Category: Biology
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Michelle Hersh, Sarah Lawrence College – Lyme Disease and an Unlikely Relationship
“We couldn’t detect an effect, which is really surprising,” said Michelle Hersh in a recent article that appeared in the Poughkeepsie Journal. Dr. Hersh is speaking about the unlikely relationship between ticks and white-footed mice. Though these ticks carry Lyme disease, the population of white-footed mice appears to be unharmed. Dr. Michelle Hersh is an…
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Sean Morrison, UT Southwestern – Cellular Protein Production
Our understanding of how cells function is growing every day. Dr. Sean Morrison, Director of the Children’s Research Institute at The University of Texas Southwestern, explains how a new technique for understanding the way stem cells function reveals new clues about aging and opens an undiscovered world of biology. Sean J. Morrison, Ph.D., is Director…
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Robert Burne, Australian National University – Martian Minerals and Microbes
“But our finding, that stevensite can form around biological organisms, will encourage re-interpretation of these Martian deposits and their possible links to life on that planet” said Dr. Robert Burne in a recent article on ABC Science. Dr. Robert Burne, an adjunct senior research fellow at the Research School of Earth Sciences at The Australian…
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Liz Cirulli, Duke Medicine – Contagious Yawns
Yawns are something of a physiological mystery. Elizabeth Cirulli, an assistant professor of medicine at Duke University, is attempting to unravel the confusion surrounding yawns. Liz Cirulli is an assistant professor at Duke University’s Center for Human Genome Variation. She earned her doctorate in 2010, graduating from Duke University’s Program in Genetics and Genomics. Liz…
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Paul Selden, University of Kansas – Studying Spider Fossils
Many people are scared of spiders. But, Paul Selden, professor of invertebrate paleontology at the University of Kansas, has a different opinion of our multi-legged arachnid friends. Through a survey of spider fossils, Dr. Selden is helping piece together ancient ecosystems to better understand the world at present. Paul Selden is a Distinguished Professor in…
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John Finley, LSU – Cocoa Power
Sure, chocolate is delicious, but the main ingredient offers us many health benefits as well! John Finley, professor at Louisiana State University’s College of Agriculture, touts the power of cocoa. John Finley is a professor in the LSU College of Agriculture’s School of Nutrition and Food Sciences. Finley is interested in foods which enhance health,…
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Denise Dearing, University of Utah – Pikas Adapting to Climate Change
“They may be more resistant to climate change than we thought” says Dr. Denise Dearing in an article that originally appeared on University of Utah News Center website. She’s talking about pikas. These rabbit-like mammals are being forced to adapt to the changing climate. Denise Dearing is studying the evolution of pika diet and observing…
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Holly Bik, UC Davis – Diversity of Microbial Life
When you think “big-data,” you may not immediately think of the genetic contents of the deep sea. But, Holly Bik, a post-doctoral researcher at the UC Davis Genome Center, does! Her research analyzes sea-water in an effort to “barcode the sea.” Dr. Holly Bik obtained her Ph.D. in the United Kingdom, working at the Natural…
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Jonathan Kotula, Harvard – Engineering Bacteria
Imagine the medical possibilities of monitoring a person’s digestive tract from the inside out. With a team of scientists from Dr. Pamela Silver’s lab at the Wyss Institute and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Jonathan Kotula and his colleagues including Dr. Jordan Kerns and Dr. Jeff Way, engineered bacteria to sense environmental signals within the mammalian…
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Meagan Schipanski – Colorado State University – Cover Crops vs. Cash Crops
Farmers want to maximize the land where they cultivate their crops. But, Meagan Schipanski‘s research indicates: it might be beneficial to alternate planting cash crops with cover crops. Dr. Meagan Schipanski is an assistant professor of agroecology in the Department of Soil and Crop Sciences at Colorado State University. Her research focuses on soil biogeochemistry…