For over a month now I've been living in La Jolla, mere blocks from the beach, without having time to touch the ocean. Yesterday I finally got fed up with being too busy to swim, so I just threw on my swimsuit and board shorts and walked straight down the street and into the water. Joy!

After a swim, I took a little walk along the beach to dry off. As I approached the curve of the beach where wave action piles all of the flotsam--mostly kelp and seagrass--I spotted a small gathering of people pointing curiously at something. I went to find out what it was, and possibly offer my services as a marine biologist.

In fact, I had a sneaking suspicion it might be a Humboldt squid, since I'd heard that divers were starting to see them in the water, and I'd seen photos of one washed up on the beach last week. Lo and behold, it was!

I introduced myself: "It is a squid! Hi, I study these! Yes, I study this particular species, and yes, I will study this specific instantiation of it before your very eyes! Wonder and delight!"

Maybe I didn't say all that; I don't remember.

Continue reading and find out how I explained sperm to a  bunch of kids on the beach . . .

In May, I went to this science writing workshop in Santa Fe. It was an utterly amazing experience in every way. Many conversational threads wound through the week; one that particularly caught my fancy was "found science." Rather than writing about science as it is done by scientists, you focus on the science of everyday life, and pop culture in particular. You can start with the obvious--science fiction--and write The Physics of Star Trek, or you can grab onto something extremely popular but not obviously scientific, and dig until you find the science. Then you end up with The Physics of the Buffyverse, a delightful book by Jennifer Ouellette, who incidentally was my instructor at the Santa Fe Workshop. She rocks, and as far as I can tell, found science is her whole mission in life.

I came home from the workshop, considered quitting grad school (don't worry, it's normal), and started thinking: what is popular right now? What is hot? Where can I challenge myself to find science? Since I have always known what cool is (not), I settled on the Twilight phenomenon. This slice of pop-culture has been thoroughly devoured by precisely the demographic that science (and math and engineering) are still losing.

More about the found biology of Twilight . . .