Today is legendary! Why, you ask? Well, we are celebrating TEN YEARS of DSN posts. That’s right – if you go wayyyyyyyyy back in the archives you will note that the proto-Deep Sea News empire began with a little post by Dr. M on December 13, 2006.

What were we all doing in 2006? Well as for myself (this is Holly speaking), I was just starting my PhD research in good ol’ London towne. I was listening to a lot of Pussycat Dolls, and Christina Aguilera was going through that weird jazz phase. I was smoovely fixing nematodes on glass slides to the tune of Chamillionaire, and I had just signed up to this cool new website called Facebook.

As you can fathom, a lot has changed in 10 years. The DSN crew has moved forward and onwards in our careers, many of us metamorphosing from wee little student trainees into Real Scientists. Our list of contributors has changed and evolved. We write different types of posts now (should we remind Dr. M that he used to use DSN as a cruise blog?). In light of recent world events, our message and mission has become increasingly urgent.

But other things haven’t changed – our Core Values, although not formalized in writing until 2011, have always been a fundamental part of Deep Sea News. The passion, enthusiasm, and dedication of all of our past and present writers will never change. And of course I still listen to the Pussycat Dolls (because how can you NOT?)

So in celebration of our site’s 10 year anniversary, here we present you with our Top Ten (and then some) posts in DSN History:

2006 

Wetting my toes

Kim: Do I need to explain that the very first post on DSN is also that years highlight? It’s real, it’s sweet and it kicked off ten years of online shenanigans!

2007 

Just Science Weekend: They Eat Their Young

Jarrett: I <3 DSN in 2007. You can feel the online science world trying to figure out what it was. DSN was a more news-y place, with a heavy dose of reportage on the deep sea, like this awesome interview of sub pilot David Guggenheim. But amidst that, DSN was also figuring out who it was going to become – and this gem of a piece from Peter Etnoyer epitomizes the future, showing us that not only are deep sea fish all around us in our everyday lives, but man, do they sure like to cannibalize their babies. Mmmmmm….babiez.

2008

Dumping Pharmaceutical Waste In The Deep Sea

Rebecca: 2008 was a year or short-and-sweet posts, punctuated by long and well-researched articles on everything from coral age to deep ocean waves. DSN found a unique voice in being a place not just to report on the latest news, but also provide a scientist’s perspective on the way news about the ocean is reported in the press. This was also a year of raising awareness, with Dr. M’s post on pharmaceutical dumping in the deep as a perfect example of how blogs can call attention to unique and important stories that the press might miss.  

2009 

Holly: My favorite thing about 2009 is the epicness of Kevin Zelnio, best summarized with these two posts:

TGIF: TOTELY AWSUM SEE KUKUMBR!!!11!!!!11!

This post is a HILARIOUS animated video about a very boring sea cucumber, complete with rock guitar soundtrack. I think I just re-watched it like five times.

Thank You for Caring About Ocean Education!

(the more serious and dedicated size of Zelnio, where he coordinated a campaign at DonorsChoose.org and raised over $4800 from our readers. This campaign funded Ocean Education projects in K-12 classrooms around the country!)

2010 

All the coverage of the Deep Water Horizon Spill

Kim: Let’s be real, the Macondo well blowout sucked for the Gulf. But in terms of science, DSN was on it providing weekly updates and posting readable summaries of technical reports. The entire archive is here folks.

How To Cuddle Your Lady Right, by Smoove A

In this epic post, Miriam describes how one microscopic crustacean makes all the right moves and makes the mating happen. All biology textbooks should be written like this.

2011

From the Editor’s Desk: The Giant Squid Can Be A Panda For The Ocean

Holly: First of all, I love the 2011 Editor’s Desk posts because Craig very epically summarized himself with a minimalist icon of his bald head and beard. Second, the Giant Squid is WAYYYY more awesome than those damn dolphins and whales that everyone keeps going on about. And I prefer my cuddly mascots with lethal beaks and suckers, thank you very much.

From the Editor’s Desk: The Future of Deep-Sea News

This is the post where we formalized our now infamous core values – they were the brain child of the very first DSN retreat at the Georgia Aquarium, a weekend of meeting rooms and champagne in a rotating sky hotel. One of those things turned out better than the other.

