Everyone gets into science communication for different reasons, but to date this might be my favorite:

“Some senators were being dicks and criticizing physiology science as wasteful spending of taxpayer dollars.”

Garfield Kwan, of the dynamic duo behind the ocean comic Squidtoons, was working in a physiology lab at the time when Senator Tom Coburn’s scaling 2011 critique of “wasteful” NSF funding was released. Little did the Senator know that putting on blast the epic physiological research that involved running shrimp on treadmills would inspire Kwan to explore connecting a larger audience to science in his own unique way.

Thus, Squidtoons was born. In collaboration with scientific illustrator Dana Song, Squidtoons is an ocean comic dedicated to translating scientific research into engaging infographics to educate the pubic about science, provide educators with teaching tools, and support scientists with compelling illustrations. Infused with a significant dose of humor and pop culture, each comic is the product of an extensive amount of research and expert scientific review. The illustrations are as accurate as they are dazzling. We here at DSN were fans of Squidtoons before it was cool.

This year Kwan and Song expanded their inky, scicom-ic empire by publishing their first ever Squidtoons book “illustrating science with farts, burps, and giggles.” Containing 120 pages of the Squidtoons “best of” playlist, the book is a fun romp for both kids and adults alike. Garfield reflects on his hopes for the book, “Squidtoons has the potential to be a great outreach tool for researchers around the world, as well as a great platform for the public to understand science by researchers from around the world.”

Get yours today just in time to dazzle your relatives for the holidays with all of your ocean science nerd jokes- courtesy of Squidtoons!

The post Writings on the SeaWall: Squidtoons first appeared on Deep Sea News.

So perhaps I have been living under a rock, but I don’t know how I haven’t seen this website till now. I recently stumbled upon a stroke of ocean science video magic known as, “The Plankton Chronicles.” In association with the Tara Oceans Expedition and the Observatoire Oceanologique de Villefranche-sur-Mer (OOV), marine biologist Christian Sardet and his team at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique and Paris University have created stunning educational compilations on many of our oceans gelatinous friends. Devoted to a global study of plankton in all oceans, Sardet initiated the Plankton Chronicles project to combine science and art in conveying the diversity and beauty of plankton. From adorable pteropods to carnivorous ctenophores, this ever-expanding collection of films has something for everyone.

WATCH THEM ALL RIGHT NOW!!!

If you just can’t get enough plankton from the Chronicles site (really who can?) you are in luck! Sardet recently compiled the book “Plankton: Wonders of the Drifting World” set to release May 2015. At first I was actually pretty sad as I thought you could only get this in French and I thought I was just going to have to buy it for the pretty pictures alone. Turns out, it’s in English too, so if you would like to make a donation to my copy or the DSN library, we accept all major forms of credit card, travelers cheques, doubloons, diamonds, etc.

Christian Sardet, along with his Tara Oceans Expedition colleague, Michael Sieracki, will also be gracing the halls of the NMNH on April 3rd to share in their adventures on the expedition and wow attendees with the awesomeness of plankton through stunning photographs and short videos.

Whoever gets to go…I am super jelly of you. Pun intended.

The post The Plankton Chronicles first appeared on Deep Sea News.

If you see a book missing from our beginning list please suggest it below.  Provide a short commentary and we will include it in the description.

The post Essential Marine Readings first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Emoji Dick is a crowd sourced and crowd funded translation of Herman Melville’s Moby Dick into Japanese emoticons called emoji.

Each of the book’s approximately 10,000 sentences has been translated three times by a Amazon Mechanical Turk worker. These results have been voted upon by another set of workers, and the most popular version of each sentence has been selected for inclusion in this book. (As described on the book’s website).

The hardcover, color edition will set you back a cool $200, but the softcover black and white book is a steal at only $40. Something to put on your Christmas List, perhaps?

The post TGIF: Emoji Dick first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Warning: This post is rated PG-13 and is safe for work, but contains links to NSFW adult-only content. Click at your own risk.

