Staggered Thoughts of an Ecological Nature:

Honorary Research Fellow!

2012-02-08T06:43:00.001-06:00

Have to brag a little bit about the events of today!
I gave a talk at the University of Canberra, where my co-advisor Stephen Sarre (Director of the Institute for Applied Ecology) is housed. The talk was 45 minutes of me presenting various hypotheses about why my skinks responded so positively to habitat fragmentation. Here is the abstract:

"Thehistoric perspective on habitat fragmentation has been overwhelmingly negative.Countless studies have correlated declines in species richness, distribution,and abundance with various landscape features, including smaller patch sizesand higher edge-to-interior ratios. But a growing number of studies suggestthat habitat fragmentation may not be all that bad. In a 2003 review, Fahrigconcludes that the effects of habitat fragmentation are weak relative to the effects of habitat loss (the real killer of biodiversity worldwide) and they are justas likely to be positive, negative, or completely neutral. In this talk, I will present data for oneskink species (Lampropholis guichenoti)that increased in abundance three-fold following the experimental fragmentationof its forest habitat. We will explore four competing hypotheses: 1) that thiswas a result from a release in predation pressure, 2) that this was a resultfrom a release in competitive pressure, 3) that this was a result from changesin thermal microclimates, and 4) that this was a result from changes inpopulation sex ratios."

The talk felt like a huge success. People were excited, arguing passionately over why hypotheses were completely right or completely wrong or so far from possible they weren't even worth addressing. It was awesome! I came away with more ideas than I arrived with, which (to be honest) is always the point.

The coolest part, however, is at the end of the talk, Stephen offered me a formal Honorary Research Fellowship at the University of Canberra. In all honesty, it was just a way to get me lab space and internet access on campus. But I was so truly honored that I had to write home and tell my mom all about it! Mom, you would have been so proud of me : )

The traps are open!

2012-02-07T06:32:00.001-06:00

Just got back from a hectic fourdays in the field, but I can say the traps have been successfully opened and1200 litter bags have been staked down! We ended up not doing John’s edgestudy, as he had a wrist injury and we were short on help, but all in all itwas a very productive trip.

The weather was not cooperative inthe slightest. John got sick from hypothermia on Friday night, after a 4-hourstint in the freezing rain, hand-sawing a tree that had fallen across the road.While Saturday afternoon, a mere 48 hours later, Andrew collapsed from heatstroke while opening traps. It was an eventful trip to say the least.

But Mandy, Andrew’s wife, and Imanaged to have a shamefully good time. We took a Nalgene filled with rum andcoke to the river each evening to chat, wash clothes, and take cool baths. Wetried to convince the guys to come with us, but they were not interested. Thatleft us little choice but to have enough fun for the four of us…which we werealso successful at doing : )

By the time we got to the last tworeplicates on Monday afternoon, everybody was ready to get home but I was kindof excited to stay in the field to hunt around for critters and take somephotos. The weather had cleared up, the temperature had cooled to a nice 70degrees, and I was eager to catch some skinks. So I sent everyone ahead, kept aGPS and walkie talkie for myself, and stayed out in the forest.

It didn’t take much wanderingbefore the smell of rotting carcass caught my attention—a smell immediatelyfollowed by the sounds of wrestling in the bushes. The wrestling grew louder,with plants shaking violently, grunts echoing, and the pounding of bodiescrashing to the ground. I had stumbled onto a battle between two 5-foot goannascompeting for access to a dead kangaroo. My arrival ended the battle but Istalked the victor with my camera for almost an hour afterwards. He was massive,easily as big as myself, and absolutely gorgeous!

I took as many photos as I couldand then wandered back to the group, who were relaxing patiently in the car. Wepacked our stuff and hit the road, exhausted but alive to fight another day.

Out into the field we go!

2012-02-02T01:58:00.001-06:00

Day three in Australia, and still the jet lag is lingering.This has easily been the roughest transition of any trip, but I will blame iton the nasty cold that I caught the day I was flying out. Something about thecombination of a respiratory infection and jet lag just makes me want to climbback in bed and never leave…but, alas, field work is calling and I must answer.

Tomorrow we head out for the first trip, opening our pitfalltraps and John’s edge study. Excitingly, we are launching a decomposition studythis trip, literally measuring how fast leaf litter decomposes in theunfragmented forest versus the fragmented forest versus the pine matrix. Firstwe make 1200 mesh bags, then we fill them with Eucalyptus leaves, then we burythem at every site and leave them there for several months, last we come backto quantify how much has been broken down. This study should provide us with anindication of the health of the detritivore communities, which form importantcomponents for any happy, healthy, functioning forest system.

