Jennifer Parker writes research papers with algae. Yes, you read that right. The UC Santa Cruz professor of digital media (and her partners) consider algae a collaborator and teacher. But learning from nature is only one of her creative methods. Parker founded OpenLab at UCSC 10 years ago to inspire interdisciplinary collaboration, because, she believes, it will take both science and the senses to explain climate change to the public and inspire action to protect the planet. Scientists, she says, have been in charge for the past 100 years, “and it’s not working.”
