Notices by Sheril Kirshenbaum (sheril@mastodon.social), page 3

I spent the last 4 years of research toward my PhD focused on how people make decisions about politics, particularly weighing risk, perceiving communication, prioritizing sources of information & thinking about trust.

I have a lot of thoughts after the #debate & #news cycle.

But social media doesn’t seem like the best place to share a nuanced perspective in a series of posts.

So I haven’t decided where & whether to weigh in. But there’s sure a lot to say.

“Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.”

- Kurt Vonnegut, in his letter to students at New York's Xavier High School in 2006 #art

“A wax sculpture of Abe Lincoln was no match for D.C.’s punishing heat”

I can’t help but notice a message here. #ClimateChange

A wee bit of personal news…

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has announced this year’s regional Emmy nominations & Serving up Science, the quirky PBS series I write & host, has received two - including one for host ☺️

https://www.wkar.org/2023-05-16/wkar-storytellers-receive-2023-regional-emmy-nominations #tv

You really never know where a career in #science will lead. It’s an honor to be nominated & I’m incredibly grateful to work with such a wonderful team at WKAR!

Matches my experience. #music

“The universe is expanding, and faster now than it did in the past. Scientists don't know why, but the leading explanation is that the universe contains something that has a repulsive gravitational effect - it pushes the universe apart instead of pulling it back together. This phenomenon is called dark energy.”

- NASA, image by the Euclid European #Space Agency telescope ✨

‘Tis the season I lose my kitchen for a week. But that also means I get to hang out with the great WKAR-PBS folks who make Serving Up Science so much fun. Season 5 should be a good one 🌶️

Some flowers from the compost pile to start your day. 🌼
#dogsofmastodon

Science isn’t “truth.” It isn’t simply a series of facts.

Science is an iterative process. We continue to test hypotheses & refine ideas.

Science is always changing as we learn more.

Wow.

A year and a half on #Mastodon & I still really like this algorithm-free experience in the #fediverse.

Thanks @Gargron.

I’m nearing the end of a book & it’s one of those instances where I’m simply not ready to say goodbye to the complex set of characters I’ve come to know.

Oh well. I suppose that’s a sign of great storytelling. 📚 #books #reading

Do you see a series of sunken rectangles or 16 circles?

This is The Coffer Illusion.

Our brains are geared toward identifying objects & here, “pixels” are grouped to form edges & contours, shapes, & objects. The image is inherently ambiguous so there is no “right” grouping.

Rectangles dominate first for most people - including me, but keep staring & the image may flip to circles.

Are you an introvert?

Terrific explainer by https://introverteed.com/blogs/news/an-introduction-to-the-introvert-social-battery #comic #art

A nice write up of my talk this week about communicating #science https://cakemagazine.org/arvo-2024-closing-keynote-sheds-light-on-communicating-science/

Pioneering geologist & oceanographer Marie Tharp changed our understanding of the ocean.

When Tharp sought a geology job at Columbia in 1948, women couldn’t go on research ships. So she was hired to assist male grad students.

Back then, many scientists still assumed the bottom of the ocean was featureless. Tharp figured out how to use data to create sketches of the ocean floor. Her hand-drawn maps helped develop plate tectonic theory. https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/news/marie-tharp #science #history

If you had the time to go back to school to study any field at no cost, what would you choose?

Tonight’s #NorthernLights from Michigan, USA

“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say ‘It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.”
- Fred Rogers

This photo was sent my way by someone who knows I work in #food security. I don’t know where it was taken or who deserves credit. (The tickets appear to name a pub).

But I’d sure love to see this kindness replicated. Widely. It’s critically needed & warms my heart. ❤️