In early 2014, a 558 pp. book “Long Island Sound: Prospects for the Urban Sea” was published. The co-editors JS Latimer, MA Tedesco, RL Swanson, C Yarish, PE Stacey and C Carza were able to get 57 contributors to produce this comprehensive summary of the state of science in Long Island Sound. Springer lists the book for $279 and the eBook for $219, which is a steep price.

In collaboration with the Chesapeake Bay Program and US Geological Survey (USGS), we released a report entitled "New Insights: Science-based evidence of water quality improvements, challenges, and opportunities in the Chesapeake". The release was conducted at the Chesapeake Bay Program in Annapolis on 25 February 2014 . We produced a 52 pp. full color report and a small trifold executive summary to accompany the full report.

Alex Fries and I had the chance to travel to Adelaide, Australia to deliver a two-day Science Communication Course to the South Australia Department of Environment, Water, and Natural Resources (DEWNR). The course focused on Ecosystem Health Report Cards. DEWNR is currently creating state-wide report cards in the marine, freshwater, terrestrial, and atmospheric environments, reporting on elements like pest species, soil health, reefs, seagrass, salt marsh, and dunes.

My first visit to the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) was in 1985, when I joined Doig Capone and Linda Duguay on a collaborative project sponsored by the U.S. National Science Foundation. I was on a Coastal Marine Scholar postdoctoral fellowship at the Marine Sciences Research Center (now the School of a Marine and Atmospheric Sciences) at Stony Brook University.

Following a day of scientific talks where the various climate change resilience indicators were presented, we had dinner at a nice restaurant on The Strand, a popular Townsville promenade overlooking the harbor. On the second day, we sketched a few conceptual diagrams, generated a prototype reef resilience index and storyboarded a trifold document.

Heath Kelsey and I traveled to Townsville, Australia to facilitate a workshop to develop a climate change resilience index for the Great Barrier Reef. The workshop, sponsored by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation, was at James Cook University on 10-11 Feb 2014. On the first day, we had a series of presentations by scientists developing various indicators and then on the second day we designed and drafted a trifold publication for internal use by the Great Barrier Reef Foundation.

'Scientists who made a difference' series … This blog accompanying the biographical sketch of Galileo Galilei looks at a selection of his writing as poetry and a selection of his scientific sketches as art. The ‘Poetry’ uses Galileo's exact words (translated into English) in prose form, using the title ‘The Greatest Astonishment' to focus on the cadence and word choice.

'Scientists who made a difference' series … Galileo Galilei, like modern rock stars, is commonly known by only his first name. Galileo was friends with the Pope and many influential Europeans, taught at several universities, invented scientific equipment including the telescope and authored widely read books. He was born in 1564 in Pisa, Italy, a few hours before another Italian died, known by his first name only, Michelangelo and a few months before William Shakespeare was born in England.

This book was produced by the fledgling School of Marine Science, The University of Queensland at the outset of a rekindled scientific interest in Moreton Bay, its tributaries and its catchments, or watersheds. Previous conferences regarding the Brisbane River and Moreton Bay resulted in short conference proceedings books; Brisbane River: A Source Book for the Future, Future of Marine Science in Moreton Bay, and Moreton Bay in the Balance.

Last week, I attended a meeting of the Changing Course design competition in New Orleans. The Changing Course competition will stimulate innovative thinking about the future shape of coastal Louisiana, including possibly relocating the main channel of the Mississippi River below New Orleans - hence its name. The purpose of this meeting was to bring together the eight teams invited to enter the competition to review the issues at stake and answer questions about the competition.