Pictures of the day - 9 April











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Conflicts of Interests in Science

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(Image : Giordano Bruno, an Italian philosopher, mathematician and poet from the 16th century. He was burned in 1600 by the Roman inquisition, for saying that universe was infinite, that stars were distant suns, and other things he probably should have kept for later. Image from an animated segment of the movie “Cosmos : A Spacetime Odyssey ”. Most of people whom ever read a scientific article, be it by choice or obligation, should have noticed this sentence, most likely before kicking off the festivities: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. This sentence, which appears as an automatic formula, deserves a short discussion, as in these few words lies a huge deal of questions on ethics and scientific conduct, especially in our mad modern world. In its enterprise to understand the natural world, Science has knowledge and discovery for sole purposes. Science is foreign to the logic of benefit, cost and maximum profit that rules currently our modern, ...
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A Look in the Mirror

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As all other teams sail, walk, or swim from side to side in the beautiful little bay of Tjärnö to study the marine environment  around us, our team is about to explore something different. Something often forgotten, despite being fully part of a scientific project. Something? Better said “Someone”: the Scientist. Although it could be useful at times in research, we are not robots. We, as humans, think, act, interact with the environment. Whether it is on purpose or not, we will influence our results whatever happens during the project, as in every research ever conducted. This effect from the observer on what he observes can be marked, to the point it distorts results obtained, or tiny enough to be neglected. The objective of our team during this Spring School is precisely to explore this subject, the observer’s effect. Through various experiments, and witnessing fellow students’ research projects, we will attempt to describe the different ways experiments and results are inf...
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They have arrived…

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Our investigation is up and running and after some strenuous days of fieldwork along the coast of Tjärnö bay as well as submerged in the 7°C cold Swedish waters we can already confirm the presence of at least two marine alien species. Here you see our team of specialists detecting the invasive Pacific oyster Crassostrea gigas. This oyster originally inhabits the Pacific coast of Asia and has been introduced to Sweden around 50 years ago when trying to cultivate it near Tjärnö. From there, the pacific oyster ‘escaped’ but was not observed for another 40 years. In 2007, a massive invasion along the Swedish coast began. This alien newcomer is now competing for space with the native European oyster Ostrea edulis and the well-known blue mussel Mytilus edulis and is slowly starting to replace them. To give you an idea about its danger: Our colleagues from Australia have classified the Pacific oyster as one of the ten most damaging invasive species. Our most recent finding in the b...
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