EcoGrind

Insects are horrible. Irritable abominations sent from hell to make human life on this Earth unbearable. Well…that’s the view of some people. I was fascinated the other day, when over dinner, a friend mentioned he had received an unwanted visitor on his scalp. A humble tick had taken residence amongst his follicles. The amazed dinner participants reeled in shock! They expressed opinions of pure disgust, and questioned his continuing employment (he is a Bush Regenerator). They were serious. This surprised me, to say the least.

At any one time in the Evolution and Ecology Research Centre, several people are wrist deep in fox, cat and mouse urine. Several others are feeding and breeding thousands of flies, crickets and bugs. In my own field, I am continually finding new and unusual places for water bugs, dead barnacles, and crabs (the sea dwelling crustacean variety…) to hide on my body. On a field trip some years ago, I had a friend remove close to 20 ticks from his skin every day. Unfortunately the trip was five days long. This got me thinking about peoples exposure to the natural world. From an early age I was exploring the bush and waterways around the Central Coast. Ticks and bugs were a way of life. Similarly, my colleagues and friends have had similar exposure, with many diving under the sea before they could ride a bike, hiking the Blue Mountains before they could read and write, or exploring the rockpools of Sydney before learning to tie their shoes.

How do people get exposed to the natural world? I wander what percentage of the population would reel in shock, as my dinner companions did, or embrace the mild annoyance of a tick as an invevitable byproduct of living in an insect dominated world? Should we start this exposure at school? Do school students still take fieldtrips and camps in the bush? Yesterday I spoke with a school teacher who complained that fieldtrips are far too stressful for the staff, and should be cut back. Indeed, the burden of OHS compliance has made any sort of outdoor activity almost impossible to undertake without writing a small novel on the risks associated with taking a walk. But does that mean we should just stop trying to get kids exposed to nature? We are at the brink of an ‘Environmental Revolution’, the idea of a sustainable future is spreading like Swine Flu through a Mexican cantina, yet its becoming harder and harder for people to go out and experience the world we are trying to save.

I certainly hope my dinner companions are in the minority, and this post has been a pointless meander through my thoughts. If they’re not, then as scientists and educators we have a long road ahead…

On another note, I found a really good website of other science bloggers, infinitely better than myself, check it out at www.scienceblogs.com

I am an angry man. No I really mean it…furious. A PhD will do that to you, but there’s something else. You see, for the past five weeks my colleagues and I have been made fun of by our complete lack of literary prowess, our media shyness, and generall lack of experience in this exciting thing called life. I feel like the elephant man… “I am not an animal!”.

We’re scientists. Ecologists, Evolutionary Biologists, Botanists, Geographers, and Pathololgists; the nerdiest of the nerds, and we’re undergoing media training. It has become apparant to both school and university ‘higher ups’ that we have an image problem. Apart from a few notable exceptions (think Dr Karl…) we dont connect with the real world that often. The other day we were called (by the former Chief of Staff of the Sydney Morning Herald no less) “pasty aliens” who dont know how to comunicate with people. Well I’m here to make my voice heard! (He says with a pasty fist high in the air and a glint in his bulgy alienesque eyes).

Its not that we dont try to connect.  Catalyst is one of the more popular programs on ABC1. Everyone watches that dont they? Hmmm…what about The Science Show on ABC Radio national? No? Surely everyone has been to a free public lecture from The Royal Zoological Society of NSW? I swear they’re very interesting. Maybe this is a double edged problem? Scientists have lots to say, but lack the skills to present it. The public want to hear what we say, yet have an apathetic attitutude towards its presenters.

I am adding this blog to the network in order to present a forum for junior scientists like myself to talk about what interests them, the science they do, the problems they face and the attitudes they encounter. It will be about science, the presentation of science, and the logical life that a scientist lives. It will not include words greater than four syllables long (except maybe Onomatopoeia…such a cool word), nor will it stoop to incoherent ramblings of a Twitter aficionado… “oooh i am txt my bff :)) science is cool lol:__)(U*(*JHJ)” and so forth. I hope you can catch up with the friendly aliens regularly to see whats happening in those enourmous brains we must have.

Now excuse me, i have a spaceship to catch…