By MOIRA HARRINGTON
Never salty and always informative in a nonformal manner is the Sea Grant “Unsalted” blog. Check it out at seagrant.wisc.edu/blog and read content that includes first-person recaps and ruminations. It’s a way for the program to share news in a less structured manner than a typical news story delivers.
At least once a month, often more frequently, staff use this virtual space to provide a rundown of a past event. Typical offerings are those describing the popular River Talks public science café based in Superior. Or staff might share impressions and key takeaways from conferences, much as Science Communicator Marie Zhuikov did with her piece in early winter, “Lessons in Wild Ricing and Wild Rice Lake Restoration.” She recounted seven things to know when harvesting rice, including this valuable tip: “Unprocessed wild rice features a long tail-like barb that can have uncomfortable consequences for unwary harvesters. It can sometimes get stuck in people’s tear ducts, requiring careful extraction! If this happens to you, you’ll be crying ‘warrior tears.’”
At the end of 2023 and into early 2024, the space transformed into a hall of reflection as some of the Sea Grant team members looked back on their favorite projects from the prior 12 months. This included conducting a science workshop on a boat on Lake Michigan for a group of educators, per Adam Bechle, coastal engineer; a book club featuring Indigenous children’s books from Senior Special Librarian Anne Moser; and Editor Elizabeth White’s appreciation for an unsung publication, the biennial “Sea Grant Project and People Directory.”
Student voices also shine here. On the blog, 2023 summer research scholars talked about their experiences with mentors and science.
The most popular blog post with readers during the 10-plus years it has been available is “That Time I Organized a Sea Lamprey Taste Test,” go.wisc.edu/f9gex2. The title says it all, doesn’t it? And no wonder people gravitate toward it.
Subscribe to the blog at seagrant.wisc.edu/blog so there’s never the risk of missing sea lamprey recipes, wild rice harvesting tips and more.