Leo

28 - Communicator & Zoologist from Brazil
I think bugs are pretty cool

[Leo @leobarolo]

@thehegemony @atrupar The evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of it not causing autism. As you said, he should follow de evidence.
A prerequisite for this job is reading those studies and, in case he has concerns with the methodolgy, to bring THAT to light.

[Shiyu Yang @syang364]

✨Our paper "Visual Realism and Character Identification in Science Comics" is out in @Sage_VCJ!

We (@leobarolo,@_nan_li,@brossardd) studied effects of #visual realism in #scicomm #comic characters and backgrounds on readers’ character identification🔗👇https://t.co/U80sjNSPwt

[Shiyu Yang @syang364]

✨Interested in using #visual #narrative for #scicomm with diverse audiences? Our study reveals how exposure to #multimodal #covidvaccine info can mitigate science #literacy-based gaps in message elaboration and recall.
👇#OpenAccess: https://t.co/NVRLHvoOQg

[Leo @leobarolo]

@UWMadisonCALS Sure will!

[Leo @leobarolo]

Starting the #DayoftheBadger 🦡 with a morning walk!

Had to pick Suki up to showcase the new @WisAlumni bandana

[UW-Madison CGSI @UWMadison_CGSI]

@UWMadison_CGSI is joining the @WisAlumni #dayofthebadger celebration!🦡

All gifts to CGSI will fund the Summer Research Opportunity Program in Genomic Data Science.

You can help fund students pursuing #genomics by donating to https://t.co/SMmPZEb0tG

[Tim Urban @waitbutwhy]

In 2017, I did something dumb. There was a total solar eclipse passing through the US, but I was in NY, far from the path. Was I really gonna get on a plane to see a cool thing for two minutes? Nah. I had shit to do.

The day came. I put my stupid glasses on and saw the sun become a little less big and then back to being full size again. It was mildly interesting.

Then the reports started coming in from the people who had seen it from the totality zone. People were like "it was an indescribably profound, perspective-shifting, life-altering experience." They were like "I'm a different person now, someone who can only be understood by other people who saw the total solar eclipse." It was massively fomo-y and upsetting.

Solar eclipses happen when the moon passes directly through the invisible line connecting the sun and Earth, something that doesn't happen very often because space is big and the invisible line is skinny. Earthlings are very lucky, eclipse-wise. Most planets don't have a big enough moon to create a total solar eclipse. Not only is our moon big enough, it's about exactly the size of the sun in our night sky because, by sheer coincidence, the sun is about 400 times farther from us than the moon and also about 400 times bigger than the moon in diameter—making our eclipses especially breathtaking.

There are about 70 total solar eclipses every century, each resulting in a thin path of total sun blockage. For most of history, there was no way to know when or where they would happen. Only the very lucky few who happened to be in the right place, at the right time, with the right weather, got to experience a total solar eclipse. Today you can ensure that you see one—and I had passed up the opportunity. I would not make the mistake again.

I went online and learned that there would be another total solar eclipse passing through the US in 2024, and then that would be it until 2045. It went on my calendar that day.

As fortune would have it, the 2024 eclipse's path of magical totality would be passing right over my new hometown of Austin, Texas. It was perfect.

Then came the weather reports. Austin was going to be cloudy on eclipse day.

Nope. Not okay. It wasn't an option to not see this eclipse. My friend @Liv_Boeree was equally psychotic about this, so we decided on Sunday night that Monday morning we'd get on a flight to somewhere in the eclipse's path that was forecast to have clear skies. We settled on Arkansas.

Early the next morning we flew to Little Rock, got in a car, and drove northwest to get to the dead center of the totality path, where the total eclipse would last for more than three minutes. We ended up in a big open rural field that may or may not have been part of someone's farm. It was us and some cows. The sky was perfectly clear.

30 minutes until totality. I looked through my glasses at a crescent sun. It seemed a little dimmer out than usual, but only a little.

20 minutes. Thinner crescent, a tad dim, maybe a tad cooler than it was before?

10 minutes. Razor thin crescent now, definitely weird lighting. Because all of the light is coming from one small area, shadows are very sharp. You can see the shadow of individual hairs on your head.

1 minute. It's very dim, like early evening, but still feels like daytime generally. Waves of light and dark ripple across the ground, like the way light moves at the bottom of a swimming pool.

5 seconds. Diamond ring! I take off my glasses and the diamond ring looks strikingly beautiful and strange (google "eclipse diamond ring" to see what I'm talking about).

4 seconds to 1 second. The Earth's dimmer switch suddenly goes downnnnn as dim daylight drops into night. Totality.

Imagine a world where there was always cloud cover, and one day every few years, in certain places, the sky cleared at night, and you could see stars for the first time in your life. It would be a totally surreal experience, something that reminded you that you don't live in a big world but on the edge of a tiny rock in vast outer space. It would show you the truth about reality.

