World Turtle Day on May 23rd.

The Torontoist was looking for writers for their daily column, after a lot of hesitation I decided to apply. They asked for a description of who I was and a writing on what could be one of their Urban Post.
I somehow ran into the Ontario Science Center schedule that advertised for their exhibition on World Turtle Day, on May 23rd. I figured that could be part of my write-scientific-articles-for-everyone project (that I haven't yet substantiate by the way). Until today I didn't know there was a World Turtle ay, and I don't have any special love for turtles; one of my friend have turtle phobia, while an other is a big fan of tortoise. Sure, they're cute, and of course it's crucial to care about our environment, but I would have made a similar post if I had known that there was a World Raccoon Day (just googled it and a few people seem to be talking about it... sigh!).

So here is my Urban Planner writing on World Turtle Day:

Urban Planner: May 23, 2012.

Happy World Turtle Day everyone!

I'm still amazed there's a noticeable Day for everything, from International Woman Day (every March 8th) to US National Garlic Day (on April 19th). Anyway, May 23 is THE day to talk about turtles, and for once, not eat them. It is a great occasion to come discover what these strange hard shell animals have in common with their close friends lizards and crocodiles. The Ontario Science Center is featuring an expo on these reptiles for that special occasion!

Turtles have long been hunted for their eggs and flesh (which remain delicacies in Asia). But, while we instinctively think of turtle as endangered species, a lot others are more invasive than endangered. Most sea turtles are critically endangered, because of over fishing and also because they are trapped in fishing nets or because they are destroyed by heavy engines cleaning our coasts, the land turtles are less endangered, especially that cute little Red-eared slider that you neighbor cherishes as a pet, that doesn't want to die and that he can't trow in the pond behind your house or this thing will grow crazy and jeopardize every single other aquatic species in the neighborhood. 

There are a dozen of endemic turtoise species in Canada: most of them are mud and pond turtles but a few of them are also sea turtles. It appears that the largest of all living sea turtle – Leatherback sea turtle – also wet on our shores, in Quebec, New-Foundland and Labrador some time of the year. They cross the Atlantic ocean in a few days to get food. Their face is a love or hate scenario but you should be thankful because their almost sole source of food are jellyfish. They clean the ocean so you can safely swim in during the summer! Problem is, they can mispicture a plastic bag for a jellyfish and die from plastic bag ingestion.

Eventhough it can grow up to 3 meters  for 800 kg, and live for a few decades, this is a Critically Endangered species. They can't breathe under water, but they can dive for about an hour. They have that reputation of being very slow on land, but in water they can swim at a cruise speed of 3 meters per second (which is the pace of an average runner). 

This big sea turtle nests a hundred eggs in the sand at night, and then leave right away. They orientate toward their nesting place with the moonlight and artificial light can compromise their clutch as they will nest on land and not on the beach. The eggs hatch a few 16 to 17 days later, giving a 3 inches big turtle barely able to make it down the beach to the ocean. The temperature in which the egg has developed determines whether the egg becomes a male or female turtle. Until they are a few months they remain an easy prey and only 15% of the clutch makes it to adult.

On May 23, at the Ontario Science Center, you will learn all about Ontario's turtles and where to see the endemic species. You will participate in saving endangered turtles lives through being taught everything about their disappearing habitats around the world and discover how you can help protect them. Awareness is the first step for a sustainable world.

And while you're at the Ontario Science Center check this out: you've always wanted to be part of a scientific project? make science discovery happen? get research go faster? Take this opportunity while you're at the Ontario Science Center in participating in the Research Live project!

Which post I would probably have accompanied with a picture like this one: http://www.flickr.com/photos/westbound/3888089606/

Digging into the past.

These are weird thing as memories. I had a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine before going back to France, about what a memory is (by the way, you should write a blog Thom because you are knowledgable and every time I speak with you I fell wiser, otherwise I'll be the one posting about your interesting ideas).

Memory is subjective, it's imagination, it's the idea, the feeling that you (and only yourself) had at a specific moment, in a special place, in unusual circumstances. To me, the best example is that picture of you climbing that mountain when you were 3. Do you remember being there? Do you remember how much you swear because it was hard to climb? Or do you just remember the picture, the story that you've build around it. That picture that you've seen so many times, you don't remember if you have a memory of the picture itself or of the moment it represent.  You end up merging imagination with a bunch of memories to reality.

Anyway, this is now a good time for me to write a post on memories as I have my head and hands into my childhood bedroom and closet: I'm literally digging into my past. I was expecting it to be in some kind of chronological order, but this is just random and would confuse any archeologist. It's unbelievable the things you can find in there. From dairy, love letters to pictures, old books, old toys... I love being in that stage where I go across what used to be your life: it's both sad and joyful.

First thing I found, my medals! I used to make gymnastic competitions when I was in 7th and 8th grade. I also used to love that pink jersey ;) Well, I remember very well that part, especially every morning and night when my back hurts. But I love that sport!

