Catch-22: Scientific communication failures linked to faster-rising seas

Scientists failed for decades to communicate the coming risks of rapid sea-level rise to policymakers and the public, a new study has found. That has created a climate catch-22 in which scientists have soft-pedaled the kinds of catastrophic risks most easily headed off by cutting emissions. While scientific communication has improved in the 2020s, this…

The Hill

Unclear signage led to crocodile attacks, study finds.

(photo: Parks Australia)

@ct_bergstrom The choices of languages are interesting - English, German and Japanese (?). Are they the only ones who need to know or are they the ones who do not know?
@ct_bergstrom @antsymbiosis That's Chinese. German tourists aren't as numerous, but they are significantly more likely than the average to think slomping through a mangrove forest is a more interesting way to spend a vacation than just taking a selfie in front of the opera house and then getting pissed.
@mat @ct_bergstrom Thanks - I was wondering if it was Chinese. For a while in the US, back in the 90s maybe, there was a time when German tourists were walking around in bad neighborhoods in the US getting mugged or worse. So, I was also thinking naive adventure might be an issue here.
@antsymbiosis @ct_bergstrom The concept of wild animals intending to kill and eat us is very foreign to us Germans.
We are traditionally killed by cars.
That’s why we are trained to consider where cars are preying for us and may forget to shake out our shoes for crocodiles and such.
Warning signs in German may be very helpful to improve the situation.
@ct_bergstrom I see the problem. People are warned by the red lines in three of the four squares not to engage in those activities, yet no red line warns the crocs not to eat the people in the first square.

@onagirl @ct_bergstrom

It still wouldn't have worked. Crocs are colourblind...

https://academic.oup.com/mbe/article/34/3/776/2996351

This is why you need good accessibility engineers. Unfortunately, all usability tests tend to end the same way. Nothing left but a fat crocodile, a pair of empty boots, and a clipboard.

How Turtles and Crocodiles Lost the Parietal “Third” Eye and Their Differing Color Vision Adaptations

The vertebrate eye is a remarkable evolutionary invention, displaying an incredible repertoire, from a soaring falcon’s keen distance vision to the special nigh

OUP Academic
@ct_bergstrom kinda wondering why you’d clean a fish in the first place, they spend their life bathing.

@ct_bergstrom
Salties scare the crap out of me, they are so obviously always looking for an opportunity to eat you

Anyone who takes risks in or near water where there might be salties is a nutter

@ct_bergstrom

If only the sign had said "WATER'S EDGE", a whole bunch of grammar pedants might still be alive today.

Stupid signwriters...

@ghost_shit @ct_bergstrom They work in public service, maybe feeding the pendants to crocodiles is a public good.
@ct_bergstrom I think what surprises people is that you don’t actually have to be in the water to be killed. And “near” is quite a ways from the water’s edge.
@ct_bergstrom
Penalties Apply
(Assessed by Crocodile)

@ct_bergstrom @cstross

This sign, warning of a steep path at a South African crocodile farm, is fairly unambiguous about the potential risks.

@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross
No warning for babies in pushchairs 😆

@billheywood

Or, as they're known in those parts, "appetizers”.

@angusm @tchambers @ct_bergstrom @cstross That, or it’s warning that a lot of summer fun is about to commence. https://youtu.be/ALN7362qBdA
Crocodile Mile Commercial (1988)

YouTube

@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross

#accelerando

Accelerating wheelchairs could harm poor, unsuspecting crocodiles?

@alexshendi @angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross beware of wheelchair riders on their way to hug their favourite croc.
@alexshendi @ct_bergstrom @cstross People can be SO thoughtless and irresponsible.
@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross this looks like a trailer for a James Bond movie. Felix Leiter can still do field work!
@angusm I'm not sure who is most at risk in this scenario… @ct_bergstrom @cstross

@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross

Looks like a new form of extreme sport to me.

@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross or benefits, depending on your place in the will.
@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross you must be at least *this tall* to ride the wheelchair crocodile fun slide.
@angusm @ct_bergstrom @cstross
If only #contractual languag could be this unambiguous. Note well, #lawyers #lawfedi
@ct_bergstrom Those hapless sign designers. They should NEVER have consulted scientists 🍸🙀
@ct_bergstrom

it's pretty clear the first image is saying to greet the croc with your leg so you don't get wet.

@ct_bergstrom I feel as though this leads into the rabbit hole of labeling radioactive stuff for the future.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=aoy_WJ3mE50

These tunnels are designed for 100,000 years

YouTube
@ct_bergstrom I’m still a bit unsure what this means.
@ct_bergstrom @aral I took this picture not far from Cairns a while ago. There were no flags on the beach.