sarahmackattack

[sarahmackattack]

Hi Sarah!

I have a cephalopod question: do ceph’s ever lose their suckers, and if so are they able to grow new ones?

And a SciComm question: do you have any advice for someone who wants to grow their career in SciComm? It’s my dream career but it seems like opportunities are few and far between.

Is it “better” to pursue a degree in a specific science, or to focus more on the education/teaching side of things?

(although a huge shoutout to you and the other SciComm folks sharing your passions! I did manage to get a part-time internship and job at my local zoo in their education department, and I only had the courage to pursue those opportunities thanks to people like you! Didn’t think I’d get this far, and now I can’t wait to take it even farther; I’ve just got to figure out how to get there first!)

Do ceph’s ever lose their suckers, and if so are they able to grow new ones? I'm sure they do! The regeneration of some species has been studied but not all of them so there's likely some species that are a little better at it than others (for example, it's probably something a predator that attacks very strong fast animals needs than an animal that primarily eats bivalves).

Do you have any advice for someone who wants to grow their career in SciComm? The trouble with this is that my job is very very weird, and doesn't exist in the kind of structure where you apply for a job →you get the job → you have a stable job. It's more similar to the safety and job structure of being an artist, but with a nonprofit thrown into the mix. It's... complicated! And not necessarily stable! All that to say, how I got here is not going to work for everyone and I honestly sometimes cant believe it worked/works for me at all. It might stop working any second.

But whatever here's what I did. I practiced science communication on social media and locally in Connecticut (where I was at the time). I tried to consume a lot of science communication and consider what was working in those pieces, and thought about what I enjoyed doing within that whole huge ecosystem. There's one zillion ways to do science communication, and different approaches will hit different audiences. It's totally critical for a lot of different people to be doing science communication in a way that feels genuine to them, in their own voices, with whatever methods they like doing the most so that as a collective, we hit the broadest patch of people. No one science communication technique is perfect for every "audience" member, so the diversity of approaches is so so important. I don't think that gets said enough. So explore! See what you like, see what you get joy out of doing, see how people react to it. Producing science communication as you're practicing will build out a portfolio of work that you can point to when you graduate.

There are a lot of kinds of science communication jobs. There's the freelance/DIY approach like having a podcast like Alie Ward, or founding a nonprofit (this is very hard and i don't recommend doing this lol), or having a successful youtube channel/social media situation like Hank Green or doing TV like Emily Calandrelli/Bill Nye/Phil Torres. Then there's working for an existing science education nonprofit like Biobus or Science Friday or working for institutions like museums/zoos/aquaria, etc. Theres also a whole field in the university system called "extension" where you're taking the work happening at the university and connecting the surrounding population with that work. Each of those jobs, particularly the older institution-based ones have their own structures and will come with different advice on how to get into those jobs. I'm not really sure about those. Having that science communication portfolio will likely help for all of them though!

As far as what to do for school... I think the true but kinda complicated answer is that often what we do for school isn't directly related to what we end up doing. The skills we build while we're in school, and the connections we make are really what determines where we end up and what we end up doing. So... really take seriously the stuff you're doing that nobody's telling you to do. That's as important as class... and honestly, in my personal experience, it's way more important than what you do in class.

#science communication #squid #cephalopods #career #career advice #your mileage may vary

[sarahmackattack]

eeeeeeeee HI

Happy Invertefest to all those who celebrate

#spider #animalposting #macro #four eyes

[sarahmackattack]

they’re here! it’s them! the

[sarahmackattack]

Encountered this perfect little creature at the neighborhood cleanup this morning.

Can you believe a telephone took this picture? a telephone!! The future has been mostly so-so, but this part rocks.

#spood #spider #macrophotography #hey look a bug! #i know it's an arachnid not a bug please leave me alone

[sarahmackattack]

After seeing a shit ton of AI art and scraper accounts across social media this week, I'm balancing that shit out.

Enjoy the yellowjacket, taken in the real world, photographed by me. Sigh.

#AI art bums me out #this thing is real #not a content scraper #peek a boo #macro photography #little critters #animal posting

[sarahmackattack]

When night falls, shit on the reef gets weird.

Parrotfish, a decidedly diurnal fish, gotta shut it all down, but they don't want predators to sniff em while they're snoozing. So what do they do? They cover themselves in a big ol' ball of snot so they're harder to sniff out.

