By Poornima Peiris

For many people, sharks and rays are regarded with fear, but for young marine biologist Melissa Marquez they inspire admiration, respect, and an entire career. Marquez raises awareness about chondrichthyans (the class to which sharks, skates, rays, chimaeras, and cartilaginous fish belong) through her foundation The Fins United Initiative. Marquez has a BA (Hons) degree in Marine Ecology and Conservation from the New College of Florida, USA and an MSc in Marine Biology from the Victoria University of Wellington, NZ.

By Yolanda Lannquist
 
This article was originally published on Medium and reprinted with permission by the author.
Also published on The Future Society’s site: http://www.thefuturesociety.org/perspectives/

By Lidiya Angelova

By Poornima Peiris

By Lidiya Angelova

Movies reflect our lives and biases. Since the birth of the movie business, men are often represented as strong, decision-makers and women stand in as weak, secondary characters, unable to deal with anything other than supporting the lead. Even with the rise of the gender equality movement in the movies and its carryover into reality, inherent biases remain in which females that demonstrate intelligence and strength are viewed as more masculine.

By Lidiya Angelova

Dame Jane Morris Goodall is the world’s most famous primatologist and conservationist. She dedicated her life to studying the nature of chimpanzees. Even though they are the closest living relatives to humans, chimps’ behaviour and biology weren’t being seriously investigated by scientists when Jane began her career. Her work brought to light the incredible world of chimps.

By Jeesoo Sohn
(The original version of this article is published here)

By Robbin Koenig
 
The holidays are around the corner and this year’s hottest toy is  . . . (drum roll please) the “Women of NASA” mini-figurine set from LEGO.

By Robbin Koenig
 
Early last month, astronaut Peggy Whitson returned to earth, catapulting herself into the history books as a record shattering scientist and pioneer in space travel.

By Sadaf Atarod

Scientific conferences are great for meeting interesting individuals in one’s field. These individuals may be well known Nobel Laureates, current or potential collaborators, patient advocates, your future Principal Investigator, or even your potential life partner! Even when conferences become routine, there is always something to find that makes it worthwhile to attend. At this year’s International Society for Stem Cell Research conference in Boston, I had the opportunity to connect with Samantha Yammine – first through Twitter and  then at the conference itself – to discuss science communication. Samantha is in her final year of her PhD program, and an enthusiastic, passionate communicator of science to the public. In fact,it was her consistent, informative tweeting that led to my discovering  Samantha  among the 3000+ attendees!