Category: What’s New

What's New

Marine Science Book Club

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                                                        Marine Science Book Club: For a while I have had this idea to start doing a marine science book club as part of this blog. Inspiration came from our local book shop in Galway and I am a member of the Travel Writing book club. Over the break, I was visiting my family and ended up visiting Waterstones quite a lot! So I had a big pile of popular science books waiting to be read- some of which I have read, some I haven’t. However after attending Charlie Byrne’s travel writing book club I thought, every two months we can look at a popular marine science book and read it and then report back thoughts on this blog.

Here are some books I was considering. I thought if there is sufficient interest we could start with: “What has nature ever done for us?” by UK Sustainability adviser and former director of of Friends of the Earth, Tony Juniper. Recently he gave a series of lectures in Ireland and his book examines the value of nature- both ecologically and economically. The book discusses everything from the decline of vultures in India to coccolithophores and ocean acidification. Tony Juniper recently gave a talk at the Ryan Institute. Suggestions are Welcome!

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A                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   Recommendations of some other ideas are dotted around on this blog including:

Science, What's New

Maerl Documentary – A short trailer

Finally I can bring to you the trailer for the maerl documentary! This trailer gives you a small taster of the final hour long documentary film. As a PhD student studying maerl I encountered many researchers with diverse and in-depth knowledge about maerl beds in Ireland and worldwide and felt quite compelled to make this documentary. It includes interviews about marine botany, zoology, ecology, geology and marine geophysics, as well as the threat of anthropogenic impacts on maerl, climate change and possible solutions. Having been busy editing to sew together nine interviews, breathtaking scenery and diving footage. I am now consulting with my team and friends for suggestions of how to improve the near-final cut. Please tell your friends about this film and we hope it will help the next generation of scientists, educators and policy makers to conserve, protect and manage this vulnerable benthic habitat.

2020 Update! Full documentary can be viewed at: https://vimeo.com/130680635

What's New

Marmo the Octopus cuts the World Oceans Day Earth Cake!!

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Marmo the Octopus at Galway Atlantaquaria on World Oceans Day with the 3D Earth Cake, inspired by the Great GeoBake Off.
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Sarah Knight (Ryan Institute Outreach Officer), Marmo (our beloved octopus) and Siddhi Joshi (Resident cake baker) cut the Earth cake on World Oceans Day.
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The 3D Earth Cake has layers for the core, the mantle and the crust, with a very tasty educational goal!

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Further Information Links

 

What's New

Blog Carnival- Calling for your posts!

Blog Carnival

This year for World Oceans Day, we are hoping to host a Blog Carnival! A blog carnival is essentially, a sort of anthology, zine, or compilation of blog posts, as detailed on this link– in this case about seabed habitats. As part of this we are calling all Marine related blog writers to submit their own favourite posts related to the seabed-related sciences including marine biology, surveying, geology, technology or oceanography. It might be a blog post to do with your groups work, a marine plant or animal, an excursion or trip or expedition etc. We invite you to send in your marine blog posts to us via the contact us page. We will evaluate the entries and then include them in a celebratory blog carnival about Seabed Habitats on World Oceans Day on 8th June. Very exciting stuff!!

What's New

Michael and the Peppermints

This year at the Beneath the Waves Film Festival, the 2014 People’s Choice award went to “Michael and the Peppermints” created by Michael and Chelsey Crandall starring Michael Dickson. Ocypode Productions presents a profile of University of Florida Graduate Student Michael Dickson. This short documentary takes a look at Michael’s work, both in the field and in the lab, as he conducts scientific research into the ecology and population structure of peppermint shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. A poster of the Beneath the Waves film festival can be found at the artist’s following  link. The team also have a new paper out discussing the impact of film-making and film festivals in disseminating scientific research, complimenting scientific meetings. Their mission is to:

The mission of Beneath the Waves, Inc. and the Beneath the Waves Film Festival is to raise public awareness with regards to ocean conservation and marine science through the use of visual and digital media such as videos. We also seek to promote science communication and scientific literacy by encouraging and inspiring scientists, ocean enthusiasts, and members of the general public to produce, promote and communicate research and conservation through open-access, engaging short films.

Beneath the Waves

References

Staaterman et. al. 2014, Lights, camera, science: The utility and growing popularity of film festivals at scientific meetings, Ideas in Ecology and Evolution, Volume 7 Number 1.

The Beneath the Waves Film Festival website