To describe the scene, this is in the middle of piles of perfume adds (I was addicted to advertisements... not perfume) that I found pictures of baby me, of me doing gymnastic, of my old friends. All these pictures where I was 10kg bigger (most of it was in my cheeks I think). I was a different person. I went trough pictures from a trip in Italy in 2003 with 5 high-school friends and that reminded me of that Truth/Action game we played on night, where one of the guy told me that I didn't have any sex-appeal... At that time he didn't even break my heart because I had no idea of what that meant :s

It has also been a long, painful and thoughtful moment when I went across two of my dearest old friends pictures and letters. In Eat, Pray and Love, she (Elizabeth Gilbert) calls them Soulmates. These persons that just happened to be in your way, at one point of your life. You share something incredible with them, and they give you something you really needed at that moment, and then disappear (they just continue their own life in a dimension that doesn't include yours anymore). I found them being more and more selfish, cruel to me. Them going away she says, hurts you a lot and makes you feel empty. That's how I felt at that time, and even 10 years after, I still have this emptiness when I think of them (you don't need names, you get the idea, and I'm sure you got your own). Loosing them made me both weaker and stronger. I'm not sure of what I'll do in the case where I met them again. I got so much love, then so much hate against them, that I hope now disinterest is my state towards them. I keep thinking they'll probably be sad I didn't become the person they'd wish I became, but on the other hand I'm happy and I don't really care. But me getting back into these letters and pictures of what used to be those I used to love, was a great step as I realize I would not love them as much today. I've changed but I kept thinking of the good part of them. Now it's ok, I understand why they are gone, and that's for good.

Anyway, they participated in who I am right now, and I'm thankful for that. One of them brought me a strong friendship, spirituality and simplicity, when I was confused. The other one brought me fantasy, utopia, nonconformity, too much love and a bit of craziness. They gave me my hint of philosophy and my love for writing. 

I don't know if they left because I took the best of them to evolve myself or if I just unconsciously let them go because I didn't need them anymore. Anyway, sometimes I realize that I do things because they once lead me on that path.I don't know what I brought to them but I bet you they have a very different memory of that time, compare to how I remember it!

In the middle of my high-school textbooks, I also find music CD! Do you remember Boyzone? These 5 irish guys, in the mid 90's? So gooood (hurm, only one or two songs... this is too girly/teenager/soapy to me now)! But listening to them this afternoon brought very good memories, my first travels, my first love, my bitchy friends... and helped diluting this out. It was delightful to hear that boys-band music to clean up your old bedroom and hidden memories! Of course you remember the lyrics by heart... :s even 17 years after! "Let start a brand new story now!" so they say!

But I need to get my head out of all this old-scary-me world, it's gonna make me sick. Time to move on, and come back to Toronto!

And just to improve your french and the idea of what it was to grow up in the 90's:

Bref j'ai grandi dans les années 90.

Popularization.

In the process of figuring out what is that I want to do for a living, I had in mind for a little while now, some scientific popularization. I don't really know who does that for journals, if the scientists do it themselves and then journals copies on one an other and the same message is transmitted and modified over and over again, or if every media has its own person half scientist/half freelance writer. Who prepares science TV show? I've seen a lot of them for kids, they are simple, sometimes to approximate but never uninteresting. What if I become that person?

I've met yesterday an inspiring guy at a networking reception that does exactly what I just described above. His job in one of the biggest company in the world (no name said) is to simplify the work of clinical researchers in a common language that anyone could understand and the accounting team can judge of the risk they take in supporting that project. The only difference with my dream job is that it requires him to sit on a chair all day long. I'm not sure I can stand that.

Anyway, I think it requires some writing skills that I probably should learn somewhere, even so I've got a lot of essay writing to do in my entire scholarship (in french, in english, about biology or about philosophy). I've always liked that but I may not have the proper style to write and be published in something else than a scientific journal. That said, it doesn't hurt to try.

I know I have in my group of blog-readers people that are scientists and people that definitively are not (if you wonder which category you belong to, just try to imagine what a mitochondria is). This diversity in the audience allows me to judge of how good I do translate a scientific article to a everyone-can-read-it abstract. Let's call it a blog journal club (I think I miss that the most from working in the lab). It's the moment where you can have a cup of coffee (or a beer, depending on the timing), enjoying the baking of that poor person that also did the job of putting together a simple slideshow explaining you that damn article from that damn group full of workaholic post-docs about to scoop you. Anyway, go get a cup of something you like, lay back and read my scientific popularization.

To that purpose, I would be using papers mostly from the journals Nature, Science and Cell, first of all because it's mostly biology and because they don't only do biology. The advantage of using these journals is that they are generalist enough that the articles do not focus on one damn unknown protein without interest, but rather on a whole mechanism (this is good in my case but a little more annoying when you try to submit a work to them and they just emphasize in the rejection letter how great you work is but how little you can figure out the big picture of what's going on). 

I'm not sure I have the right to use their article to publish a different version of their work on my blog or judge their paper. I then won't be using their names, I won't be using protein/gene mane either, I would just explain to you the idea and their results, maybe I'll judge sometimes and I'll certainly try to be creative and picture the whole thing instead of loosing you with complicated terms.

About judging, I found that table on a Facebook wall of one of my friend. It's neat, and it's so true. Left side is what's written in most papers, right side is what you should translate from it. I'll do that translation for you.

(taken from Facebook, original source unknown).

To scientific friends, please submit papers that you think could be worth popularizing (it can also be your paper if you think it's worth it) and to non scientific readers, please ask me process you wish to know about and I'll try my best to explain in a few memorable words.

And last, please tell me how you liked the job done. 

I'm not posting one today because I'm a bit short on time, but I'll do that for next week.

Have a good week-end everyone!