon best known for his CBC broadcasting career, including his work on The Nature of Things, and in most recent years for his "radical" environmental activism. Although he is a man of many roles, arguably the most important and influential one is as Canada's first and most prominent science communicator.

Radiation Biology Underground: the REPAIR Project at SNOLAB

Understanding the Ocean: Expanding Ocean Literacy in Canada

By Kat Middleton  

February 23, 2016 I grew up on the northern shores of Lake Superior, nowhere near the ocean. The closest coastal community was well over 700 kilometres north, on Hudson's Bay. I have lived inland for most of my life, yet still feel deeply connected to the sea. When I was a kid, my love for the ocean came from one of the only resources available: a good book. Already a keen, nature-loving seven year old, I dove straight into a fascinating series on Canada’s endangered animals put out by OWL magazine in the early 1990's. Clearly influenced by my favourite Raffi song at the time, Baby Beluga, I was instantly fascinated with one book in particular about St. Lawrence beluga whales. Since then, I have become a marine biologist and a science communicator on a mission to engage others in ocean science, much like that great book once did for me.

Surrounded by three coasts, Canada is home to a wide breadth of marine biodiversity ranging from the inspiring Atlantic St. Lawrence beluga whale, to the wild Pacific salmon and iconic Arctic polar bear. The ocean is the source of, and provider to all life on Earth, including our own. Covering over 70% of our planet, our lives depend on its continued health and protection. But how many of us truly understand the importance of the ocean?  How many of us are ocean literate?