I think many scientists are a little wary of journalists bearing MP3 recorders. 

The most common fear among us generally seems to be that of saying something erroneous on record, which is amplified by the pressure of speaking extemporaneously, the appeal for clarity and brevity, and perhaps a simple desire to say something interesting without the myriad qualifiers that are inherent to our research. Many others have written very eloquently about strategies for learning to communicate with journalists, but from my perspective, it's largely a matter of practice and learning from my mistakes. 

During a recent trip to Peru, I had the opportunity to get to know Justin Catanoso, the director of the journalism school at Wake Forest University. Justin was mad enough to visit our field research sites for a project he is doing on climate change in the Andes. A few of the early products are coming out on National Geographic Newswatch, WUNC radio and WFDD radio. In addition to digging into the complicated issues around the implications of climate change for tropical forests, he does great justice to the physically taxing nature of collecting the data.   

Speaking with Justin was a great chance to 'practice' working with a communications professional. You can listen to a segment where I speak about the role that tropical forests play in the water cycle through this link on WFDD. 

There is also a fair amount of data provided at the level of major cities. With respect to the biological, agricultural and environmental life sciences, which is the occupational description most closely aligned with my work, the best areas are Boston, Montgomery County in Maryland, New York and San Diego. However, the report covers math and computer science, physical science, social science and engineering as well.  

The data is only provided in tabular format in the report, so I've moved it into a very quick and dirty color gradient map for a better look see (units for top map are total number of people, units for bottom map are percent).  Of course, the data are from the following: 

Khan B. and J.C. Falkenheim. 2013. Regional Concentrations of Scientists and Engineers in the United States Arlington, VA: National Science Foundation, National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics

There are some advantages to having blue leaves. If you were even aware that plants could have blue leaves to begin with...

The story from a new paper by Simon Queenborough, Margaret Metz and colleagues demonstrates that a number of different plant species in tropical forests demonstrate what is known as delayed greening. This is a phenomenon whereby plants growing new leaves delay the addition of green pigmentation (i.e. the chlorophyll for photosynthesis) until the leaves are more mature. This can lead to slightly less green leaves, white leaves, red leaves....and even blue leaves! The idea behind this, most extensively explored by Lissy Coley and Tom Kursar at the University of Utah, is that delayed greening serves as a defense against insects trying to eat the leaves (known as herbivores). Chlorophyll has a lot of nitrogen, which is a valuable nutrient for animals. 

The question is whether or not delayed greening ultimately benefits the plant. A leaf without green pigmentation can't be used effectively to build new sugars through photosynthesis. But this new paper, in a special issue of the American Journal of Botany, demonstrates that seedlings with delayed greening have lower rates of mortality. At the same time, it demonstrates that saplings with delayed greening have lower rates of growth. In other words, there is a tradeoff: delayed greening appears to improve your chances of survival, but decrease the rate at which you can grow. 

A few outstanding questions based on my read of the paper: 

Is delayed greening hard-wired into a species throughout its ontogeny (all life history stages)? 
Is delayed greening solely a function of herbivory?
How does delayed greening vary with phylogeny (e.g. the species location on the tree of life)?

This new research demonstrates that from an evolutionary perspective, delayed greening is more than a novelty....it's a phenomenon that could lead us to a much better understanding of the trade-offs involved in growth and defense over the course of a plant's lifetime. I am looking forward to seeing what new doors fly open as a result...

Queenborough SA et al. Demographic consequences of chromatic leaf defence in tropical tree communities: do red young leaves increase growth and survival? Annals of Botany 112: 677-684.