Christy Visaggi @snail_and_sea@qoto.org

It's that time of year!!

Time to help Skype a Scientist by telling every teacher, librarian, troop leader, etc you know that Fall 2023 enrollment is OPEN!

Sign up here http://bit.ly/EnrollFall2023

We rely on word of mouth to grow, so this action is critical for us!

The SF Bay was once a paradise for oysters. Then they were overharvested and environmental changes led to them never returning in the same numbers. But the legacy of tens of thousands of years of prolific oyster reef growth still supports an industry dedicated to mining fossil oyster shell from the floor of the Bay. These days, the shells are used to create calcium supplements for the chicken industry. #clamFacts
https://phys.org/news/2023-03-ancient-mound-shells-san-francisco.html

Calling all #NGSS teachers & #ngsschat folks. Do you know an excellent K-12 earth science educator? Nominate them for the National Association of Geoscience Teachers Outstanding Earth Science Teacher award. Nominations are open until March 31 and the form is very easy to fill-out!

#Geoscience #Geology #Stem #Education #Teaching #NAGT #Teachers

https://nagt.org/nagt/awards/oest.html

4.54 billion years ago: If #Earth's history would be one year, today in less than 24 hours Earth grows into a planet from a cloud of dust and gas. Formed by the collision of smaller bodies, the Hadean Earth and a few neighboring protoplantes survive the early bombardment. Heavy elements like iron and nickel sink to the center, lighter like silicon and aluminum remain on the surface, forming a first & unstable crust and a molten mantle 🌑

Happy Birthday to American computer programmer Jean Bartik, born in Gentry County, Missouri, #OnThisDay in 1924. Barik was one of the six women who were the original programmers of the ENIAC computer.

Learn all about the ENIAC programmers on Unsung History!

🎧: unsunghistorypodcast.com/ENIAC

#JeanBartik #WomenInSTEM #WomenInComputing #ENIAC #OTD #history #histodons #podcast

December 25, 1893, birthday of Isabel Clifton Cookson, Australian botanist who specialized in paleobotany and palynology. The early land plant Cooksonia is named in her honor 🎄

https://tinyurl.com/ulc8mqv

Sending love and light to anyone lonely, bereaved, suffering in any way, or who finds this season difficult. A few reminders, sent to me by a friend:
#JoinIn

A reminder that #LiveLikeTom stickers are available & make great gifts for the scientists in your lives. All funds go to help #ECR scientists from historically excluded groups. Help us honor his legacy

December 10, 1823, Mary Anning finds the first complete Plesiosaur skeleton. She sketched her discovery in one of her letters - the #animal's anatomy was so unusual, at first nobody believed her 🎧🐉

https://futilitycloset.com/2018/06/11/podcast-episode-204-mary-annings-fossils/

In 1925, Dr. Cecilia Payne completed her PhD thesis, described as “the most brilliant ever written in astronomy.” At a time when few #women entered academia, Payne discovered what the universe is made of. Her work began a revolution in astrophysics.

Dr. Payne-Gaposchkin became the 1st female professor & 1st female department chair at Harvard. Given most of us remember names like Darwin & Newton, we should also celebrate Payne. #science #space

Read more at https://www.aps.org/publications/apsnews/201501/physicshistory.cfm

Are you making full use of Chrome extensions to boost your productivity?

Whether its timers, grammar checking, or managing tabs.

Here are 8 must-have types of extensions + a bonus one to boost your productivity!
🧵

#academia #PhD #science #xp @OpenAcademics @AcademicChatter

For #givingtuesday I'm advocating for the Bailey-Matthews National Shell Museum in Sanibel, Florida. They were flooded by 6 feet of water during Hurricane Ian, tragically destroying much of their living animal collections. They have a world-leading collection of shells, which is a major resource for researchers like me. They are trying to rebuild, including plans to relocate significant proportions of their collection off of Sanibel. https://donorbox.org/bmnsm-greatest-need

It’s fun discussing papers with grad students in lab meeting, but sometimes I think it’s easy to be overly critical of other people’s work. It’s important to also talk about your what we like about the paper and what it contributes to science. As PI, it’s my job to make sure we build up & not just tear down. #AcademicChatter #mentoring

50 years of global glacier change compared to temperature change 🏔️

Purple ➡️orange = more➡️less ice

I love it in here. There's currently a hashtag named #thicktrunktuesday that is basically pics of massive, beautiful trees.
I humbly submit El Tule, an incredible ahuehuete from the state I was born, Oaxaca. It's over 2000 years old. "Tule" means "Tree of Enlightment" #Oaxaca #Mexico #ElTule It has the thickest trunk in the world.

Someone said to me recently (when I was trying to "It's ok" away my tears): "It's not ok. But you'll be ok." I found that really comforting, so just putting it out there in the world.

Hi Mastodon! I'm a journalist at @sciencemagazine, where I delve into stories about the scientific community and the various challenges that come with pursuing a career in science. I'm a former scientist myself—I earned a Ph.D. in ecology and did a stint as a postdoc before realizing that the best career path for me lay elsewhere. Feel free to get in touch if you'd like to introduce yourself or suggest a story idea. #ScienceMastodon #academicchatter

Sunrise over the Mauna Loa #eruption

https://www.usgs.gov/media/webcams/mlcam-mokuaweoweo-caldera-northwest-rim

Was reading about uses of marine life by the Wampanoag people and found reference to this absolutely badass basket made of horseshoe crab carapaces. Horseshoe crabs were a major resource for food and materials for the tribes of the Eastern Seaboard of North America. They even used the spiked telson (tail segment) for speartips. Couldn't find actual pictures, will keep looking! Source: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24530881