The weather is looking pretty cold and gray—not exactly theAustralian summer I was hoping for, but probably delightful weather for thehiking around. Andrew (our soil biologist) and his wife Mandy are both comingwith us into the field, which should make for a nice camping crew.

It is weird not having Jeff here to lead the charge intofield work, but John and I are managing to figure things out for ourselves.Yesterday, we realized neither one of us knew the recipe for the pitfallsolution, which was both hilarious and terrible all at once. It only took oneteary-eyed, panic stricken Skype call to Ty in his middle of the night, but hewas able to get us the recipe and, finally, all of the pitfall solution gotmade (all 120 liters of it!). Thank god for international communication andincredibly patient boyfriends : )

We're back!

2012-01-31T03:50:00.004-06:00

Arrived safely in Australia today…a little travel weatheredbut alive. Already I miss having my labmate alongside me on this adventure, butthe opportunity to manage this field season on my own (or close to it anyway)feels like quite a privilege. As Ty pointed out during our drive to the airporton Sunday, I have come a long way in my responsibilities and that feels prettydarn cool : )

I am always amazed how much this place feels more and morelike home each trip. Today I picked up our chemicals, went grocery shopping,recharged cell phones and internet sticks, visited friends, and went for ascenic drive. All of it on the left side of road, all of it map-less,navigating from memory and sheer autopilot. I got lost many times, no doubt,but the important thing is that I managed to find my way back home again.

Returning to the house on Barron Street is always a nicetreat. I had to open all the locked doors and windows, to breathe a little lifeback into the place, but with my stuff setup all over the house, it manages tofeel quite homely. Most of the pre-trip anxiety is melting away, and I againfeel confident in what I am doing here. As I am writing this, I am unrolling myfamiliar bed mat and putting out fresh sheets. I think I will sleep very deeplytonight…

The road home...

2011-11-22T00:15:00.001-06:00

Leaving Australia is always a bittersweet blend of teary farewells and even tearier "see you soon"s. I can't quantify my excitement for a warm bed, handsome man, elaborate dinners, dear friends, and two gleeful puppies : )

But there is a surprising reluctance for boarding the plane that has caught me off-guard. Unlike the May trip, I have succeeded in making some true friends here and, like Frost's wooded road, that has made all the difference.

My nights were not spent killing time in an empty house but out playing at parties and dance clubs. My days off were not spent reading quietly in bed but out surveying legless lizard populations and scanning skinks in a buzzing laboratory. I attended the ballet, lounged poolside, shopped at the mall, went to brunch, grabbed beers...essentially, I lived a normal, sociable life!

So today I packed my bags and cleaned the house. I shut off the power outlets and closed the blinds. I turned off the washer, emptied the fridge, packed the dishes, and wiped a single tear from my eye. Wog Wog, you and the friends you have gifted me have become a home away from home. While you may torture me with temperamental weather and long days, I can't wait to see you again!

The Traps are CLOSED!

2011-11-12T20:27:00.001-06:00

695 pitfall traps for biodiversity sampling, closed;

187 data loggers for quantifying microclimate differences, read out;

1,128 teaspoons of soil for measuring microbial diversity and ecosystemservices, collected;

Field season number 47 has officially come to a close.

Now Jeff and I will spend the next week filtering invertebrates fromthe sludge in our pitfall traps (sounds fun right?). We will then package andship the samples back to the states—back to a team of two undergraduates andone entomologist for sorting to taxonomic order and then to the species level.Ultimately, this data will be translated into a snapshot of the invertebrateand skink communities in this fragmented landscape for comparison withsnapshots taken throughout the project’s 25-year lifespan.

The weather this trip left something to be desired. Wednesday afternoonwas lovely but by evening dark clouds had rolled in and the rain began. Bynightfall, our pitfall traps had flooded completely and the campsite shook withsuch terrific lightning and thunder that I slept in the car, abandoning my tentin a childish panic. But by Thursday afternoon the sun was shining again andthe good weather held for the rest of the week. Packing up this morning, I wasagain feeling the tugs of Wog Wog on my heartstrings. I’m not entirely certain,but I think it was saying, “Don’t leave, don’t leave. Look, the sun is stillshining!”

But it has been an amazing sampling season, with guest appearances fromour collaborator Brad from Latrobe University, who studies the vegetation inWog, and our two amazing volunteers (Brett from ANU and Dave our lowlyundergraduate). Thanks so much to everyone for their hard work; we couldn’thave done it without you!

