Registration is open for Ohio Sea Grant’s Science and Outdoor Writers Workshop, set to be held virtually Oct. 28–29, 1–3 p.m. both days. Check out the topics and speakers:
science
Two events to honor Rattan Lal
Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of soil science in CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources, will receive the 2020 World Food Prize in a ceremony set for 10–11 a.m. EDT Thursday, Oct. 15.
Later the same day, he will be honored during a CFAES-hosted virtual event called “The Legacy of Dr. Rattan Lal” from 2–2:45 p.m. EDT.
Watch the morning ceremony here. Register to attend the afternoon event here.
Lal speaks on turning science into action in the 2018 video above.
Tune in: Ohio’s squirrels of many colors
The Wooster Science Café resumes virtually from 7–8 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 30, when the College of Wooster’s Rick Lehtinen presents “Getting to Know the Neighbors: Squirrels, Obsessions, and Long-term Data.”
CFAES reads for Aug. 26, 2020
EPA gives up on barring grantees from science advisory panels
Science, June 25. Featuring Robyn Wilson, School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR).
Nicole Jackson: Environmental educator | Black Birders Week
PBS “Nature” blog, June 23. Featuring Nicole Jackson, SENR.
Soil prof hits pay dirt: $250K prize for helping farmers, fighting climate change
NPR, June 22. Featuring Rattan Lal, SENR.
Lal named to UN scientific group
Rattan Lal, Distinguished University Professor of Soil Science in CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources, has been named to the 29-member Scientific Group for the United Nations’ 2021 Food Systems Summit.
The summit, a statement by UN Secretary-General António Guterres said, “will raise global awareness to understand the food systems challenges we must solve, build a global conversation on the way in which we produce, process, and consume food, and galvanize global actions and commitments to change our food systems to provide safe, nutritious food for all within our planetary boundaries.”
The independent Scientific Group “will bring to bear the foremost scientific evidence, and help expand the base of shared knowledge about experiences, approaches, and tools for driving sustainable food systems.”
Algal boom conference going online this year
Registration is open for this year’s Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science Conference, set for Wednesday, Sept. 2, 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., and slated to be held online because of the coronavirus pandemic. Viewing the conference is free and open to the public, but you have to register in advance. Find details and a link to register.
The speakers will include scientists from USDA; the University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada; and CFAES.
Algal blooms are the typically pea-green, sometimes massive slime outbreaks that in recent years have plagued Lake Erie and other water bodies.
The conference’s organizer is Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant program, which works to protect the environment of Lake Erie and the Great Lakes.
(Photo: Tom Archer, Michigan Sea Grant.)
Answering reporters’ coronavirus questions
CFAES’ Linda Saif, an international expert on coronaviruses and Distinguished University Professor, has been rightly extremely busy lately answering reporters’ questions, including “Can pigs catch COVID-19?” “Can pets get coronavirus from humans?” and “Can veterinarians prevent the next pandemic?”
You can learn more about Saif’s and her colleagues’ expertise on coronaviruses here, and if you’re a journalist and want to ask them questions, their contact information is there, too.
Saif gave a good backgrounder on coronavirus biology, genetics, and related matters in a recent webinar, which you can watch in the video above.
When might the drug-based cavalry be coming?
Toledo Blade journalist Tom Henry talked to CFAES scientist Linda Saif, among others, for a March 20 story titled “Cavalry isn’t here yet: Coronavirus-killing drugs are still being sought.”
Saif is a Distinguished University Professor with CFAES’ Food Animal Health Research Program, a member of Ohio State’s Infectious Diseases Institute, a co-director of the institute’s Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program, and an international expert on several types of viruses including coronaviruses.
An evening supporting our Lake Erie programs
You’re invited to spend An Evening with Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory, partner Ohio State programs dedicated to studying, teaching about, and improving Lake Erie and water quality, from 6:30–9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus.
Watch: For the health of the water
The Big Ten Network’s “Live B1G” series recently featured Ohio State’s Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. The lab—located on Gibraltar Island, which you can see in the bay from the Put-in-Bay docks or as you enter the bay by boat—conducts research on water quality and teaches students about the lake, its water, and the creatures that rely on it, people included. You can watch the video above.