barreleyeview

A personal playground where I experiment with science communication and building science graphics (& sometimes just draw fun stuff) while learning all sorts of things.

How to Measure Gender in a Survey (in German)

poster of how to measure gender in 4 steps: 1. Forschungsinteresse / -frage bestimmen 2. Benötigte Dimension(en) von Geschlecht aus Stufe 1 ableiten 3. Operationalisierung der folgenden Dimensionen von Geschlecht: Körperliche Dimensionen, Personenstand, Geschlechtsidentität (besonders für die sozialwissenschaftliche Forschung relevant), Geschlechtsausdruck, Fremdwahrnehmung, weitere 4. Reflektieren, ob zusätzliche Informationsbedarfe bestehen (wie z.B. Identifikation von Transgeschlechtlichkeit)

Gender is a multidimensional social construct that can change over time and space. The operationalisation should be derived from the gender dimension(s) relevant to the research question(s).

References:

de Vries, L., Fischer, M. & Kasprowski, D. (2024). „männlich“, „weiblich“, „divers“ – Eine kritische Auseinandersetzung mit der Erhebung von Geschlecht in der quantitativ-empirischen Sozialforschung. Zeitschrift für Soziologie.

Must Sharks Swim To Breathe?

You may have heard before that sharks always have to swim, otherwise they would no longer be able to breathe and would die. But that’s not exactly true or rather only applies to a small number of shark species.

References:

‘How Fish Breathe: Ram Ventilation, Buccal Pumping’. 2019. Poseidon’s Web. https://poseidonsweb.com/how-fish-breathe-ram-ventilation-buccal-pumping/ (April 13, 2024).
Matthias, Mag. ‘Do Sharks Really Die If They Stop Swimming?’ Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/story/do-sharks-really-die-if-they-stop-swimming (April 13, 2024).

Do We Actually Know More About the Moon and Mars Than the Deep Sea?

Table that compares the bottom of the ocean to the moon and Mars. One key message is that the surface of the ocean is way bigger but way less of it is mapped in high resolution (but we will probably continue mapping all 3 as technology improves).

When we hear about the deep sea we are often told that it is a mysterious dark place with alien-like creatures. A picture of an outer space environment gets painted followed by the typical phrase “We know more about the Moon/Mars than about the deep sea”. But is that true? In this graphic, I compared them so you don’t have to!

References:

Arasu, Prema. 2023. ‘Do We Know More about the Moon than the Deep Sea? No.’ Astronomy Magazine. https://www.astronomy.com/science/do-we-know-more-about-the-moon-than-the-deep-sea-no/ (May 12, 2024).
Jamieson, Alan J., Glenn Singleman, Thomas D. Linley, and Susan Casey. 2021. ‘Fear and Loathing of the Deep Ocean: Why Don’t People Care about the Deep Sea?’ ICES Journal of Marine Science 78(3): 797–809. doi:10.1093/icesjms/fsaa234.

Will We All Turn Into Crabs Eventually?

Starting with a Tumblr thread the question of why so many species turn into crabs quickly became a meme. Soon there were jokes and the question if all living things would evolve into crabs. Rest assured however this process where false crabs develop a crab-like form only happens to crustaceans. It is a form of convergent evolution, which describes how unrelated species evolve over time to develop similar features.

References:

‘Carcinization’. 2020. Know Your Meme. https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/carcinization (April 7, 2024).
‘Ellen Weatherford bei TikTok’. TikTok. https://www.tiktok.com/@ellen.weatherford/video/7262114715772538154 (April 7, 2024).
‘Hermit Crabs Aren’t Real Crabs. There Are Hundreds of Other Crustacean Pretenders Living Right under Our Noses’. 2022. ABC News. https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2022-09-18/crab-convergent-evolution-crustacean-australia-marine-biology/101388282 (March 30, 2024).
‘Let’s Learn Everything!: 51: Carcinization, The Animal Algorithm Mystery, and The Many Lemming Lies w/ Ellen Weatherford on Apple Podcasts’. Apple Podcasts. https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/51-carcinization-the-animal-algorithm-mystery-and/id1587816694?i=1000634229462 (April 7, 2024).
Tsang, Ling Ming, Tin Yam Chan, Shane Ahyong, and Ka Hou Chu. 2011. ‘Hermit to King, or Hermit to All: Multiple Transitions to Crab-like Forms from Hermit Crab Ancestors’. Systematic Biology 60: 616–29. doi:10.1093/sysbio/syr063.
Harvard University. ‘How Does a Crustacean Become a Crab?’ https://phys.org/news/2021-03-crustacean-crab.html (March 30, 2024).
Wolfe, Joanna M., Javier Luque, and Heather D. Bracken-Grissom. 2021. ‘How to Become a Crab: Phenotypic Constraints on a Recurring Body Plan’. BioEssays 43(5): 2100020. doi:10.1002/bies.202100020.

From Myth to Extinction Icon: A Timeline of the Dodo’s Extinction Story

Dodo extinction timeline. Before: endemic to the island of Mauritius. 1598: the Dutch claimed Mauritius (start of <100 years of anthropogenic impacts). 1599: first published records of the dodo. 1638: first Dutch settlement. ~1693: the dodo became extinct (end of <100 years of anthropogenic impacts). 1710: the Dutch evacuated Mauritius. 1721: the French recolonised Mauritius (start: dodo regarded as a myth). 1778: the dodo is reported locally extinct. 1779: scientific validation of extinction as a natural phenomenon by Cuvier. 1784: the dodo is considered probably totally extinct. 1828: wider recognition of the dodo as a real animal (end of: dodo regarded as a myth). 1830: Cuvier convinced of the dodo's reality. 1833: dodo used in an example of human-induced extinction in Penny Magazine. 1865: dodo appears as a character in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (start of: dodo as an extinction icon). Today: not a single complete skeleton & only one specimen that includes soft tissue at the University of Oxford

Today the dodo is typically regarded as a fat bird not fast enough to escape human hunters who ultimately caused its extinction. However, the story of how the dodo became this icon of extinction is messier than you might think.

References:

Anthes, Emily. 2016. ‘The Smart, Agile, and Completely Underrated Dodo Bird’. The Atlantic. https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2016/06/the-dodos-redemption/486086/ (April 28, 2024).
Black, Riley. 2011. ‘The Dodo Is Dead, Long Live the Dodo!’ Science. https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/the-dodo-is-dead-long-live-the-dodo (April 28, 2024).
Hume, Julian Pender, David M. Martill, and Christopher Dewdney. 2004. ‘Dutch Diaries and the Demise of the Dodo’. Nature 429(6992): 1–1. doi:10.1038/nature02688.
Turvey, Samuel T., and Anthony S. Cheke. 2008. ‘Dead as a Dodo: The Fortuitous Rise to Fame of an Extinction Icon’. Historical Biology 20(2): 149–63. doi:10.1080/08912960802376199.