This TED Talk features politician and scientist Kirstie Duncan, recorded live at TED 2018.

Let me tell you about rock snot.

Since 1992, Dr. Max Both Bothwell, a government of Canada scientist,

has been studying a type of algae that grows on rocks.

Now, the very unscientific term for that algae is rock snot.

Because, as you can imagine, it looks a lot like snot.

But scientists also call it didomusphenia geminata.

And for decades, this algae has been sliming up riverbeds around the world.

The problem with this algae is that it is a threat to salmon, to trout,

and the river ecosystems it invades.

Now, it turns out Canada's Dr. Bothwell is actually a world expert in the field.

So it was no surprise in 2014

when a reporter contacted Dr. Bothwell

for a story on the algae.

The problem was

Dr. Bothwell wasn't allowed to speak to the reporter,

because the government of the day wouldn't let him.

110 pages of emails

and 16 government communication experts

stood in Dr. Bothwell's way.

Why couldn't Dr. Bothwell speak?

Well, we'll never know for sure.

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