We see stars all the time, so we're well-acquainted with our reality living in outer space (even if it's easy to forget during the day). But when I looked up at the sky during the total eclipse, it was the first time I had experienced another, totally different way to see with my eyes that I lived in outer space. I saw one sphere positioned in front of another sphere, with two other spheres—Venus and Jupiter—floating nearby. More than ever before, it felt obvious that I was standing on the edge of a fifth sphere. For the first time in my life, I was looking at the Solar System.

I looked around. There was a dim 360° sunset along the entire horizon—another first. It was dark. At 2pm. By a minute in, there was a chorus of chirping crickets that hadn't been there before. Birds were flying around overhead that hadn't been there before. The cows continued being cows but I assume they were super confused.

I looked back up at the Solar System and noticed a little imperfection on the edge of the black moon circle, which I realized must be a solar flare. A solar flare I could see with my naked eye.

Only half of my brain was focused on the eclipse because the other half was frantically trying to figure out how to best use the precious three minutes. I told myself I wouldn't spend more than 30 seconds of the three minutes doing stuff with my camera, but I was not gonna not take pics. I got things all focused and snapped this gem:
Just kidding that's @AJamesMcCarthy's photo. But mine was pretty good too.
Okay fine that one was taken by @NASA. Here's mine.
Whatever. Anyway, eventually it ended. The glorious diamond ring reappeared, followed by me being blinded before remembering to not look at the sun anymore. Earth's dimmer switch swooped back up, as night turned to day in a few surreal seconds. It was over.

Thoughts were processed. Emotions were felt.
It was very very VERY worth the last second trip. For any of you who pulled a 2017 Tim and decided not to see this one, I hope I've sufficiently fomo'd you into making sure you see this for yourself, sometime soon, in some part of the world. 🌻

[Leo @leobarolo]

@hankgreen @PIH Don't need to tell me twice!

[Jason Bittel @bittelmethis]

Look, I interview scientists, read studies and books, and write about animals for my entire livelihood, and every single mother cussing day my mind is BLOWN APART by the things that live on this planet.

https://t.co/rHO3PA7jBz

[Leo @leobarolo]

@Zac_Operon @eekobroom @zach_perna I always knew it was coming down to these two

[Nan Li @_nan_li]

Art, cartoons, simple figures - almost every visual form of #scicomm that interests me as a researcher is included in this “summary for all” report on #climate

[Nan Li @_nan_li]

Join us tomorrow 3-4:30pm @DiscoveryBldg for the "Cartooning for Scientists" workshop. We will talk about some evidence-based strategies on how to tell visual stories about science. And you will get to draw with others as well! 🎨Register: https://t.co/sE6y0wH4Yv

[Leo @leobarolo]

Awesome research with very cool implications. Unfortunately, the comments are unsurprisingly filled with negative responses since "spiders are creepy"

I wonder how we could lessen these negative emotions that are immediately primed by seeing arachnids...

[CBS News @CBSNews]

Researchers have turned dead spiders into necrobotic grippers capable of lifting items that weigh more than 100 times their own body weight.

[Leo @leobarolo]

This was such an interesting article to write! It fascinated me that eDNA, a technology used mostly in wildlife management and ecology, was being used to locate the bodies of missing soldiers.

Huge shoutout to Charles Konsitzke and the whole @UWMIARIP team!

[UW-Madison CGSI @UWMadison_CGSI]

@UWMIARIP is using #eDNA to locate and identify missing-in-action soldiers from #WWII.

Read the story published in the latest @UWMadison_CGSI G&T newsletter and the unusual origin of the project at https://t.co/VvDNLA9eMu

[Leo @leobarolo]

Great article by @jilktweets reminds us that while climate crisis is a real problem that must be addressed, there is a growing list of reasons to be hopeful: "the severity of the problem and our capacity to address it are rising in parallel"

[Thomas Jilk @jilktweets]

My latest for the @dailycardinal reviews the latest @IPCC_CH report and has a special focus on mitigation, with insights from report co-author and @UWMadison professor @GregNemet. Read on: https://t.co/3m5oZukUAA
#climate #solarenergy #energytransition

[Leo @leobarolo]

#LSCSummer classes are a great tool for students who are double majoring and don't want to take 18 credits every semester.
Back in 2018, I took @UW_LSC 251 as a Summer class and it was a great way to fulfill requirements early and get some much-needed schedule flexibility!

[Leo @leobarolo]

@_nan_li Evo-devo gene names are crazy! Most vertebrates (including us) have a gene called "Sonic the Hedgehog" that is responsible for all sorts of important developmental pathways!
https://t.co/GyerRAui2U.

[Leo @leobarolo]

Very cool! I thought it was super interesting how @DrLDWilliamson looked at medical distrust as an outcome rather than a moderator!

[UW-Madison LSC @UW_LSC]

Interesting research by @DrLDWilliamson on medical #mistrust with organ donation has important implications for relations with news media and how Black Americans perceive discrimination in the news and apply this to their thoughts #uwlsc700 #scicomm

[Leo @leobarolo]

Additionally, every librarian I ever met was nice.

[Leo @leobarolo]

This is an appreciation tweet to librarians, who somehow manage to find the obscure articles and scans I requested even when I provide minimal information.

Without them, society as a whole would certainly collapse.