She Studies Seaweed by the Seashore: Editor？s Note

Tongue twisters are fun to try and say, but we often do not give much thought to their meaning. The story behind, “She sells seashells by the seashore,” is that of a young Mary Anning, born in 1799, who along with her brother found fossils on the seashore and sold them as souvenirs to tourists. She was 12 years old when she uncovered a four‐foot Ichthyosaur skull. This major fossil discovery was the first for Mary, and it would end up changing the way we imagine creatures and think about the world and its animals today. Similarly, in this edition of the Paper Trail, two researchers are making discoveries about what is in the sea and worrying less about selling what they find to make ends meet. They have focused on calcified algae, which is particularly vulnerable to rising temperatures and ocean acidification, two main occurrences resulting from climate change. Will they have the same impacts as Mary Anning? No one knows, but the seashore and the vast animals that inhabit the sea are depending on their efforts and those of many others