The Little Things: Jo's Biology Blog

  An essential part of scientific research is the education and communication of significant findings. This can be especially true for sciences that directly affect the general public. However, there is often a disconnect between what a scientist attempts to convey and how the public interprets the information given. A significant portion of this confusion can be attributed to the way that scientists communicate ideas; the way a scientist speaks and writes is almost its own language, with very different connotations for the same phrasing. In order to remedy this, we must either change the way that scientists speak to the public or better educate the public on scientific terminology.  "Hand Robot Human" by geralt | Pixabay The way that professionals discuss scientific concepts is very specific and careful. One will never hear a seasoned scientist use words like "fact" or "absolute certainty," because their job, by nature, is to explore uncertainty. Our unde

Imagine if you will: you and your team of researchers prepare for your sampling trip. You check your list once, you check it twice, and you're positive that you are ready to go! But once you get to your sampling location, you realize that you forgot ONE pair of tweezers! What are you to do? Do you pack up everything, drive back to base, retrieve the tweezers, and then return a while later? What a lot of time wasted for one tiny pair of tweezers. In some cases, your study might take you hours away from the base, making a return trip functionally impossible. Do you completely give up and lose the day? You could be spending thousands of dollars in grant money on your study, and wasting an entire sampling day could be costly.  This scenario isn't hypothetical: during my last sampling trip, I remembered to pack everything...except for the tweezers. While it seems like a small inconvenience, it became a large nuisance when it came time to remove the saturated filters from their small

Hello to you all, who have just discovered my new blog! There are two explanations as to why you've made your way to this page: either you know me personally, or you are just as curious about the world as I am. If you are the latter, then you are one of those special individuals who look around in wonder at that which others take for granted every day. Whether you are mildly fascinated by the world of biology or you have centered your entire career on the subject, welcome to my blog! The main focus of this blog will be about the subjects I will be researching in graduate school, which is mostly centered around water quality and phytoplankton production. However, I will also be writing about anything interesting I do or come across that is related to biology or graduate school, e.g., sampling protocols, diving trips, grad school tips, etc.  Thank you for taking an interest in my academic and professional journey. I can't wait to see how it all unfolds! "Pensacola Bay Aftern