The Traps are Set!

2011-11-04T22:34:00.002-05:00

We just walked in the door from three days of fieldwork—an exhaustingendeavor that entailed opening 376 pitfall traps for our biodiversity survey,planting 188 data loggers for my energy study, and opening an additional 319pitfall traps for our collaborator’s edge study. Whew, I get tired just writingabout it!

The groceries have been unpacked from the cooler, but that is about allwe could muster tonight. Everything else remains stacked up snugly in thetrailer now parked in the front yard—in the lawn, in fact, as it wouldn’t fitin the driveway. We are dirty, hungry, scratched, and bruised…the trip couldn’thave gone better if we tried : )

Rarely in this business do we find ourselves overstaffed, but dare Isay we bordered on it this week. There were five of us this trip: my labmateJeff (the ant specialist), me (the herp nerd), our post-doctoral student Andrew(a soil biologist), our Australian collaborator John Evans (a beetle guru), andour Australian volunteer (a vertebrate biologist who studies everything frominverts to kangaroos).

The work was divided so that John and Brett (our volunteer) took careof John’s edge study for the first two days, while Jeff, Andrew, and I tackledthe traps at Wog and the data loggers. We then converged today on the remainingtwo replicates in Wog and finished the trip with a leisurely afternoon birdwatching, skink chasing, and snake hunting.

The weather throughout this trip was unparalleled—a sun-drenched blendof cool breezes and warm air. Coupled with our comfortable work flow, this tripwas positively lovely.

So now I am showered and snuggled up in bed. The laundry is tumbling inthe room next door. Batteries of all sorts are charging in the outlet. I amsurrounded by all of the creature comforts, and yet when I close my eyes I seeswaying Eucalyptus trees and king parrots foraging. I hear the magical notes ofgrey fantails and imagine the sheen of basking water skinks. I lie here in bedbut I yearn for my tent and my sleeping bag. Wog Wog, you may well have succeeded in stealing my heart…

Hands on the wheel

2011-10-30T04:48:00.000-05:00

We have safely arrived in Canberra, after a smooth plane ride to Sydneyand a scenic drive along the southeast coast.

Just outside of Canberra, a rainstorm hit us squarely, creating ablinding downpour that sent the cars around us spinning. The BMW to our rightstarted spiraling first, headlights flashing in and out of view like alighthouse until it flew into the grass. We pulled off and ran to help, withother Samaritans in tow. An elderly Asian woman sat baffled, completelyunharmed, in the driver’s seat. The car was in rough shape, but she escapedunscathed.

Across the highway another vehicle was not so lucky, and police andambulances flocked to the scene. The highway was in total chaos, while overheadthe sky cleared. We hit Canberra ten minutes later, and stepped out into fullsunshine and 60-degree weather. Our hands shook a little as we unpacked thecar, still trembling with adrenaline.

But I have since enjoyed a long hot shower and an even longer night ofsleep. Today I have done nothing but work and pack casually. It is the calmbefore the storm!

We had a long lunch with our collaborators at a food cart on the lake,and loosely planned the week’s itinerary. We will head out to Wog Wog onTuesday afternoon, early enough to set up camp and tarps for the forecastedrain. Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday we will spend our days opening the 188pitfall traps scattered throughout the experiment. Saturday and Sunday we willhelp our collaborator with an edge study in the same area. Monday we come homeand refuel. Then we leave again Tuesday night. Repeat, rinse, repeat!

But for now I sit in fleece pants and a wool sweater, sipping a glassof Cabernet. The sunshine is coming through the windows from all angles and Ifeel lazy, warm, and happy. Fieldwork and the chaos it envokes seem aneternity away…

Arrived in Sydney!

2011-10-28T16:31:00.001-05:00

There are few joys in life greater than waking up, taking anice long stretch, and remembering you are on an airplane bound for adventure.The moment is ever greater if you also realize that you just slept through the14 hour flight you were dreading all week. So started my morning and fieldseason number 47 of the Wog Wog fragmentation experiment.

My labmate Jeff and I smiled to one another, as the flightattendants shuffled with breakfast around us. I ordered a mini-bottle of champagne,and we toasted over the lukewarm pancakes on our tray tables. Let the adventurebegin…

2011-10-08T22:38:00.001-05:00

Couldn't help sharing this quote from Nobel prize laureate Dr. Kary Banks Mullis (the mastermind behind PCR reactions),
"Science, like nothing else among the institutions of mankind, grows like a weed every year. Art is subject to arbitrary fashion, religion is inwardly focused and driven only to sustain itself, law shuttles between freeing us and enslaving us"

Guild members reunite!