Most marine scientists remain blissfully unaware of the existence of tentacle-themed pornography, which originated from Japan. The paths of people who work with real life tentacle-creatures and the paths of people who envision sex with imaginary tentacle-creatures do not often cross.  So when I saw io9’s post on an upcoming tentacle porn anthology aimed at raising money for marine conservation, I had to know more. The anthology, titled Coming Together, Arm in Arm in Arm, is part of the larger Coming Together erotica series, which raises money for charity with the tagline “Doing Good While Being Bad.” Tentacle anthology editor Nobilis Reed and Coming Together series editor Alessia Brio graciously agreed to chat with me about the relationship between eroticized tentacles, marine biology, and saving the ocean.

Miriam Goldstein (MG): Most people not dialed into the hentai world are pretty shocked that tentacles, cold and slimy things they are, can be eroticized. Could you explain (in a PG-13 way) what is sexy about tentacles if you’re a person and not a squid?

Nobilis Reed: This isn’t my first anthology…I edited Tentacle Dreams for Republica Press last year. And what counts as erotic can be different from one person to another. But what I have seen that’s quite common, is the sense of helplessness in the face of something too alien to communicate with. I think you’ll agree that we’ll likely have “conversations” (whatever that means) with dolphins before we do with octopuses. No negotiation, no seduction…just raw lust.

MG: I think many people would describe dolphins like that, horny bastards that they are!

Nobilis Reed: I have heard stories!

MG: Most of the hentai I have seen involves just tentacles and Japanese schoolgirls – can tentacle porn be more than that?

Nobilis Reed: Oh, certainly. In fact, I really want to see stories that transcend that stereotype. I wrote “Monster Whisperer” as a parody of a certain TV series involving pets…where tentacle monsters of various breeds are kept, domesticated.

MG: That actually leads into my next questions – are there ever creatures on the other end of those tentacles? Or is it just about the tentacles?

Alessia Brio: The same question could be asked about romance heroes.

MG: HAH! Many of the same adjectives too, I’m sure.

Nobilis Reed: Absolutely [there are creatures involved]. And not just sea creatures, either – space aliens, creatures from Lovecraftian alternate dimensions, and more. I’d love to see some stories where the “person” with the tentacles is the point-of-view character.

MG: How much of your inspiration do you draw from ocean animals? Do you ever do research for your stories?

Nobilis Reed: Actually, I did a good deal of research. I set up the schedule so that I could release the book during giant octopus mating season.

Alessia Brio: I thought that was brilliant!

MG: So is your work influenced at all by the specific mechanics of real-life cephalopod mating, such as hectocotyli (specialized sex tentacles) and spermatophores?

Nobilis Reed: Well…yes, in an ancillary way. But I used the Nautilus, at least, as the basic animal. I thought their tentacles were a bit more interesting. And in that particular case, it wasn’t looking for a mate, per se. More like a host… to say more would give away the plot of that story, and probably go past PG-13.

MG: How were nautilus tentacles interesting to you, if that won’t give too much away?

Nobilis Reed: Well, octopus and squid tentacles are not entirely symmetrical. They have suckers on one side, of course, and smooth skin on the other. They grip by means of the suckers more than anything else. Nautilus tentacles don’t have suckers. They grip by wrapping around. They’re shorter, and have ridges near the end that function something like fingerprints do on fingers.

MG: Ah, I see. Since we’re on the subject of tentacle morphology, one thing that has always alarmed me about tentacle sex is that squid tentacles are TERRIFYING, with spikes on the suckers and everything. Do people tend to make tentacles more friendly in these stories, or do they incorporate these scarier elements too?

Nobilis Reed: Well, there’s two things going on here. First of all, terror is part of the appeal, especially for women who are fans of the genre. At least, in my experience. But yes, generally speaking, people aren’t getting ripped to shreds. The creature doesn’t want to eat you… at least, not the way a real squid eats a fish. Can I link you to a picture?

MG: Sure. [typed with some trepidation]

Nobilis Reed:

MG: Awwww!

Nobilis Reed: This is a webcomic artist named Humon…one of her series is about a couple, where the heroine is a feminine tentacle monster. So yeah, some folks acknowledge that suckers leave marks.

MG: How did you decide to link tentacle porn with marine conservation?

Nobilis Reed: Well, Tentacle Dreams has been a pretty good seller for me. I wanted to do one for Coming Together, and it seemed the most appropriate. After all, we don’t have a Martian Legal Defense Fund or Friends of Otherworldly Horrors.

MG: I would totally donate to Friends of Otherwordly Horrors. Won’t somebody think of the shoggoths?

