'Scientists who made a difference' series … Alexander von Humboldt became world famous by illustrating how nature works. If you ever get to Humboldt, Nebraska (40°9′54″N 95°56′45″W) you will have gotten someplace special. Humboldt lies almost exactly at the geographic center of the Mississippi River watershed; motto:

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Science communication using visual elements can convey unambiguous information that words cannot. Words are often used by lawyers and journalists to argue cases or make points - science is an attempt to base arguments on all the facts available, not just the 'convenient' facts used to support an argument. Words can be interpreted in a variety of ways, but data is less ambiguous.

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The use of symbols in the various conceptual diagrams that the Integration and Application Network staff have been employing as part of science communication taps an ancient and effective communication technique. Symbols are universal, transcending cultural and language barriers, as demonstrated by the global adoption of the IAN symbol libraries. I recently experienced two examples of the development and utilization of IAN symbols which shed light on the symbols that we employ.

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The steady rise in the number of people who have registered and downloaded the IAN symbol and image libraries has continued since they were first posted online in 2003. The number of users is currently in excess of 75,000 people, from all 50 U.S. states and virtually every country in the world.

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Conceptual diagrams are 'thought drawings' that use symbols to convey meaningful ecological information. The IAN symbol library was created in order that more people would be able to produce conceptual diagrams. Between the Marine Botany Group at the University of Queensland and the IAN team, the Science Communicators have produced over a thousand conceptual diagrams that have been used in scientific papers, books, newsletters, fact sheets, posters, and websites.

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This is the sixth and final blog post in a series which celebrates the IAN symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. Previous blog posts have focused on marine flora and fauna, birds, trees and animals. This blog post focuses on human aspects, with human structures and people themselves. 1. The symbol of a teacher reflects one of the developments of the IAN symbol library.

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This is the fifth blog post in a series of blog posts which celebrate the IAN symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. Previous blog posts have focused on marine flora and fauna, birds and trees. This blog post focuses on terrestrial animals, from small (e.g., butterflies) to large (e.g., whales). 1. The Monarch Butterfly (Danaus plexippus) was the first butterfly that I learned growing up in Ohio. We had milkweed plants in our yard, which attracted Monarchs.

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This is the fourth blog post in a series which celebrates the Integration and Application Network (IAN) symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. The previous blogs were on marine flora and fauna, and birds and this blog is focused on trees and shrubs in the IAN symbol library. 1) The Gum Tree (Eucalyptus spp.) symbol is one of my favorites, with its distinctive shiny leaves, open canopy and mottled bark.

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This is the third blog post in a series which celebrates the Integration and Application Network (IAN) symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. The first blogs were of marine flora and fauna and this blog depicts some of the beautiful birds in the IAN symbol library. 1) My favorite bird is the laughing kookaburra (Dacelo novaeguineae), a large raucous Australian bird with a distinctive call.

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This is the second blog post in a series which celebrates the IAN symbol library by highlighting some of the most interesting symbols. The first blog was top ten marine flora, since this was the focus of the Marine Botany group at the University of Queensland who began drawing vector symbols. The logical next group of symbols, depicted here, are some of the marine animals that live in and around marine flora.

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