#scicom

Prepping bryophytes to teach uni students how COOL they are.

Letters to a Pre-Scientist is a non-profit where people working in any STEM field exchange penpal letters with a current middle/high school student. The goal is that through personal discussion with a scientist, students gain more awareness of what STEM professionals look like and do at work and inspire students to explore a future in STEM. Even though the 2024-2025 school year has started, they need about 500 more scientists to be penpals. Students are from US schools, but volunteers can be from the US or abroad. It's open to anyone working in STEM, also including undergraduate and graduate students.

This is my second year participating and it is a fun way for STEM outreach. It's about a ten-hour time commitment over the year as you write 4 themed letters in response to your student penpal. The only cost for participation is the cost of mailing your letters.

If this interests you at all check out their website: For STEM Professionals - Letters to a Pre-Scientist (prescientist.org) and consider registering!

It’s that time of year when we recap our team’s publications and other highlights.

Check the article here.

Three days ago our paper about the history and impact of paleo topics in comics come out! In this richly illustrated publication we try to show how this specific art form can be utilized in #scicom

Dinosaurs have a long history in comics and like paleoart was influenced by paleontology so were comincs by paleoart. Resulting in many cases of - what we would now call - plagiarism but also a popularization of paleontological subjects...

A big plus for comics is their ability to weave scientific content into a narrative. Without being specifically educational they can introduce people to new concept and looks of deep time...

We can only scratch the surface here but as people who listened to Iacovos Le Du's #paleostreamcon talk will know: narratives and emotions are important and we sense an untapped potential here that thankfully is slowly being explored. We show several old and also very new examples!

In the second part of our paper we look at how comics can do this, using our very own product, the Europasaurus graphic novel. We show what work influenced us, how we structured the book and how we balanced story and scientific content.

We also go into compositions and how we tell stories with relatively few panels, to guide the eye and inform the reader about what's going on

This also gives you a good look at our actual process that involved weekly Skype calls and lots of doodling but I think the composition of our team was also important. ;)

We end with thoughts and ideas on outreach, providing examples like our animated book chapters and exhibitions we organized or took part in.

Our paper is open access and can be found on Geoscience communications

Studying into the evening means leaving campus after sundown when the world has transformed into a different spirit.

The course structure has many small deadlines and exams throughout the months of the season. So far I’ve graded above the curve but I can’t help but wish to be sitting at a higher percentile.

There are moments when I feel a bewitching desire to delve deeper, do better, experience more, and I’ll sit studiously over my textbooks. Then I stumble onto a poorly phrased line or the author skips over a step that would’ve been clarifying on how he came to his conclusion. As someone with an interest in science communication, taking introductory level science courses is as much to observe how the science is introduced as much as to learn it for myself.

Evolve unisex t-shirt

A motivational Tiktaalik here to inspire us to overcome adversity and evolve.

252mya.com/evo

Originally posted on my website at https://rebeccalexa.com/how-to-identify-cross-orbweaver-spiders/. Click here to learn more about the How to Identify article series.

Name: Cross orbweaver spider (Araneus diadematus), also known as cross spider, European garden spider, et. al.

Range and typical habitat(s): Native to much of Europe, sporadically found in temperate areas of Asia, introduced to North America, particularly the west coast and northeast United States.

Distinguishing physical characteristics (size, colors, overall shapes, detail shapes) and behaviors: Fall is just around the corner, and if you’re looking for more eco-friendly seasonal decorations, the cross orbweaver is the perfect fit! While these spiders have spent all summer chowing down on insects, by September they’ve gotten big enough to be quite visible on their large orb webs.

A mature female cross orbweaver spider.