2011-09-16T09:37:00.003-05:00

Has it been a year already?
This weekend marks the annual meeting of the Guild of Rocky Mountain Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists (GREEBS), a small conference bringing together researchers from several local universities including CU Boulder, CU Denver, and CSU Fort Collins. This year's meeting will be held at the Rocky Mountain Research Center, about an hour away from our house. Last year at this time, I was a fresh-faced first year struggling to grasp the overwhelming mystique of graduate school life. This year this time, I feel older, wiser, more attune to the chaos permeating daily life. This GREEBS marks my first contributed oral presentation at a professional meeting, and I could not be more excited!

I will attempt to film and post the actual talk, but this graph is really all you need to know:

You are looking at 25 years of pitfall trapping data for my study organism, the Eastern Garden Skink. The surprising result in this graph is that not only did skinks NOT go extinct following the experimental fragmentation of their native Eucalyptus habitat in 1987. They actually INCREASED in a statistically significant way in both the habitat fragments and the commercial pine matrix. Just to dwell on the point a little...average number of skinks PER PITFALL CUP increased from less than one to almost four. That is a lot of skinks running around on the ground!

I will be presenting only 3 out of 6 competing hypotheses in this talk due to time constraints. These hypotheses include
(1) that a significant climatic event occurred (such as the end of a drought or a substantially warmer period), changing abiotic conditions to facilitate a population boom--spoiler alert: this is NOT supported in the weather and rainfall records.
(2) that habitat fragmentation facilitated a temporary release from bird predation pressures, allowing the population to boom (the idea being that structural changes in the landscape made it ineffecient for forest birds to continue foraging for skinks in the fragments and matrix), and
(3) that habitat fragmentation created a thermally optimal environment in the patches (which have WAY more solar radiation coming in, since the surrounding trees were removed), allowing the population to boom.

We are currently developing experiments to test each of these hypotheses, which I will get more into in my next post....this is just the teaser : )

Summertime here I come!

2011-05-22T02:09:00.002-05:00

It’s Sunday night here—the eve of my departure to sunny Colorado and a Boulder summer in full swing and celebration.

I was wrong in my last post: the weather was total crap on our closing trip to Wog Wog. We got hit by a near white-out snowstorm in Bombala and a torrential downpour that lingered throughout most of our four-day trip. But every now and again, the skies would clear, the sun would shine, and we would be in Eucalyptus paradise. I have posted some videos on my facebook page for documentation.

The road in Wog was still closed, so we biked in and out the first couple of days. But when the weather turned nasty and our pitfall samples seemed at risk, we made a mutinous decision to just drive in. It was a great decision, by all metrics, and our samples were retrieved unscathed. We only got a handful of skinks (they’ve had a pretty cold autumn season) but enough insects to our lab humming all summer.

Since returning to Canberra, I have been spending my days photographing the skinks of Wog Wog—both specimens from our recent trips as well as the museum specimens preserved since before fragmentation was implemented in 1987. I am completing an independent study this fall with a morphometric specialist, exploring the possibility that the skinks have evolved physiological features that help them disperse between resource patches in the now-fragmented landscape—things like longer limbs or larger body sizes. I have about 950 samples to work with, so it should be fun… and potentially publishable!

For the last week, I have also had the pleasure of staying with my dear friends Eric and Veronica Doerr, landscape ecologists I worked for in 2007. They just had a beautiful baby girl, Zoe, and have let me share in the day-to-day chaos of their new life as parents…and I do mean chaos! Wowza, the best birth control on the planet is to spend a week with a new baby and frantic parents trying to figure it all out.

But now I am packing up my things for the long plane ride home, back to my comparatively calm life in Boulder. Nothing to manage but a little work, a little play, and two easy dogs! Ahhh Boulder summertime here I come.

Back to the wild...

2011-05-10T18:40:00.000-05:00

After several days of light rest and lots of relaxation, we are packing our bags to head back to Wog to begin closing our pitfall traps. This trip we have scheduled in an extra day for leisurely hiking, biking, and bird watching. We will also be joined by our tokin undergraduate Robert—who insists that if I refer to him as such, I must also mention that he just graduated with highest honors.

No word yet on the status of the roads, but we are bringing the bikes along just in case. If we are lucky, the roads will be open and the bikes reserved for evening joyrides. If we are not so lucky, it will be another long haul in and out with equipment each morning. Either way, however, the weather report is promising sunny skies and dry—though chilly—air.

