The Nobel Prize Gender Gap 🤔

In 2013, a senior university administrator where I worked “joked” that - to garner more attention to our research - my team should imprison me & the 1 other woman in a basement. This was the same week in 2013 that national news focused on the 3 female victims kidnapped, abused & imprisoned in an Ohio house for over a decade. (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ariel_Castro_kidnappings)

This person was a former political appointee now at the university. Everyone went silent, but no one responded.

Africa is bigger than China, the US, Eastern Europe & India combined.

Since Earth is a sphere, flat maps dramatically distort the size of continents.

Source: Bryan Christie & Kai Krause for Scientific American #SharedPlanet #science

Listen to smart women with cats. (And with dogs, birds, lizards, rodents… )

Are you an introvert?

Terrific explainer by https://introverteed.com/blogs/news/an-introduction-to-the-introvert-social-battery #comic #art

Pioneering geologist & oceanographer Marie Tharp changed our understanding of the ocean.

When Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia in 1948, women couldn’t go on research ships. So she was hired to assist male grad students.

Back then, many scientists still assumed the bottom of the ocean was featureless. Tharp figured out how to use data to create sketches of the ocean floor. Her hand-drawn maps helped develop plate tectonic theory. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/marie-tharp #science #history

The “History” channel 😆

I simply adore this comic by Sketching Science #science #art

There are massive differences in the GHG emissions of different foods & "local" isn't always best for the environment.

This chart continues to be a great reference I return to in my work. Source: https://ourworldindata.org/food-choice-vs-eating-local #science #climate #food

Earth has a lot of humans & cattle. But not too many wild animals. #science #data

Earth has more livestock than humans, wild mammals & birds combined.

Visualizing the Biomass of Life by scientific illustrator Mark Belan ⬇️ #science #art

Guy at conference: Do you have kids?
Me: Yes.
Guy: Wow! So your husband is taking care of them?
Me: Yes. He’s their dad. 🤔

I know a lot of ppl at #COP28. But the thing is, the majority of them aren’t scientists or legislators. They’re also not working on #ClimateChange issues personally.

I can’t help but wonder if the UN #climate summits have become more of an annual festival than a productive dialogue.

According to The Washington Post, there are a record 84,000 attendees in Dubai this year due to “a large influx of business executives & lobbyists.”

I’d like to be more enthusiastic about the #COP28 #climate summit. It’s good that nations provide funding & global leaders & experts discuss climate targets.

BUT we see the commitments made - over & over - fall short. Collectively we could be & should be doing more.

As the old saying goes, actions speak louder than words. And there’s too little action.

“Man the Hunter has dominated the study of human evolution for nearly half a century & pervaded popular culture. [But] it was the arrival of agriculture that led to rigid gendered roles & economic inequality. Hunting belonged to everyone.”

The Theory That Men Evolved to Hunt & Women Evolved to Gather Is Wrong https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-theory-that-men-evolved-to-hunt-and-women-evolved-to-gather-is-wrong1/ #science #history

Mary Anning was born in 1799 in Great Britain. Her family lived in poverty, selling fossils to make ends meet.

Scientists of Anning’s day could not believe that a poor young woman could posses her knowledge & talent. She has been described as 'the greatest fossilist the world ever knew' yet many people are still unaware of her incredible contributions.

The majority of Anning’s discoveries ended up in museums & collections without credit. https://ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/anning.html #science #history

When I was a child in the 80s, the night sky was filled with stars. And those stars inspired us to imagine other worlds & ask really big questions.

Decades later, the night sky looks like a much lonelier place. Light pollution is increasing & I fear we may lose the ability to be awed by looking up & recognizing our place in the universe.

I don’t know about others, but I sure miss the stars. Image: Luke Stackpoole via Unsplash

Synth genius Wendy Carlos studied physics & music at Brown & Columbia. She helped develop the 1st Moog synthesizer & her 1968 classical album Switched-On Bach went platinum. She brought #music & tech together & composed soundtracks for A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, Tron & more.

Carlos was assigned male at birth & transitioned to female. Unfortunately, many journalists focus more on her gender than her accomplishments that changed music forever. http://www.wendycarlos.com

“Vote NO on Woman Suffrage” 🙄

Not ancient #history, but just a century ago.

Source: State Archives of North Carolina

Buildings are extremely deadly for migrating #birds every year, but they can be designed & updated to minimize collisions. https://birdcast.info/news/major-collision-event-in-chicago-4-5-october-2023/

Mortality for birds from collision with buildings is much higher than most folks realize. Although it’s worth noting that the toll is still vastly lower than deaths from cats.

Data from U.S. Fish & Wildlife. Also, bc it needs to be stated - this is not a post against cats. /2