Deepwater Horizon oil spill at Chandeleur Islands, Louisiana. WIKIPEDIA, JEFFREY WARREN, GRASS ROOTS MAPPING PROJECT
On the 2-year anniversary of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico, one of the scientists who flocked to the area in the spill’s aftermath reflects on the overall contribution of the academic scientific community to the disaster relief, and concludes that scientists struggled, and at times failed, said Christopher Reddy, a senior scientist at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, to deal with the media and federal officials as well as perform the research that was most beneficial to the cause.
“Academic scientists chose the research that most interested us, rather than what may have been most important to responding to the immediate disaster,” wrote Reddy, who studies marine pollution, in an opinion piece for Wired.
At the heart of the problem, ...