2012 

#IamScience: Embracing Personal Experience on Our Rise Through Science

Jarrett: This post embodies DSN at it’s best. Kevin Z. takes us on his deeply personal and emotional journey into science. It’s a kind of story rarely told, and one that so many need to hear.

How presidential elections are impacted by a 100 million year old coastline

In this post, Craig connects American history with geological history, and ties it all together to understand how both impacted the 2012 presidential election. This post exploded the internet.

2013 

Kim: 2013 was just so awesome, I couldn’t just pick one!

10 Reasons Why Dolphins Are A$$holes

Do I even need to explain?

A field guide to privilege in marine science: some reasons we lack diversity.

When Miriam left DSN, she went out with a deeply important and thoughtful list. If you are an ally and want to see marine science grow, read this piece.

How many people does Kaiju need to eat everyday 

Sure we love all the creatures of the deep, but we also love Hollywood’s imaginary beasts as well. Craig answers some serious questions regarding the metabolism of the monsters in Pacific Rim.

The 60 foot long jet powered animal you’ve probably never heard of

In case you didn’t know what Rebecca’s niche in the online ecosystem, this is it. Someone found a giant gelatinous tube in the sea, she identifies it, and the internetz go wild. Rebecca, helping jellies go viral since 2013.

True Facts about Ocean Radiation and the Fukushima Disaster 

SPOILER ALERT: unless you live within 100 miles of the reactor, radiation from the Fukushima Disaster is still not harmful. This post was meant to be a guide to understanding radiation in the ocean. It ended up being one of most shared posts ever and the one we received death threats over.

2014

The Ever Increasing Size of Godzilla: Implications for Sexual Selection and Urine Production

Beth: Where Craig discusses the body size characteristics of godzilla over time, and the logical implications this would have on the millions of gallons of urine that massive godzilla would generate. This post has the thing that makes me love DSN – using scientific reasoning to explain a totally ridiculous thing. And it features Craig’s weird obsession with the size of things.

Runner up:

Sex, snails,sustenance…and rock and roll 

Where Craig uses great metaphors to explain some cool scientific studies on how snails reproduce based on food availability, featuring inappropriate references to rock stars and sex, and with a bonus soundtrack!

2015 

Ten Simple Rules for Effective Online Outreach

Alex: It’s like we all wrote a blog post… together. And then published it for realsies.

2016 

On Being Scared.

Alex: In which Craig verbalizes the place we have all been. I love and admire the vulnerability in this post and that he ended it so positively… that even when shit hits the proverbial sea fan, we get to choose how we respond. We get to choose how we show up.

Runner up:

The Twelve Days of Christmas: NASA Earth Science Edition

Alex: When you get retweeted by NASA… you get a spot on the list.

(Runner up #2)

The worst ocean environments to catch them all

Rebecca: When you love Pokémon but hate crushing barometric pressure.

The post A Decade of Deep Sea Decadence first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The post Dive Into Education With Deep Sea News! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Thank you all so very much for all your support and giving. My students and I are so excited to receive the new life for our aquarium. Not only will it enrich our classroom learning for the students this year but these gifts will carry on unto the years ahead. I believe that to stimulate children’s minds to love the ocean and possibly become a marine biologist they need to see the beauty and diversity of the ocean.

With gratitude,
Mr. H

Many many thanks to everyone who contributed:

• David from Harleysville, PA
• Lauren from White Plains, NY
• A Science Education Nerd from Marblehead, MA
• Jarrett Byrnes
• Rachel Weidinger
• Eric from Mystic, CT
• Kimberly
• Sandra Phenning from California
• Janet Stemwedel
• Theron Hinckley
• Anonymous Donor
• Our own Kevin Zelnio

And of course, I promised an AMAZING PRIZE to a randomly selected donor! I have put all the donors in my random-number-generator-hat, and the WINNER IS….

KIMBERLY!

Congratulations, Kimberly! Please email us your mailing address by Sunday, Nov 27, and I’ll send you some wonderful tokens of our esteem. If we don’t hear from you by the deadline, I’ll pick another winner out of the random-number-generator-hat.

Many many thanks to everyone who donated to Donor’s Choose! If you haven’t donated yet and feel all left out, check out the many amazing #SciFund projects.

