The Scout Report -- Volume 27, Number 26

Kyrgyzstan's space program has been defunct since the country gained independence from the Soviet Union. This 25-minute documentary follows an all-female team of young scientists and engineers in the capital city of Bishkek as they work to launch Kyrgyzstan's first satellite into space. The eight women, who dropped out of university programs to pursue the project, have no prior experience in aerospace. Director San San F. Young follows the team as they "learn by doing," while also working to fundraise for the project. In addition to technical challenges, the team must overcome gender stereotypes, limiting cultural norms, community opposition, and little access to resources and expertise. If they are successful, they will build the first satellite constructed entirely by women. Supporters of the project can follow updates on their Patreon (Kyrgyz Space Program), Facebook (@kyrgyzspaceprogram), Instagram (@KyrgyzSatellite), and Twitter (in Russian, @KyrgyzSatellite). Other films in the Women Make Science series are also worth checking out. Subjects range from dolphin sanctuaries in Greece to ecosystem restoration in Kenya's Lake Victoria. [HCL]

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World population growth, rising demand for meat, and decreasing availability of land and water resources for farming mean there is an urgent need for alternative protein sources that are nutritious and environmentally sustainable. Edible insects, such as crickets, are emerging as one viable alternative. Cricket farming requires fewer resources and emits fewer greenhouse gases than livestock such as cattle. Readers interested in the logistics of small-scale cricket farming should hop to this comprehensive manual published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in collaboration with Thailand's Khon Kaen University. The first part of the manual focuses on farming and covers rearing, feeding, propagating, harvesting, and storing crickets, plus other essentials such as waste management and labor. Readers looking to learn more about crickets as livestock can swarm the helpful FAQ section (pages 39-40) and Appendix 1.1: Biology of Crickets (pages 42-47), which illustrates some types of crickets and their life cycles. The second part of the manual covers regulation and inspection of cricket farms and is summarized in a flowchart in Appendix 2.1 (page 65) and an inspection checklist in Appendix 2.2 (pages 67-71). Bug appetit! [HCL]

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Students and scholars of literature, cultural studies, or studies of the Latino experience will want to check out the Latino Book Review, an annual digital and print magazine featuring book reviews, literary news, essays, interviews, and research databases. Founded in 2016 by Gerald Aguilar Padilla, the mission of the Latino Book Review is to "create quality content and make the work of Latinx writers visible." The digital magazine can be navigated using header buttons for "Reviews," "Interviews," "Essays," and other sections on the main page. The "Research" section includes useful resources like themed literature collections (e.g., the conquest of Mexico) and a database of minority-owned bookstores. The magazine also creates a podcast, currently in its second season, featuring interviews with prominent Latinx writers such as author Isabel Allende and journalist Maria Hinojosa. Readers interested in supporting the magazine's mission can also purchase a print or PDF copy. [MJZ]

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Developed by the nonpartisan nonprofit Partnership for Public Service and The Washington Post, this free tool tracks the progress of federal appointees for the current administration. A timeline of the latest hearings, referrals, and more is updated daily. For Cabinet secretary positions, a graphic shows who was nominated and follows the timeline from the announcement to Senate confirmation. The tool tracks appointments for more than 800 positions in total, even the ones that do not make headlines, including ambassadors, general counsels, chief financial officers, and other key leaders. A searchable database of every position, including holdovers from the previous administration, can be filtered by agency, confirmation status, rank, and gender of the nominee. The information is sourced mainly from Congress.gov, the official website of the U.S. Congress, as well as other publicly available government websites and news sources. [HCL]

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How can dance help middle school students understand ecology? That is the question addressed through the lesson plan "Movement and Mutualism: Modeling Ecosystem Interactions," published by Science Friday and written by middle school science teacher Megan Sorensen of Sault Saint Marie, Michigan. In this lesson, students use dance to model the behavior and interactions of animals in their ecosystems. Life science teachers for grades 6-8 will find everything they need to adapt this 1-2 hour lesson. Readers can follow the step-by-step outline, which includes linked video resources for the classroom, embedded gifs modeling student participation, tips for implementation, and downloadable materials (in Word and PDF format) such as cutouts, students guides, and a grading rubric. The lesson plan meets Next Generation Science Standards, National Core Arts Standards, and Common Core State Standards. Science Friday produces a nationally syndicated radio show as well as videos, podcasts, live events, and free educational resources for STEM teachers and students. [MJZ]

