Last updated: January 21, 2025
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New Year, New Tech, and New Lessons from History
We start the year off with lots of new things. New technology. A new section devoted to quick reads. And in the spirit of Auld Lang Syne, we gain striking new insights from the past. We also release an inspiring episode of the Park Science Podcast.
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No matter what the previous year was like, the change from one year to the next always seems like a hopeful time, full of exciting potential. That’s certainly true than when introducing a new issue of Park Science. This one is overflowing with gifts.
There’s a new episode in our Park Science Podcast. This heart-warming conversation hosted by Kass Bissmeyer and Cortney Gjesfjeld brings home how important our nation’s national parks are to the entire world. Don’t miss the ending: it brought tears to my eyes.
The inaugural article in our new Research Roundup section is a cornucopia of bite-sized treats. It lists 17 different stories, each one a two-minute read. Every story summarizes in plain language the key findings described in a research paper published this past year. There’s a link to the original paper to satisfy your curiosity.
Speaking of cool tech, see what happened when Kyle Joly and colleagues put video camera collars on caribou. The results were worth munching on. Can you imagine a machine that measures fog? Taro Katayama and co-authors did, then they built four—and obtained some very useful data. A lot of science relies on taking good photos, especially if you’re a malacologist—a person who studies aquatic animals like mussels. Olivia Porter tells us these “boring” creatures (the mussels not the malacologists) may look like river rocks but are so much more.
Even if you discovered the greatest thing since sliced bread, no one would know or care if you couldn’t describe it in ways people can understand. Communicating ideas effectively is key to having an impact in science. That’s certainly the case for climate change, says Claire Baker, because many people seem hesitant to even discuss it.
This issue’s lead feature article shares remarkable insights from the past. Follow Ben Gaglioti as he comes up with a new research project while backpacking through the cold Alaskan wilderness. A beggar bear and a baby porcupine. Lush, living forests and strange, ghostly, dead ones. They’re a part of his experiences and his thought process. The result is promising and timely scientific research that inspires hope despite a warming planet and its melting ice.
Our theme of scientific and technological innovation continues with a story about visitors. Knowing who they are and what they like to do helps parks provide better services. But that’s not always easy to find out. David Pettebone and colleagues say mobile device data can help. In the early years of industry, technological innovation changed how we worked. Catherine Cooper and Allison Horrocks show it’s now changing how we understand the past. They created 3D virtual tours of two historic mills from the vantage point of the children who worked in them.
If you live near a lake or pond, maybe you've seen warning signs saying people and pets shouldn’t swim in the water or drink from it. That could be because of harmful algal blooms. Rachel Fowler’s story shares a new way to figure out where those blooms will likely occur in a national park. Keeping up with technological advances like these is vital for scientific research. Tim Divoll and colleagues tell us it can also help make field work more efficient and safer. But then again, if you’re camping out next to an enormous glacier or fending off hungry bears, maybe not.
About the author
Marie Lawrence is the editor of Park Science magazine.