P.S. I'm teaching a class starting April 30th about nocturnal animals, it's 4 weeks and just for fun and we're definitely going to talk about parrotfish snot bubbles, and bats who babysit for each other, and bats who have best friends, and how some fungi lasso nematodes and all sorts of stuff. Check it out

#snot bubble #defensive snotting #parrotfish #marine biology #scicomm #doodles #fish sketch #science #sealife #marine life

[sarahmackattack]

[sarahmackattack]

Tried drawing a Sepioteuthis last night and despite the 2 attempts, both ended up looking like truck nuts to me. There are other issues with proportion and all that, but whatever, it's practice. They really do look bulby on the bottom like that sometimes.

#squid #イカ #squart #squid doodle #truck nuts #Why is he so sad #The melancholy of marine organisms

[sarahmackattack]

Need suggestions for climate change comedy

Along with others, I'm organizing our neighborhood's earth day event. As part of it, we're going to have a "climate change comedy" room where we loop short videos for people to pop into. I'm looking for suggestions on comedic shorts on climate change! So far the list...

1. You Expect Me To Believe That?!?

2. Extinction

I'm looking through videos now... Any suggestions?! They do, unfortunately, need to be kid-friendly because there will be kids at this event.

#Science communication #climate change #dear god help me #i have procrastinated #Youtube

[sarahmackattack]

Look you thought YOU were having a bad Monday, but please get some perspective. In all likelihood nobody rolled a gigantic orb of shit over your body, compressing you stinkily into the dirt.

#Oh shit #beetle #bugs #dung beetle #frog #lol #lmao even

[sarahmackattack]

If you haven’t already heard about it you should check out howiethecrab on Instagram.

Pet crab named Howie who seems to live in crab luxury, she wear adorable hats and it elderly now so whenever she’s going into a molt it gets pretty tense.

Can i handle the stress???? I'm not sure!

[sarahmackattack]

This fuckin rules

The crab is a decorator because they often stick seaweed/sponges/etc onto their shells to help them camouflage. Crab fashion.

Source details and larger version.

If you’re in a pinch, here’s a collection of vintage crabs.

#Crabs #We <3 Crabs #Once and future crab #decorator crab #horseshoe crab

[sarahmackattack]

“I know what I’ll do”, this moth said. “I’ll wear this bark as a hat, and then no one will know I’m a moth.”

#moths #very sneaky animals #animalposting #macrophotography

[sarahmackattack]

behold: what has been taking up my time for the past two and a half weeks!

this piano was a public art commissions for the city! it's covered in dinosaurs that have actually been found (and in the case of 3 of them, discovered) in my home state of colorado. i'm super happy with how it turned out and i had a blast painting it :^)

[image id: a piano painted with various dinosaurs. the left half of the piano represents the dinosaurs in their fossilized form as bones surrounded by fossil leaves and debris. the right half of the piano is the dinosaurs alive in their natural environments. among the species featured are fish, ammonites, orthocones, a plesiosaur, pterosaurs, a brontosaurus, a triceratops, a stegosaurus, and a fruitadens]

[sarahmackattack]

What does it say about me that I saw him and felt a little jealous?

#on the road to fossilization #buried up to my eyeballs #this might as well happen

[sarahmackattack]

I made orbstructrions for making PollinatORBS (née seed bomb, but everything's so violent in the world, I didn't want the CHILDREN to see the word bomb. Or me. I don't want to see the word bomb if I don't have to. I am 35.)

Will the teachers I email this to use this worksheet? Maaaan who knows. Does the pollinatORB I drew kinda look like a turd thats being rolled by a dungbeetle? YEAH A LITTLE. But. Whatever kids. We're going with it.

Help a little bug near you. Look up native plants in your area. Plant a couple of em. Whisper to the first bug you see that you're happy to see them.

You can download the instructions here.

#pollinatORB #Look I know that planting plants isn't pollinating plants #don't overthink it #pollinators #local ecoystems #native ecosystems

[sarahmackattack]

Ummmmmm, yes, hi, Hornbill at the Philly Zoo has a little kitty cat toy and wants to show it to you.

#Birds #animals #cute animals #hornbill #zoo #enrichment #kitty cat #I'm beside myself