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LGBTQ+ individuals make important contributions to STEM fields every day, but their leadership often goes unrecognized. 500 Queer Scientists aims to boost visibility for LGBTQ+ people working in STEM by sharing their stories, highlighting role models, forming connections, and letting people know they are not alone. Submissions from users around the globe have well exceeded the goal of 500 scientists, and the project now profiles more than 1500 people. On the homepage, readers can click the photos to read each user-submitted story. Many featured individuals include links to connect with them on social media or find out more about their work. To filter by STEM field or location, readers can navigate to the Search page from the menu bar at the top of the site. The Resources page includes a link to The 500QS Reader, a monthly newsletter with people, publications, and organizations of interest in the LGBTQ+ STEM community. A recent issue profiled Kyne, a drag queen and mathematician, and Queer AI, an organization advocating for representation and inclusion in the artificial intelligence field. Also on the Resources page, readers will find links to a job board and community events calendar. 500 Queer Scientsists is active on Instagram (@500queerscientists) and Twitter (@500queersci). [HCL]

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Assigned Science at Bachelor's (ASAB) explores all things science through a transgender lens. Hosted by Tessa Fisher, who calls herself "possibly the world's only openly trans lesbian astrobiologist," and Charles Wallace, a trans entomologist and PhD student, each episode features a trans guest discussing their work in the sciences and chatting about the latest news and issues in their field. Recent episodes included conversations with evolutionary biologist Fayth Tan about animal regeneration, climate scientist Michaela Gallucci about robot dating, and science writer Annalee Newitz about gender in the future. New episodes are released about twice per month. ASAB streams on most podcast platforms (including Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, and Stitcher), but their website has a few extras. Under the Transcripts tab readers can click any episode to find show notes with links to resources for deeper dives into the topics discussed, as well as a transcript of the episode. Listeners looking for a specific subject should navigate to the right sidebar and use the Categories dropdown menu to filter by subject. To find ASAB on social media, visitors can visit the Social Media page for links to their Goodreads, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube pages. [HCL]

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STEM professionals who identify as LGBTQ+ can bolster their personal, academic, and professional success by connecting with like-minded folks in a supportive, empowering environment. That is the mission behind Out in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (oSTEM), "the largest chapter-based organization focused on LGBTQ+ people in STEM." The professional network spans colleges, universities, and professional chapters in the U.S. and abroad, and membership is free. Aspiring graduate students will not want to miss the Grad App Assistance page (under Resources) where they can apply for financial assistance for school applications and test fees (up to $750) and have their application materials reviewed by an expert in their field. In the Programs drop-down menu at the top of the page, students can also navigate to the Scholarship Program page to find financial support for STEM studies. Readers interested in online offerings should check out the Resources drop-down menu at the top of the page. Under Member Resources, visitors will find guides for career development, resumes, interviewing, and more. Connect with other LGBTQ+ individuals in STEM via the Affinity Groups page, which offers a number of open groups including Ace/Aro, Dis(Ability), Race and Ethnicity, Trans and Non-Binary, and more. The COVID-19 Resources page allows readers to join the oSTEM Slack workspace, providing an additional virtual community. [HCL]

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Dr. Sally Le Page is an evolutionary biologist, science educator, and YouTuber who also identifies as queer and asexual. She is best known for her "Shed Science" series of quirky biology-related videos that answer questions such as How to make plastic from trees (and not fossil fuels) (October 28, 2019) and Can you blow up a balloon underwater? (June 24, 2019). Le Page also currently hosts a livestreamed course on evolution called "Evolution Live," as well as a wildlife-themed series aimed at non-scientists called "Nature Dates" (all found under Playlists). One of Dr. Le Page's most popular videos, though, is her Coming Out video (February 9, 2016) where she discusses her experiences as a queer scientist and the importance of LGBTQ+ visibility in the sciences. At the top of the Home page is a playlist of suggested videos for those new to the channel, and viewers can continue scrolling to check out all of her video series. Readers can also follow Le Page on Twitter (@sallylepage). [HCL]

