June 2021 Tide Bite
Greetings,
One of the ways that FHL is changing, slowly, is in doing more research that relates to ‘real world’ problems (e.g., see our Sept. 2020 volume on issues relevant to mussel aquaculture).
May 2021 Tide Bite
Greetings,
Scientists often cannot predict the directions their research will take – it is odd to think that such important decisions might somehow be out of our hands. But not infrequently an unexpected observation or opportunity will pull research into a new exciting direction – it is often the unanticipated results that are the coolest!
April 2021 Tide Bite
Greetings,
The retirement of long-time staff members from our tight FHL community offers a bittersweet occasion; a chance to have a big party to celebrate their service and accomplishments, while knowing we will miss them.
March 2021 Tide Bite
Greetings,
A lot of people hate little critters with a lot of legs – one of those primal fears that has some good evolutionary backing. I personally am not fond of terrestrial animals with 8 or more legs (shudder!), but am quite fond of marine crustaceans with their many legs – go figure.
January 2021 Tide Bite
Greetings,
One of the genuinely fun parts of science is when disparate bits of knowledge or previously un-linked tools or techniques come together to let us see novel patterns or explore new scientific realms.
December 2020 Tide Bite
Greetings,
Science often progresses like assembling a puzzle out of many pieces. It’s hard to see the whole picture – and we can’t ‘cheat’ by looking at the box lid! Restoration workers, state agencies, and scientists are all concerned about the decline in bull kelp around the Salish Sea in recent decades, and are struggling to understand the causes.
November 2020 Tide Bite
Greetings,
Now and then we are lucky enough to have someone ‘appear’ at FHL who is just right to fill an empty niche. Kirk Sato is that person for us. The FHL Ocean Observing system that he discusses below had spent several years in a mostly-finished but not fully functional state, and we had no staff with the time or expertise to solve the seemingly intractable problems that remained.
October 2020 Tide Bite
Greetings,
For most people on earth, even those who live near the ocean, life below the low-tide line is a mystery, glimpsed only in movies or documentaries. Those visuals often focus on “charismatic megafauna” such as sharks, or colorful tropical habitats in clear water, such as coral reefs.
September 2020 Tide Bite
Greetings,
Much of the research that goes on at FHL is “basic science.” We all try to understand how nature works, whether that be genes replicating, brains learning, predators affecting prey populations…but few of us directly address practical problems that beset humans or their societies.