Nobilis Reed: I was thinking of starting “International Amorous Invertebrates Association.” The acronym IAIA seemed perfect. But running a charity is a lot of work, and I’d rather write.

MG: [could not type for a moment, laughing too hard at IAIA. If you have no idea why, go here.]

MG: How did you get involved, Alessia?

Alessia Brio: I’ve been publishing Coming Together anthologies since 2005, each for a different cause. Last year, Nobilis pitched a collection & I gave it the green light. He did such a good job, I didn’t hesitate to say yes to the tentacle collection. Most of Coming Together anthologies have been erotica leaning toward erotic romance, but Nobilis brings the sci into the fi. I like that.

Nobilis Reed: Alessia and I met at a science fiction convention.

Alessia Brio: Coming Together is all over the map, really It started as strictly erotica — all types including sci/fi. I prefer to have a theme that isn’t related to sexual pairings. For example, I won’t do a strictly male-male collection, because humans are sexually diverse and I want our work to reflect that “erotic cocktail.”

MG: To bring it back around to the tentacles, how did you select Oceana as your charity of choice?

Nobilis Reed: I went to a website called Charity Navigator, which rates charities by transparency, accountability and finances. Oceana scored very high, and I went to the website and looked it over. Since my readers are global, I wanted a charity that was global in scope.

MG: Where can people buy the book?

Alessia Brio: The book will be available in ebook via all major outlets & in print via Amazon.com.

MG: Thank you so much for your time, and for saving the oceans in a most unusual way!

The post Interview: New anthology of tentacle porn reaches for marine conservation first appeared on Deep Sea News.

Andrew with coauthor Chris Eastland have moved Zooborns from blog to book.  The book’s 150 pages is barely enough to contain the sickening cuteness of dozens of snuggly young animals. The photographs are enough to purchase the book.  But another surprising addition, makes it worth the buy…interesting and useful trivia to use at your next cocktail party.  Just imagine while sipping your gin and tonic stating with confidence “An elephant’s trunk is made up of over 40,000 muscles” or “Along with platypus, echidnas are the only mammal to lay eggs.”  Well now you can!  Seriously, I commend Bleiman and Eastland for providing a book rich in both content and visually stunning photography.  The book is available in both adult and kids versions for less than $10.

The post Zooborns first appeared on Deep Sea News.

As the only defining character left after digestion, the squid beak is important in determining the type of squid that eaten. As Paul Rodhouse wrote in the preface:

“This new guide will be an essential identification tool for ecologists working on the diets of higher predators. Nevertheless it is clear that there are still cephalopod beaks being found in predator diets that belong to species that are unknown to science.”

As a fun game the first person to download the book and identify this lower cephalopod beak will win the love and adoration of Deep Sea News and have their name (or pseudonym) displayed on our frontpage for all the world to see how awesome they are and get Mad Taxonomic Skillz bragging rights!

Rules:

1) Download the Cephalopod Beak Guide

2) Bask in its glory

3) Identify the squid beak below (hint: it is the lower beak)

4) Post a comment with the answer and include your name/pseudonym (how you would like to be acknowledged) and a valid email address

5) Get adoration and see name on top of website until next contest

5) You better get to it fast because there are lots of DSN readers with Mad Taxonomic Skillz!

The post The Cephalopod Beak Guide Contest first appeared on Deep Sea News.

It is with great sadness that I post this from the Other 95%…

I received the sad news today that Martin Wells, imminent biologist, one of the founders of Churchill College at the University of Cambridge and, a great friend of the cephalopods and all marine invertebrates, has passed away at the age of 80. Son of H.G. Wells, Martin was a highly accomplished biologist who was especially inspired by cephalopods and other marine invertebrates. His wonderful book Civilization and the Limpet portrays his love marine life. While aimed at the general audience, it should be, in my opinion, required reading for any future (or current) marine or invertebrate biologist, indeed it would be good for anyone with any interest in biology. The first time I sat down with it, I read it in one evening, it is that readable and good.

