On the Bay

It’s spring in Maryland and in rivers and tributaries throughout the Chesapeake Bay, young American eels, called elvers, are moving upstream—pushing and wriggling and constantly moving. Movement is what they are made of.

Making the invisible visible is an important, yet challenging, part of sharing science. It’s one our communications team recently took on with Assistant Director for Education J. Adam Frederick to determine the best method for capturing images of microplastics in a laboratory setting at the Institute of Marine and Environmental Technology (IMET) in Baltimore, Maryland.

All winter long, four of Judy Plaskowitz’s students—seniors at South Carroll High School in Sykesville, Maryland—have tended two enormous tanks behind the school’s Career and Technology Building, hoping the yellow perch (Perca flavescens) inside could successfully over-winter

It’s 9 a.m. in Baltimore, I’ve had too much coffee, and I’m nervous. I walk up to the podium, and with encouraging nods from my colleagues, give a brief—and I mean brief—introductory spiel about a project I’ve spent the better part of a year working on. I look around, seeing largely unfamiliar faces from local government offices, nonprofit organizations, and academic institutions.

Oysters living within the cozy confines of a hatchery here in Maryland wouldn’t ordinarily get in the mood on Valentine’s Day. It’s cold outside, and bivalves like summer loving.