Now please enjoy this penguin happy dance:

The post WE DID IT! Salt-water aquarium for low-income school COMPLETELY funded! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

But you don’t have to stop there! The #SciFund campaign is challenging scientists to fund a research project using crowdsourcing. They’ve raised over $45,000 for awesome science so far, and they are offering prizes too! Browse the projects and donate to whatever interests you. You can help measure the force of a duck’s erection (I kid you not), build a robo-squirrel for rattlesnake bait, figure out why some dolphins have their fins on backwards, save Hawaii’s coral reefs, and figure out why it’s so hard to count fish underwater. AND MORE!

DONATE TO DONOR’S CHOOSE

PICK A #SCIFUND PROJECT

The post Two opportunities to make science awesome and WIN PRIZES! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

You guys rock! Thirteen of us managed to bundle up enough cash, just shy of $1,000, to fund 3 project, impacting over 130 students. Many of these supplies will live on to be used by future students down the line so your impact is really immeasurable. Aside from myself, these 12 dedicated ocean lovers deserve a big round of applause for putting the money where it matters most – in local, impoverished schools.
Eric from CT
Lauren from NY
Janice from SC
David from PA
Janet from CA
Jarrett from CA
Elizabeth from IL
Danna from CA
“A science education nerd” from MA
The Donor’s Choose Team
1 Anonymous donor
And our very own Miriam

Thanks to you all, students from Tennessee will learn about ocean acidification, first-graders in Rochester NY will be inspired by their new aquarium, while young learners in Brooklyn NY will learn how important our biggest environment is through their books and toys. One teacher wrote to our readers about what this means for her class:

Thank you so much for your support of this hands-on environmental project I am developing! As an exciting sidenote, my lesson plan and powerpoint for this Ocean Acidification Student Research Project has now been shared with interested educators across the nation via the National Science Teacher Association chatgroups that I actively participate in. As the materials arrive, I will be creating a ‘how to’ guide educators using pictures that I will take as my students and I set up for the project. This project you have so generously funded has already expanded to inspire other science teachers across the nation – before it has even arrived!

Another side note is that I am now pushing my district into allowing me the opportunity to pilot our first ever AP Environmental course offering in 2012. I am currently looking into how to increase the depth of this honors Chemistry project to use it in the upper level Environmental corse. The materials you have made possible will be used for many years to come and in with more students.
With gratitude,
Mrs. P

It’s not too late to make a difference either! Just because our annual drive is over doesn’t mean kids are in any less need. We still have three unfunded projects that we would be honored if you choose to help us fund. There is roughly $1,800 needed to get all three off the ground and OVER 600 STUDENTS WILL BE IMPACTED from just these three projects alone! The4se are schools are in high poverty areas of Detroit, Lousiania and Utah where the educational system has left behind many of its youth. But these teachers are taking the time out of their days to go above and beyond the state-mandated curriculum to provide their students with inspirational learning projects they would never receive otherwise. Let’s not fail them!

Let’s get Louisiana students the materials they need to study their own seas – who knows, maybe inspire a generation that cares enough about the ocean to do everything they can to prevent future oil spill catastrophes in their own backyard. Let’s inspire students from the mountains, many of whom English is a second language, or students from the motor city, many of whom may never see an ocean. Because I’m serious about giving students the best opportunities for learning about the ocean I will send EVERY donor, between now and November 1st, that gives $25 or more one book from my collection of science books. You can pick which one!

Let’s do this. Our impact is high, thousands read us every day and it is getting towards the season of giving and caring, let’s put our collective energy into this next week and get the word out and make this a reality for at least 600 students and teachers.

The post Thanks for supporting oceans in the classroom, but we got more work to do! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

There is no way I would be a scientist without the science resources I had access to in my large urban public high school. Also, it’s my birthday and I want to reclaim my lost youth by giving some anemones and jellyfish to these kids.  So to sweeten the pot I will give YOU presents for my birthday! If you donate to the Deep Sea News Donors Choose projects, you will be entered in a drawing to win a prize, sent by yours truly. (People who already donated will also be entered.) Nothing says “I care about science education” like a mug with a research vessel punctured by a giant triton! Donate now!

