The long and windy path to a Ph.D. is lined with blood, sweat and tears. Like a roller coaster, it can be filled with joy, anxiety, fear and even nausea. This story is regarding one chapter of my dissertation, one that filled me with all these emotions and lead me to the conclusion that even in science, sh%* happens. But in this story, what we could not control lead us to better scientific conclusions with greater environmental realism. Due to what may seem like an experimental shortcoming, we were able to answer an important “so what?” question related to plastic marine debris.
View More Guest post: The invisible consequences of mistaking plastic for dinnerCategory: Plastic
How do you figure out how much plastic is in the ocean?
Nobody ever told me that becoming a marine biologist would involve spending four years figuring out how to count. Because, seriously, how hard can counting…
View More How do you figure out how much plastic is in the ocean?
How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Garbage Patch
Deepling emeritus, Miriam Goldstein, is a science rock star. My science crush on her only deepens after watching her completely explode TeX Oslo. Miriam is all…
View More How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Garbage PatchBehind the scenes: plastic-eating barnacles in the North Pacific Gyre
I’ve been temporarily released from my social media silence to talk about my latest paper, which is published in the open-access journal PeerJ. So first of…
View More Behind the scenes: plastic-eating barnacles in the North Pacific GyreThe Dirtiest of Martinis
So I wanted to explore some new territory in honor of cocktail week. Below is my first attempt at an infographic explaining a subject near…
View More The Dirtiest of MartinisRevisiting the Ocean Cleanup, a plan to remove plastic from the oceans
UPDATE: The Ocean Cleanup released a feasibility study in June 2014 that attempted to address many of the concerns we had below. You can read…
View More Revisiting the Ocean Cleanup, a plan to remove plastic from the oceansTrash In The Deep Sea
Out of sight out of mind is the typical culture with regard to the deep seas. How can something so far away and so isolated…
View More Trash In The Deep SeaThe Ocean Cleanup. The newest of the new plans to remove marine plastic.
UPDATE: The Ocean Cleanup released a feasibility study in June 2014 that attempted to address many of the concerns we had below. You can read…
View More The Ocean Cleanup. The newest of the new plans to remove marine plastic.Plastics expedition departs for North Pacific
My tall-ship-sailing buddies at Sea Education Association are headed out for a special Pacific plastics cruise tomorrow aboard the 134-foot brigantine SSV Robert C. Seamans. (Disclosure: I am…
View More Plastics expedition departs for North PacificThree Ways of Looking at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch
O thin men of Haddam, Why do you imagine golden birds? Do you not see how the blackbird Walks around the feet Of the women…
View More Three Ways of Looking at the Great Pacific Garbage Patch