Dear DSN staff and readers,
2010 has been a great year for us. We hope you have enjoyed the new additions to the place (Miriam, Rickmac and Dr Bik) as much as Dr M and I have. Lots of posts on lots of different things ocean related, dominated necessarily by the oil catastrophe. We will continue updating you on the oil spill research and monitoring on a regular basis. In fact the entire DSN team, barring earthquakes at field sites, will be in one place for the first time this January at Science Online 2011 to discuss in an unconference session the reporting of the oil spill in the mainstream media as well as on blogs and the impact of the oil spill. We will be joined by Andrew Thaler of Duke Marine Lab and Southern Fried Science and John Amos of Skytruth.
From the Editor’s Desk is taking a break for the holidays and will return the first Monday of the new year. In lieu of the in-depth From the Editor’s Desk that Dr M and I try to bring you each week, we are asking you, our readers to expose yourself for the holidays! We know we have lots of readers and most of you never comment or we just don’t much about you. In the spirit of the season we would love it if you would delurk and introduce yourself to us, feel free to remain anonymous. Even if we know you, we would love it if everyone would leave a comment below and tell us:
1) Where are you reading us from?
2) What do you do for a living?
3) Do you read us regularly or drop in occasionally? Do you come to the site, via twitter/facebook (i.e. networked blogs) or through an RSS reader?
4) Any comments or criticisms? Things you like to see us cover more (besides the actual deep-sea)? Things you’d like to see us do less of?
Let it all out! We don’t mind.
Happy Holidays from the Deep Sea News team,
Kevin Zelnio, Craig McClain, Miriam Goldstein, Holly Bik, and Rick MacPherson.
Reading from Sonoma County, CA
I work in the printing business, specifically prepress.
I hit your blog about twice a week.
Your blog is a great way for laypeople to learn more about the ocean.
Alas, my job has nothing whatsoever to do with oceans, unless one counts the water content of all of the alcohol in the beer & wine warehouses of which I am part owner, here in central North Carolina. I have always loved the sea but did not pursue the interest in school, as one of my older brothers got his degree in Marine Biology and little brothers tend to lose interest in what interests older brothers. I did, however, watch every episode of “Man From Atlantis” when it was still on TV (and Stingray, SeaQuest, Surface, and that one episode of Aquaman, in later years).
I do, however, run an undersea game of Dungeons & Dragons online and have done so since 1998 (starting running games online in ’95, started playing D&D in ’79). I also keep saltwater aquariums, and have a weedy seadragon tattoo (I have 8 kids, so a papa seahorse of sorts seemed appropriate). Regular visits here (browsing the web), underwatertimes, NatGeo, and Discovery keep my mind filled with ideas for subaqueous adventures.
I’m reading you from an unseasonably cold St. Petersburg, FL. I rock coral microbial ecology (both deep and shallow) for a living. I have been known to curate blog weeks for really special people. I cruise DSN nearly daily from a direct link b/c I’m old enough to have not sorted out RSS feeds yet (but it it a goal for the new year as I now follow too many people for manual checking to be reasonable). More microbes (but you knew that). Which is not to say you haven’t been good about mentioned them. Merry Christmas!
reading from chicago where I work at a university (staff not faculty) and read about 2x a month but always wish I’d been here more often. love that you write to lay people and scientists alike and that you balance smart science with the occasional asides into just-for-the-fun-of-it territory like “sexy” nemo halloween costumes and your current 12 days feature. cheers and happy holidays. keep up the great work.
Reading you from Toronto Ontario Canada, working as an artist-illustrator. I follow you through Google Reader, and on Twitter and Facebook. I love the mix of activism, scientific information, humour and imagery. I love that you guys credit the images as well as the science. I love being blown away by some piece of information I never knew.
The only thing I would suggest adding is a really good rant now and again – it’s excellent that the oil crisis was covered so thoroughly from you all. but don’t hold back.
All the best to all of you during the holidays! And thank you for such a wonderful blog!
I read from landlocked Minnesota, Your blog is an invaluable resource for learning about important issues related to the effects that the deep blue has on our daily lives even 2000 miles from the nearest trench. I have to say that the blog has been enriched by the addition of Miriam Goldstein and Dr. Bik and Rick. I would say that the site needs more beer, but you have other outlets for that, KZ.
I trudge through my daily labors at a bank call center. Ugh, I need some fresh spray in my face from the ocean.
I try to read every day through RSS, mostly.
I think it would be fun if you would intersperse some sea shanty music videos, occasionally.
