Aug 31
By Allison Coffin I’m on a flight home from a conference in my field – I won’t say which one so as not to point fingers at any particular speaker. Many talks were excellent, both in the content and the delivery. But like most conferences, some were not. Many violated core rules in slide preparation. …
Aug 28
By Allison Coffin Have you ever been to a scientific talk that started, “I’d like to thank the organizers for giving me this opportunity to present my work. I’ll start with an introduction on my topic, then describe our methods…” Honestly, by this time I’ve had enough, and I’m usually checking email, or counting down …
Nov 24
By Janine Castro, Geomorphologist, USFWS & NMFS, Portland, Oregon My upcoming family vacation to New Zealand looms large. As the planner in the family, I am tasked with logistics and general travel organization, as well as corralling the troops to make sure everything runs smoothly. As a seasoned traveler, this should be a breeze…right? That …
Apr 26
By Arthur Serkov, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student Everybody has had to at some point get across a message to someone else with the hope that this message will be memorable. The way that this message is conveyed has a critical impact on whether or not this information will be remembered or not, and this depends …
Apr 24
by Samuel VanCleef, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student In everyone’s life you will have to give a presentation on something whether it is in school, jobs, or even in casual conversations where you have to convey your information clearly, intelligently, passionately, and confidently. However, some presenters still have trouble with these tasks, leading the audience to …
Apr 21
By Michaela Dunn, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student If you were anything like me in early high school, instead of actually reading all five acts of Hamlet (groan), I would often turn to Cliffs Notes (this was a different story for Much Ado About Nothing because that play is simply remarkable). For those who aren’t familiar with …
Mar 15
What’s the role of science, and scientists, in public and political debate? This question lies at the heart of a great essay on the website undark. Check it out!
Feb 10
By Priya Kudva, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student It’s a Friday night. You’ve been invited to a social gathering where you are told your potential new boss is attending as well. In a frenzy, you whip up an eloquent 1-2 minute speech about who you are and what you do. You memorize it and in a …
Feb 10
By Hanna Morris-Pinson, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student Just talk about yourself for a little bit. No big deal, right? Well… maybe not. Elevator speeches typically range from thirty seconds to a minute or two in duration, and contrary to their name, they often occur in areas other than an elevator. This short timeframe, if utilized …
Feb 10
By Carolyn Dudko, WSU Vancouver Neuroscience student Do vaccines cause autism? This has been an ongoing debate between mothers of autistic children and doctors and researchers. Mothers claiming that after their children received their MMR vaccines, autistic characteristics began developing. Wakefield and colleagues came out with a study claiming that vaccines do in fact cause …
