The model cave got glued together. Holes drilled in the base and side. A cave sketched on the outside. Some crude painting to suggest limestone.

Add water (=rain) to the top, and water drips out the base - a simulated cave drip. Add lots of rain, and water overflows through the 'fracture' on the side - water pouring into the cave. Suck water or it from the top to simulate tree water use, and less water comes out the bottom.

It's with the Wellington Caves team to develop further and use in their Discovery Centre.

And yes, it looks like a bong.

#scicomms #science #caves #hydrology #water #Geology #groundwater #education

In the past, hazard reduction or prescribed burns (fires) were not allowed in New South Wales on karst reserves. That was in case there was an unexpected impact on caves or groundwater.

Between 2015 and 2018 we had funding to provide the evidence base - should prescribed burns occur? The strong evidence from a team of earth scientists and plant ecologists was yes. Prescribed burns would have negligable effects compared to wildfire, and in many sites, the vegetation need a fire to encourage reseeding.

Borenore Karst Conservation Reserve was one of our experimental sites, and I revisited it yesterday, looking great five years post-fire.

#wildfire #fire #ecology #karst #caves #research #forests #scicomms #science #earthscience #geology

Next week I've been asked to talk about cave percolation water hydrology to a group of cave guides.

I'll be explaining how the water gets from the surface to dripping into a cave.

I'm going to try to make a physical model - something to fill with water (or similar liquids) and turn into a drippy mess.

So far I have some soil storage (a sponge), a water store in the limestone (PVC pipe) that I'll make leaky (drill holes to come), and some tree water use (clear tubes, human suction needed).

I'm open to all ideas for how to make this work well!
In particular, next I need a (cheap) waterproof land surface and cave roof

#scicomms #science #hydrology #water #caves #groundwater #geology #environment #education

genuine and terrified question: what do we as scientists do now re: the massive rise in conspiracist anti-vax / anti-medicine / climate change denial / general mistrust of science rhetoric? it seems even in just the last 6 months to have gotten so much worse, especially following the 15 minute cities protests in the uk, rogan/musk on twitter hounding vaccine scientists, etc

#ScienceMastodon #scicomms #scientificcommunication

From my colleagues down the corridor at UNSW who have been collecting and analysing ear clips of dingoes and wild dogs

"Research suggests that more than half of Australia’s dingoes are genetically pure, not hybrids"

TL;DR they use a better DNA testing method, and find that Australia has four groups of pure dingos that have differences in DNA. Plus a group of dingo/dog mixed DNA. Now to find out if the differences in DNA lead to physical differences.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/29/research-suggests-that-more-than-half-of-australias-dingoes-are-genetically-pure-not-hybrids

#science #environmentalscience #envionment #DNA #dingoes #ecology #DogsOfMastodon #academia #SciComms #UNSW

Mostly, my research is in the vadose zone. I spend a lot of time in the vadose zone. But
what is the vadose zone?

Thankfully there's a blog for that

http://ow.ly/y9rC50NCtB1

#science #environment #soilscience #groundwater #hydrology #soils #SciComms #environmentalscience #academia #vadosezone

Thanks to @michcampbell, the "Reconstructing Australia’s fire history from cave stalagmites" project page has been updated.

If you are intrigued about wildfire, and the relationship between 🔥, climate and land management. And how caves contain wonderful records of past fire history,
please head to: https://www.ansto.gov.au/science/environment/reconstructing-australia%E2%80%99s-fire-history-from-cave-stalagmites

#wildfire #fire #science #earthscience #environmentalscience #academia #SciComms #caves @unsw

Here's a new meta-analysis of UK academic papers that provides evidence that, in science, papers with more coauthors have a higher research quality (as assessed by the UK research quality system).

It also addresses whether papers with more authors are more cited, and if so, why?

Why are coauthored academic articles more cited: Higher quality or larger audience? https://asistdl.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/asi.24755

#academia #academicchatter #publication #science #HigherEd #research #SciComms

A photo from today's UNSW Earth and Environmental Sciences class. 100+ students brought in 100+ soil samples for analysis for lead concentration. Thanks to the speed and ease of use of portable x-ray fluorescence analysers, 100+ samples is no problem.

Next week the students will develop hypotheses and start to analyse the data, before writing a report on Sydney soil lead concentrations.