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STEM educators play an important role in welcoming and encouraging LGBTQ+ young people interested in these disciplines. GLSEN is a research, education, and advocacy nonprofit organization that works to support LGBTQ+ visibility and inclusion in K-12 schools. Their resources for educators help develop LGBTQ+ affirming curriculum and create safe spaces in classrooms. Lesson Plans such as "Garden of Kindness" (for grades K-5) and "Challenging Assumptions" (for grades 6-12) can be integrated with STEM coursework. At the top of the page, under the Educator Resources heading, are tabs directing readers to Lesson Plans, an Inclusive Curriculum guide, and resources specific to administrators and elementary school educators (Elementary Resources). The Inclusive Curriculum guide (previously featured in the 10-19-2018 issue of the Scout Report) gives educators a framework to make their existing curriculum more diverse and representative of LGBTQ+ people. Readers can also scroll down the main Educator Resources page to the Safe Space Kit section for a free digital download of a Safe Space poster and a guide to strategies and best practices for creating welcoming environments at school. Readers hungry for more materials can click the pink "Sign me up!" button on the upper right to join the email list. [HCL]

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The slow return of in-person conferences brings with it the need to print conference posters, but not everyone will have ready access to a poster printer. Plakativ is software intended to generate a multi-page PDF that can be printed on standard sized paper and pasted together to make a poster. Users can create their poster in three ways: 1) a specified final size, 2) a given magnification of an input file, or 3) the biggest possible poster that can be generated with a specified number of sheets of paper. Plakative includes both an interactive GUI and a batch mode command-line utility. An animated demonstration of the GUI features is presented on the Plakativ landing page. Plakativ is written in Python and requires a Python installation to use. It can be installed via pip and has been tested on Windows, macOS, and Linux. [CRH]

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Neatline is a set of geospatial additions for Omeka designed to let users construct geotemporal exhibits that contain "beautiful, complex maps, image annotations, and image sequences" drawn from data stored in a digital collection. It is designed to occupy the space between consumer-grade mapping software such as Google Earth and professional GIS applications such as ArcGIS. The developers aim to make the software "simple enough that college undergraduates can easily use it for class assignments, but also sufficiently flexible, scalable, and feature-rich that it can be used for professional scholarship, journalism, and art." The Showcase tab on the Neatline site highlights a number of digital exhibitions that demonstrate the software's capabilities. The User Guides section provides links to comprehensive installation and usage instructions for both the Omeka Classic and Omeka S versions of Neatline. [CRH]

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Since its last feature in the 11-06-2020 issue of the Scout Report, We Rep STEM launched a series called Faces of STEM profiling role models from groups that are underrepresented in STEM fields.

"Science is for everyone." This is the guiding principle of We Rep STEM, a platform "celebrat[ing] STEM minorities, [including] people of colour, professionals with disabilities, members of the LGBTQ community, Indigenous researchers, women of all races, [and] scientists in niche areas of expertise." The site is a useful resource for teachers, as it offers information on inclusivity in STEM fields, highlights upcoming events and programs, profiles diverse STEM superstars, and discusses relevant health topics such as youth wellbeing. At the top of the homepage are the latest articles, as well as a list of the most-read articles on the right side. Scrolling down the home page, readers will find stories grouped by categories such as LGBTQ, At Work, Disabilities, Technology, and Education. The Glossary tab at the top of the page may also be worth scrolling through, as it defines several words and acronyms frequently referenced on the site (for example, "code-switching" and "SciComm"). Readers can also find the platform on Instagram (@werepstem), Twitter (@WeRepSTEM), and YouTube (We Rep STEM). [EMB] [HCL]

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