
The Poetry of Science
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Hi, my name is Sam Illingworth, and I am a Senior Lecturer in Science Communication at Manchester Metropolitan University. My research involves looking at the ways in which different media can be used to connect science and the rest of society, and one of those ways is through poetry. Every week I find a new piece of scientific research, read the journal article that describes it and then..
The Poetry of Science
17h ago
Rumbling roamers
till the earth,
treading lightly
on giant feet
to tend their plots
with trunk
and tusk
and toe.
Nature’s plough
digesting bark and seed
to renovate old paths
as fresh and thirsty beds;
memories etched deep
in the wrinkles of their skin,
reaching for a certainty
that will not out last
their touch.
African forest elephants and lowland bongos on the banks of the Sangha River in the Central African Republic (Image Credit: Gregoire Dubois).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that elephant extinction could have a major impact on atmospheric carbon levels.
Meg ..read more
The Poetry of Science
1w ago
Artificial ignitions
light the touch –
flames leaping high
above fiery crowns
to rain heat
and light
and smoke.
Fetid air that leaks
into every breath
with perverse
unspoken ease.
Malignant alignments
of all that we are
and could yet become –
casually trading lives
for commodities
and convenience
as ephemeral
as the air
we now breathe.
A raging wildfire in a forested area with a responding helicopter in the sky (Image Credit: IOP Publishing).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that human-initiated wildfire smoke is responsible for around 20,000 premature deaths per year ..read more
The Poetry of Science
2w ago
Poison passed
from paints and pans
to streets
and homes
and lives.
A build-up of bile
broken only by promises
of pure, mandated air.
Yet shadows linger,
hidden from sight
in flying sores that
ooze
and
seep
and
spew.
Mists of lead
caught on artificial eddies
that march downwind
on wings too large
to break,
drip-fed into lungs
whose mouths
can’t form the words
they need
for help.
Reid-Hillview Airport in Santa Clara County, California (Image Credit: Cleipelt21, via Wikimedia Commons).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that children near airports may be exposed to dangero ..read more
The Poetry of Science
3w ago
Balls of sunken green
sloshing in the seiche,
velvet, bouncy growths
seeking shade
beneath the frosted roofs
of floating, breaking glass.
Frail and muddy ghosts
that dance across the lake
with lithe unease,
filaments severed
by the scintillating grasp
of a cruel
and rising sun.
The algae Aegagropila linnaei can live as free-floating filaments, grow on rocks, grow into the signature ball shape and form flattened balls when squished, depending on their environment. (Image Credit: Yoichi Oyama).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that marimo algae balls are at risk from de ..read more
The Poetry of Science
1M ago
Layers of ashen swill
stack
and stock
and soil.
Discarded remnants,
squandered thoughts
now
buried deep
beneath a bitter
broken sea –
out of sight
out of mind
out of time.
Vaults of tarnished sand
to seal away our
grimy guilt,
absolutions
assigned
a wasteful
blighted price.
The Mariana Trench is the deepest ocean trench on earth, with a maximum depth of 11,034 m (Image Credit: ratpack223).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that carbon, soot, and other particles from combustion end up in deep-sea trenches.
In most areas, the ocean floor lies 4 to 6 km below the su ..read more
The Poetry of Science
1M ago
The soil bursts into flame,
mercury rising
through fevered trends
to bring another kind
of heat;
a frenzied force
that shoots
to maim and kill.
Collars itching with intent
as triggered fingers
expose fault lines
in how we choose to live –
degrees of harm
unduly falling
on those
already branded
by our febrile,
fatal touch.
A protestor at the March for Our Lives demonstration in New York City, March 24, 2018 (Image Credit: Mathias Wasik for Flickr).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that warm days are contributing to gun violence surges across the United States.
As of 20 ..read more
The Poetry of Science
1M ago
Waves break against the shore,
every quiver spitting scree
and scum
into the warm
and flawless sky;
heavy mouthfuls of
unseen waste
that cut
and prod
and delve.
We try to count the cost
with eyes too wide to see,
every breath a sharp
and rancid taste
of what we failed to save.
Microplastics pose a growing concern, and not just in aquatic environments (Image Credit: Oregon State University, via Flickr).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that the microplastics in Auckland’s air are equal to 3 million plastic bottles every year.
Over the last 70 years, 8.3 billion metric ..read more
The Poetry of Science
1M ago
Cloaks of brown and green
huddle close to sustain
shared lives and leaves,
shifting in time to
bend,
not break
with the wind –
catching each blow
to regulate,
mature,
and grow.
But western fronts
bring harsher times –
plagues of
insects,
heat,
and drought
that push and pull
with rigid doubt.
A final recoil to
a stark,
untimely end.
A forest at the headwaters of Ritchie Run, Clinton County in the United States, at the West Branch Forest Preserve (Image Credit: Nicholas_T via Flickr).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that in the Western United States, an increase in for ..read more
The Poetry of Science
2M ago
Sunken meadows
swagger in the tides,
awnings of green
that lurch
and lean
and weave.
Leafy locks
that tangle waves,
dulling the corrosion
of their coastal homes.
In sandy dunes
matted roots
take hold,
unseen anchors
that bind each grain
against the coarse
and ever-coming
sea.
A seagrass meadow in the Baltic Sea (Image Credit: Pekka Tuuri).
This poem is inspired by recent research, which has found that seagrass roots strongly reduce coastal erosion rates in sandy sediments.
Coastal erosion is a result of both human activities and natural environmental changes, resulting in coastal land being s ..read more
The Poetry of Science
2M ago
Colonies of colour
stretch out
beneath the sea,
sessile shelters of life
whose calcite frames
sway with the tides
like ribbons
in an autumn breeze.
Bands of sickly white
scratch their skin,
exposing sun-bleached bones
from base to tip –
progressing pestilence
that strips
and maims
and kills.
As pigments drain
diversity persists,
forming barriers of care
that suffocate the spread –
a healing presence
of collective strength.
UC Davis Assistant Professor Anya Brown dives in a coral reef in Little Cayman as part of a research study (Image Credit: Julie Meyer/University of Florida).
This poem is i ..read more