Wells’ papers were some of the first and most inspirational I read as undergraduate contemplating a career in Marine Biology.  His thoughts continue to influenced my own even as I moved away from cephalopod research.  I agree with Eric’s statement that Civilization and the Limpet is one of the best book written on the subject.  I have reposted my review of the book from last year…

Kevin was nice enough to send a copy of the Civilization and the Limpet by Martin Wells. Although aware of Well’s research, I was wholly unaware of this book. I triumphantly finished it yesterday and am admittedly impressed. The book is unabashedly Mollusc as Wells’ research is largely on Cephalopods. Much of the book also centers on physiology again because of Wells’ background. Each chapter is a stand alone narrative utilizing his experience to discuss adaptations in marine organisms and instill passion for the ocean. The book geared for the public possesses nuggets of wisdom even for well-read experts. One of my favorite chapters discusses the rise and fall of cephalopod rule of the oceans. Additional favorite passage is

Neither biological research nor college administration pays very handsomely, but when you come down to it, it is very marvelous thing that the world is prepared to pay at all for the like of us to spend so much of our lives in the study of anything so inherently interesting and outright beautiful as animals. In the bad times, I try to reflect on that. And there are bad times, just as in any other creative activity. Research is like painting pictures. The product hardly ever turns out quite as well as one might have hoped; it can be maddeningly frustrating; and one spends a lot of time simply cleaning up the equipment. But once in a long while everything goes really well, and this euphoric. And even in the bad time one is adding something, however slight, to the sum of human knowledge. Some poor people work just as hard and all they make is money.Definitely a recommended read.

The post Martin Wells first appeared on Deep Sea News.

1) Chaos by James Gleick – Made math fun and interesting for me. One of the first science books I read when I was deciding to go into science… my third time around college…

2) Invertebrates by Brusca & Brusca – Yeah not supposed to cite textbooks, but I read this for pleasure so it counts : )

3) Stranger and the Statesman by Nina Burleigh – It was the most recent book I finished. An interesting account of James Smithson, the financial founder for the Smithsonian Museum.

4) E=mc²: A History of the World’s Most Famous Equation by David Bodanis – Another book I read early in my scientific life that made science something enjoyable to learn about!

5) Darwin: The Life of a Tormented Evolutionist by Adrian Desmond and James Moore – Expertly done masterpiece of Darwin’s life. One of the few books I read constantly and could not put down (Dune being the another one). Filled with action, culture, history, context and much more. Should be required reading for biology majors.

6) Selected Poems by Robinson Jeffers – While not a science book, I feel scientists need to develop an appreciation for the world around them. Honing in on the bigger picture and interconnectedness of all things. Poets have been doing this long before science was a glimmer of light upon the dawn of reason. One of my favorite poets is Robinson Jeffers who was trained in forestry and medicine before settling into Tor House in Carmel, CA and living an idyllic life by the coast as a writer and bohemian. I’ll leave you all with a poem that could be read in any introductory ecology, marine biology or geology lecture, and indeed I shall if I ever teach once more:

Continents End
At the equinox when the earth was veiled in a late rain,
wreathed with wet poppies, waiting spring,
The ocean swelled for a far storm and beat its boundary,
the ground-swell shook the beds of granite.

I gazing at the boundaries of granite and spray, the
established sea-marks, felt behind me
Mountain and plain, the immense breadth of the continent,
before me the mass and doubled stretch of water.

I said: You yoke the Aleutian seal-rocks with the lava
and coral sowings that flower the south,
Over your flood the life that sought the sunrise faces
ours that has followed the evening star.

The long migrations meet across you and it is nothing
to you, you have forgotten us, mother.
You were much younger when we crawled out of the womb
and lay in the sun’s eye on the tideline.

It was long and long ago; we have grown proud since then
and you have grown bitter; life retains
Your mobile soft unquiet strength; and envies hardness,
the insolent quietness of stone.

The tides are in our veins, we still mirror the stars,
life is your child, but there is in me
Older and harder than life and more impartial, the eye
that watched before there was an ocean.

That watched you fill your beds out of the condensation
of thin vapor and watched you change them,
That saw you soft and violent wear your boundaries down,
eat rock, shift places with the continents.

Mother, though my song’s measure is like your surf-beat’s
ancient rhythm I never learned it of you.
Before there was any water there were tides of fire, both
our tones flow from the older fountain.

I won’t tag anyone but would love to ask our readers (and my cobloggers) what non-text science books they would recommend to young science majors?

The post Science Book Lovers Meme first appeared on Deep Sea News.