News & Announcements

OEB Science Café featured in Daily Hampshire Gazette

Goodwin and Rosario at Science Café

This spring's final Science Café was featured in a May 15 Daily Hampshire Gazette article, along with a similar series hosted through Mount Holyoke College. The series of monthly events was started by Sarah Goodwin two years ago and has become the primary outreach focus of OEB grad students. “We desperately want to make science more approachable,” said Goodwin . . . “We want the community to walk away with a better idea of what the science is about and who the scientists are.”

The OEB Cafe (oebsciencecafe.org) is on break for the summer, with its next café scheduled for September.

Long awarded two grants

OEB doctoral candidate Skye Long was recently awarded grants from Sigma Xi and the Arachnological Society. Congratulations.

May Science Café: Brace for impact!

May Science Café Poster

Join us at Esselon on Monday, May 6th at 6:00 PM for Brace for Impact! with Gary Gillis of Mt. Holyoke College. Gary will explore the acrobatics of jumping frogs and how they, like gymnasts, coordinate their muscles to effectively prepare for landings. Gary uses biomechanics and neuromuscular analysis to understand how animals are able to control their movements during rapid deceleration.

All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience. Light snacks will be provided and drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.oebsciencecafe.org.

April Science Café:  Speed

Speed Science Cafe poster

Join us at Esselon on Monday, April 15th at 6:00 PM for Speed: Life in the Fast Lane with Sheila Patek of the University of Massachusetts. Dr. Patek will explore some of the world’s fastest animals – but maybe not the ones you’re thinking of! We hope to see you then!

All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience. Light snacks will be provided and drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.oebsciencecafe.org

Sinauer Associates Lecture:  Eric J Nestler

Neural circuitry of depression

8th Annual Sinauer Associates Lecture
Eric J. Nestler
Department of Neuroscience
Mt. Sinai School of Medicine

"New Insight Into the Neurobiology of Depression"

4 PM Weds, April 3, 2013
222 Morrill Science Center (South)

March Science Café: Beyond the Chatter

March Science Café poster

March's Science Café features Sarah Partan, Hampshire College, who will present Beyond the Chatter: Adventures in Animal Communication on Monday, March 4 at 6 p.m. at Esselon Café.

Learn about the fascinating world of animal communication and the answers to such questions as: Why did the robot squirrel wave its tail? What do female pigeons really want, his song or his dance? Do urban birds find it harder to get a date over all that noise?

All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience. Light snacks will be provided and drinks will be available for purchase. For more information, visit www.oebsciencecafe.org

Today's OEB seminar is cancelled due to snowstorm

With the University closing at noon today, Kristina Stinson's seminar has been cancelled.

Classic Readings in Evolution and Ecology

Classic Readings will meet on Tuesdays from 12 noon - 1 pm in the OEB Seminar Room (319 MOR 2). The schedule and pdfs of papers can be found here. All OEB grad students are invited. Contact discussion leader Scott Schneider with questions.

February Science Café: Smell

Smell Science Cafe poster

February's Science Café topic is Smell: the Secret Sense and features the work of OEB doctoral candidate Tom Eiting. Learn how the sense of smell works in mammals, from the anatomy of nasal passages to how smell is perceived.

The event begins at 6:00 pm on Monday, February 4 at Esselon Café on Route 9 in Hadley, MA. Light snacks are provided and drinks available for purchase. All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience. You can find more information on the Science Café series here.

Lord's study on why wolves are forever wild attracting attention

OEB alum Kathryn Lord's (PhD, 2010) recent paper in Ethology, A Comparison of the Sensory Development of Wolves (Canis lupus lupus) and Dogs (Canis lupus familiaris) is attracting attention. Lord's research may explain why wolves are forever wild, but dogs can be tamed. Her work suggests the different behaviors are related to the animals' earliest sensory experiences and the critical period of socialization.

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