Adam Johnson joins our PhD program from the University of Kansas, where he majored in Biology. He performed independent research with Jenny Gleason on Drosophila melanogaster courtship songs, and with Paulyn Cartwright on gustatory receptors in the cnidarian Nematostella. You may have seen him present the latter work at the Evolution meeting this summer. Adam has taken up residence in the South Wedge and will be rotating in the Lambert Lab this Fall.
Anole Genome Paper Out in Nature Today
The anole genome paper is out in Nature today (although links on Nature’s own page only take you to a list of authors at the present time, I’m assuming this glitch will be fixed shortly). The Glor Lab contributed a new mutilocus phylogeny for Anolis to this study. Stay tuned to Anole Annals for the latest updates on the genome paper and related studies.
Allen Orr on the Latest Book from David Brooks
In the latest edition of the New York Review of Books, Allen Orr reviews “The Social Animal: The Hidden Sources of Love, Character, and Achievement,” the latest book from NY Times columnist and PBS Newshour regular David Brooks. In a book that combines fiction with non-fiction, Brooks takes a foray into the latest scientific research on human nature, apparently with mixed results. In case you missed it, you should also check out Allen’s review from earlier this year of another book that attempts to apply scientific insight to human culture and society – Sam Harris’s “The Moral Landscape: How Science Can Determine Human Values.”
New PLoS Biology paper from the Presgraves Lab
A new paper from the Presgraves lab out in PLoS Biology fails to find evidence for two forms of X chromosome regulation– sex chromosome dosage compensation and meiotic sex chromosome inactivation– previously thought to act in the Drosophila male germline. However, analysis of a sperm-specific transgene reporter suggests a novel, uncharacterized mechanism may regulate X chromosome expression during spermatogenesis. These findings resolve several previously conflicting reports and have implications for patterns of genome evolution and speciation in Drosophila.
EUREKA! New Funding for Werren Lab Research on Parasitoid Venoms
Photograph copyright Michael Clark 2009.
Congratulations to the Werren Lab for just receiving an NIH EUREKA Grant for “Exploring the Venom Repertoire of Parasitoids.” The goal of this 4 year project is to assess the potential of parasitoid venoms for new drug discovery and to investigate evolution of parasitoid venoms.
Welcome (Back) Picnics
Over the next week there are two picnics scheduled to welcome new graduate students:
The first is today (Wed, 24 August) at noon on the Carlson Library veranda hosted by the Biology Department. Food and volleyball will be provided, you are encouraged to bring other games.
Next week, on Monday (29 August) at 4:30 just after the new student orientation the Graduate Organizing Group is hosting a picnic in the Riverbend Shelter, Genesee Valley Park [map]. This one is usually well attended with long food and beverage lines, so get there early.
Party Tomorrow (Friday, Aug. 19)!
Join us tomorrow at 56 Bond St. for a going-away part for Glor Lab post-graduate researcher Shea Lambert. I’ll have some beer and snacks available. Contributions of additional beverages and snacks are welcome, but not required. Shea leaves on Saturday to begin his PhD studies at SUNY Stony Brook under John Wiens.
Survey: Do You Require Access to BioOne2 Journals?
A couple of years ago, the University purchased access to the BioOne catalogue of journals. The most important title in this catalogue for our department is Evolution, and in my view, this journal alone is worth the rather steep cost of subscription (a complete list of titles is on-line). The library is now debating whether to shell out another chunk of change for access to titles in the BioOne2 catalogue. Many of the journals in this catalogue are museum publication that some of us use (e.g., Breviora, Fieldiana Zoology, Bulletin of Carnegie Museum of Natural History), but maybe not with enough frequency to justify the cost of subscription. Perhaps we need to subscribe to keep up on intelligent design research – this catalogue includes the Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington that famously published an article by the director of the Discovery Institute. Let me know your thoughts.
One of the Downsides of Going Outside Biology
Over the past week, we introduced outgoing Glor Lab post-graduate researcher to anole research. One of Shea’s main tasks was to record light readings from perches where lizards were observed along the Rio Bani. These readings are necessary to determine if anoles with different dewlap colors and patterns tend to display in different light environments (a prerequisite for models of speciation involving sensory drive). Shea performed this task fearlessly, as illustrated by the photographs above, in which Shea can be seen taking measurements just inches from active wasp nests (nests are in white circles). Although Shea was often most directly in harms way, Anthony Geneva managed to exceed Shea’s sting total by wandering directly into a nest while searching for data loggers placed along a steep embankment. In fact, Shea’s only string of the trip came as a result of running through Anthony’s wasp cloud in an effort to catch a giant anole that Anthony disturbed from its perch during his panicked retreat.
Going Outside Biology
Anthony Geneva gathers data for his thesis on speciation in anoles along the Rio Bani in the Dominican Republic. These photos were taken yesterday as Anthony (with assistance from Shea Lambert in the left photo) was gathering ecological data from a complex of three sympatric trunk anoles.