The post Donate marine life to a low-income classroom and get a prize! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

The post Support Oceans in the Classrooms! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Most of these schools are impoverished and I don’t think I need to tell anyone how bad the financial situation is this year, but many states are slashing educational funding and laying off teachers just to keep operating at the minimal expense. This is so important to me, not just because I care deeply about education and learning about the ocean. These impoverished schools are the schools I am sending my son to, and next year my daughter. These impoverished families – who cannot afford school supplies, have jobless parents and qualify for free lunches – is my family. We are thankful to not have to send my son $2 every for school lunches, but my wife and I know that every little activity they do in Kindergarten is so vital to facilitating his first impressions of school. He loves school so much and can’t wait to show us everything he makes.

We never ask anything of our readers, we do not display annoying ads and time after time we get glowing comments, emails, tweets, FB messages from you all – of which we SO thankful for. (Although, please feel free to leave me and my family a donation via paypal :). 5 months without a regular salary has been tough on us.) But during the next two and a half weeks we hope you show your generosity and make tax-deductible donation to an ocean science and learning school project of your choice on our Donor’s Choose giving page.

Over the course of this drive, lasting until October 20, we’ll be reminding you about how much it means to support our schools and give our love of the ocean to those who may not have access to the basic resources. Why not start now by finishing off this great classroom project on Acid  Seas for a high poverty high school in Dickinson, Tennessee. These children are landlocked, yet their teacher wants to take the extra effort for her class to conduct a simple experiment on how pH affects zooplankton. Simple, but with a powerful message that will hopefully resonate with students who mostly go on to careers in the farm & agricultural industry. Only $97 is needed to fund it too!

The post Help us Support Oceans in the Classroom! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Katharine N., Gregory G., Abby B., Deborah M., Matthew D., Brian R., Jennifer G., Ken S., Chelsea C., Elisa C., Natasha W., Christy I., Jarrett B., Alastair D., and 4 anonymous donors, plus Craig and myself.

Remember, your donation WILL BE MATCHED BY HP! So you awesome people will be receiving a Donor’s Choose gift card to use to support (hopefully) more Ocean Bloggers United for Education projects after this month long run initiative is over.

There is still time to make a difference and put your hat in the ring to win some one-of-kind prizes. A shrunken head DECORATED BY YOU from the crushing pressure of the deep Monterey Canyon?? A book or two from my collection?? A Knitted mollusk?? A song written for you by me about your favorite ocean creature?? MEXICAN SQUID MEMORABILIA!? This is insane, why are waiting???

Just hear how your donations have made such a difference to Mrs. B, who was the last project to be funded by us:

Thank you so much for funding our Under the Sea Treasures! Surf’s Up in 1st-Grade! Dive on In! project on Donorschoose.org! We can’t wait to get these fun ocean items. I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it is to have new materials in our classroom! My first-graders get so excited about even the tiniest things! Bringing the ocean to them through these wonderful activities and books is going to create a fantastic learning experience that they will remember forever. I want to help my students to learn about the ocean so that they can appreciate what an important and beautiful resource it is. You have helped me to do this! Thank you very much for caring so much about something so beautiful and for caring about my little students who hold the future in their hands! We appreciate your gifts very much and promise to use them well.

Please help to inspire our future ocean warriors! I know we can do so much more and $25 is priceless when it helps to inspire a life long appreciation of, perhaps even a career in, the ocean.

The post Thanks for YOUR Ocean Education Support! first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Dear Kevin Zelnio,

Wow! What a tremendous effort from everyone who wanted to make this project a reality. We are so grateful for your help, and are looking forward to bringing dissection to our classrooms! Science classrooms around the country perform dissections, to increase student knowledge and help prepare students for science work in college. You have made sure that my students can be counted in those numbers. We appreciate your help to get our dissection pans and kits!
We will be using this equipment as soon as we can, and sharing photos of our first experiences in the classroom. Thanks for caring about science education, and we hope that you all will continue to ensure a world-class science education across the country!

With gratitude,
Ms. G.

There are many projects to donate to that are excellent experiences for young students in high poverty areas where money for supplies is virtually nonexistent. All donations are tax-deductible. If you do donate please do so through the Ocean Bloggers’ Oceans in the Classroom initiative through the portal on the right sidebar!

The post Ocean Bloggers Still Rocking It Out for the Kids! first appeared on Deep Sea News.