Historically, lead in city soil comes from traffic pollution, lead paint and lead solder, and this persists in the environment today.

Some samples had high lead concentrations, we will retest those and offer advice.

#environment #earthscience #xray #envionmentalscience #geoscience #SciComms #science #academia #HigherEd #UNSW #lead #soilscience #soils #pollution #citylife #GEOS1211 @unsw

Meet our #TNC23 Keynote Speakers 🤩

Journalist, presenter, with more than 10 years of experience in #SciComms at Czech TV: on 7 June, Daniel Stach will be on the TNC23 stage in Tirana to share with us how we can successfully communicate and cooperate with scientists and research organisations 👉 https://tnc23.geant.org/sessions/#s275

Tirana, Albania - 5-9 June 2023. Hosted by RASH

#Keynote #sciencecommunication #Scicomm #CzechTv #research #science #communications #sciencecomms

If your communication has a call-to-action, remember to put in place appropriate systems and processes to handle any responses or actions taken.

This can make a big difference to the quality of engagement with your audience/ stakeholders, as well as help you maximise potential opportunities that arise.

Science Communication Made Easy by A Willett & C Philpott

#SciComms #communication #engagement #PublicEngagement #campaign #Advocacy #audience

Join our communications team! We are seeking a Digital Engagement Manager to serve an essential role in strengthening the Dana Foundation’s online presence, growing its diverse audiences, and helping to build the organization's brand identity as the leader in the emerging field of neuroscience and society. This is a full-time position with a hybrid schedule based in NYC. Head to Dana.org/job for details.
#neuroscience #neurosociety #scicomm #scicomms #scicommunity #commsjobs #jobalert

« A scientific #discovery is only as good as its #communication » #SciComms

⬇️ https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13632-020-00613-w?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

It is challenging to imagine the role of #climate in the evolution of dinosaurs. Changes and the spread of them are fundamental events in the history of life on #earth.

#SciComms

https://open.spotify.com/episode/4wmU10PiD2iYeWnbCocEjC?si=8XhlHpuRSWmyuK2Xf36RdQ&utm_source=copy-link

For those mentoring early career researchers, this commentary on the use of PrePrints to help gain reviewing skills might be interesting.

I haven't tried this, but now I can't see a reason why not.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-00085-2

#academia #Reviewing #preprints #science #SciComms

Super important work lead by Elena Velado (@habitacion_404). This is an internal version, but an expanded paper will come soon.
---
RT @RIOJournal
This is how @SHOWCASE_H2020 added their #scicomms strategy - a key deliverable of their project to their living #openscience outcomes collection in our #journal!
Available via @ARPHAPreprints: https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e99679 & displayed in the collection: https://doi.org/10.3897…
https://twitter.com/RIOJournal/status/1615326882102222852

👇 This is how the #Horizon2020 project SHOWCASE added their #scicomms strategy - a key deliverable of their #project to their living #openscience outcomes collection in our #journal!

🧐 Available via ARPHA Preprints: https://doi.org/10.3897/arphapreprints.e99679 & displayed in the living project outcomes collection in RIO: https://doi.org/10.3897/rio.coll.149

How can #SciComms help ourselves to recognize and confront the limits of knowledge? How are limits and possibilities of #knowledge communicated in science?

https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg25734212-500-why-it-is-important-to-explore-the-outer-limits-of-knowledge/

Highlighting some of our favorite #SciArt pieces from 2022. Thank you to the amazing artists who created these pieces for our Immune Matters magazine! (https://www.lji.org/news-events/immune-matters)

1. Mucosal immunity illustration - by Brad Krajina

2. "Academic Nomads" magazine cover - By Kim Roselier

3. Bat illustration - by Liz Hui

4. Cryo-EM microscope photo - by Dawid Zyla

#Immunology #STEM #Art #Painting #DigitalArt #illustration #SciComms #ScienceWriting #Photography

How has #climate communication changed? An overview of narratives, frames and imaginaries associated throughout time with events like the #COPs or key steps like the publications of #IPCC reports. A podcast about climate and communication 🎙️ #SciComms

https://open.spotify.com/episode/45EZ0BIw9bYW3991sfyE0l?si=IQdzL7KfR5-2fTmHH7frHg&utm_source=copy-link