I’m in Far North Queensland. Used to be a zoology lecturer, but now a freelance writer when not distracted by the critters in the rainforest. I would be distracted by the critters on the GB Reef, but it’s a bit of a drive to the coast. So in lieu of the drive, I rely on DSN for my saltwater fix. (Oh, that doesn’t sound good. You know what I mean.)
I drop in regularly via the reader and Twitter.
Happy holidays to everyone!
Hello from Sofia, Bulgaria!
I recently got my MSc in marine biology, and (hopefully) I’ll soon be starting a job in an institute of ecology here.
I usually tune in several times a week, through RSS.
Thanks for the lovely blog and the wealth of interesting information.
Happy holidays and all the best to everyone!
1) New York, New York
2) I’m an environmental educator. My degree is in Marine Science with a vertebrate biology concentration, but I veered into teaching rather than research / grad school.
3) RSS, which shows a shortened version of posts, so I usually click through once or twice a week.
4) I love the humorous slant you bring to the articles you cover. Meredith’s recent Dr. Who related post was fabulous. Yours is the only science blog I regularly read. Thanks also for the Ocean Bloggers in the Classroom initiatives, I was happy to support schools that wanted to learn more about oceans.
1) San Francisco Bay area
2) My work is split into two areas: A) Private sector third-party evaluation of contaminated site cleanup. B) Public sector development of online groundwater and hydrogeophysics information with an emphasis on internal technology transfer.
3) Drop in occasionally, usually through twitter.
4) It’s an area outside of my professional focus so it’s all “news” to me. I prefer science blogs to mainstream media coverage of science news because I trust you’re more likely to be accurate. Plus, you serve up your science with a side of humor.
1) Portland, OR
2) Post-doctoral fellow at OHSU in neuroendocrinology. I have several degrees in marine science/biology.
3) Every day. Just to get a taste of my first scientific passion. I also use it as a source for information on the oil spill and regularly tagged articles here on FB.
4) More dolphins. Actually, more echinoderms cause they rule!
1) Santa Barbara, CA
2) I’m a postdoctoral fellow at NCEAS.
3) I drop in at least once a day ’round lunchtime.
4) Just keep doin’ what yer doin’! Although, more tunicates is never a bad thing…BECAUSE THEY RULE!!!
Hey there, friends,
At the moment I’m reading from Vicksburg, MS, though I typically read from Philadelphia. I currently work as a lab tech in a mol bio lab studying the epigenetics of aging, but will shortly attempt a fling at science journalism.
I’ve been reading DSN for a LONG time … even before I discovered tbe RSS feed (how I access you guys now, since circa 2006)
You guys do great work – scientific discoveries, science policy, some nice rants, sci journo reflections, creatures, all with some laughs on the side. <3 DSN 4ever
Currently writing out of Baltimore, MD. Just graduated college and about to begin an internship at the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center studying wetland ecology and biogeochemistry. I am a big fan of ‘things ocean’ though!
I visit the site quite regularly. You all really put a great ‘argument’ together as opposed to the ‘story’ usually on the news – if you catch my drift. I like the fact that I can so easily examine and verify your sources. I applaud the contributors on this website for executing such thorough investigation.
Reading from St. Louis, Missouri.
I’m a book editor (pharmaceutical drug guides, nothing terribly exciting).
I usually check your blog on weekdays as part of my lunch break.
No complaints about the blog. Thanks for everything! Happy holidays!
Currently reading from Olympia, WA (And from 5 other states I’ve lived in prevously before moving up here)
I’m a biotech on a estuary restoration monitoring crew.
I used to read every post, but with me cutting back on computer time in my personal life (I hate reading on a LCD screen) and been generally to busy at work to get a break, I only read a few articles a week at max.
No complaints come to mind, you guys are doing awesome and can’t imagine ever stop reading your blog
Very clever idea–who can resist talking about themselves?
1) San Jose, CA, USA
2) Freelance science writer!
3) Google Reader gives me the first few lines. If I want to read the whole thing, I come here.
4) Okay, I am a total grammar freak, but maybe proof your posts a little more before publishing? Typos, missing commas, and using “they’re” for “their” all set my teeth on edge. =)
Postscript to 4) Hey, I’m a jerk! I should also mention that DSN is basically my newspaper–I figure if it doesn’t show up here, I probably don’t need to know it. Thanks for another year of rockin’ good content.
1) Oxford, England
2) PhD student in marine biology (pelagic ecology, mostly concerning micronekton)
3) usually daily, via a dynamic bookmark in Firefox.
4) Good stuff. Keep it coming!