Lance Armstrong meets Charles Darwin...

2011-05-08T06:31:00.002-05:00

In an email to Jeff, his girlfriend Nancy characterized our trip to open our pitfall traps as Indiana Jones meets Lance Armstrong meets Charles Darwin…a descriptor accurate of both the methodology and purpose of our journey.

As I mentioned in my last post, the road into our field sites had been shut down from all directions, leaving us nearly 10 miles outside of the traps we had to open to collect our seasonal abundance data. I was ready to drop the whole endeavor, but my advisor had different plans for us: mountain bikes.

Now I am not an experienced mountain biker—I believe I have attempted it once when I was younger. So the fact that we succeeded in biking eight miles into and eight miles out of the Wog Wog field site, strapped with liters of pitfall solution, shovels, a metal detector, hiking boots, and water bottles, is nothing shy of miraculous. And did I mention the 4-5 mile hike to actually open the traps in between the two bike trips? Few data points have been harder won, let me assure you.

But don’t let my whining paint a bleak picture. Jeff and I have spent the last three days hiking and biking around the stunningly beautiful Wog Wog River basin to open 376 pitfall traps for an ecological study of the impacts of habitat fragmentation. I moan but deep down I know that I am, in fact, living the dream.

I will attach some photos and videos when my internet source gets sorted.

Now we just have to wait a few days until we repeat the trek to close all of the pitfall traps and collect our booty…lots and lots of dead invertebrates for analysis : )

The adventure continues...

2011-05-04T17:06:00.000-05:00

It is 5:30 in the morning, Canberra time, and for the first time since my arrival, I am ready to wake up—an indication that my body is indeed acclimating to this new time zone. My lab mate Jeff has been struggling with the acclimation process, popping up at 3 am every morning, wide eyed and ready to car-pe-diam. My body seems to have the opposite response. I have been passing out at the table by eight in the evening and still sleeping until nine the next morning. It appears that my body’s adaptive strategy is to sleep anytime, anywhere, and—apparently—for any duration.

The weather in Canberra has been lovely…a low 60s and sunny fall season that is surprisingly similar to the spring season I left behind in Boulder. The trees are dripping red leaves from their branches and the sun is setting early, but that is the only noticeable difference. It has made for great jogging weather, and Canberra is surrounded in parks and trails to encourage the sport. You will find people running at all hours of the day or night here—a luxury we never could really afford in St. Louis. Largely, I have found it to be a very fit, highly educated, highly paid city but one with a feeling unique among all others.

Canberra was a city planned to the last brick—a capitol planted perfectly between Sydney and Melbourne in an effort to appease both cities, which were vying to be declared the capitol. It was designed to fall in a radial pattern, thus decentralizing the city to mirror a sort of decentralized philosophy of government. The result is symbolic, but also very odd. Consequently, there is no “center” to this city, just a circular smear of towering government buildings and palatial museums.

The bus system is good, albeit very expensive. Honestly, Canberra is the most expensive city I have probably ever visited (a beer is $9 a pint at the local brew pub and the fries are at least $8). The cost of living is astronomical, but the minimum wage here hovers around $18/hour, so it is appropriate for natives and is prohibitive for travelers. With our ever-sinking exchange rate, the American dollar doesn’t mean a whole lot in this city.

Consequently, I am eager to get the hell out of Canberra and into the woods to begin our field work. Yesterday, I took my Biometry final in the morning and then spent the afternoon mixing a chemical solution that we pour into the bottoms of our pitfall traps at Wog—a blend of ethanol, glycol, and formalin to kill and preserve individuals when they fall in. Our pitfall traps are Dixie cups placed into permanent concrete holes dug six inches deep, so we’re talking invertebrates and small lizards, not kangaroos or anything.

But, in true field work circus fashion, our field situation has become extremely chaotic. The roads getting into our field site have been completely shut down due to rain storms that have wreaked structural havoc. My advisor has been working with the head of the Australian forest service, but the verdict is disheartening: the roads have been shut down from all cardinal directions (north, south, east AND west) and the closest he could get us is a 10-mile hike to camp. With over 250 pounds of equipment and chemicals, that kind of distance is simply impossible.

So we are waiting to hear good news and trying to do what we can in the meantime…which as far as I can tell is jog, read books, and drink prohibitively expensive beer with the locals. Hopefully, we will soon get clearance to go forth and collect that precious data we flew so far to obtain.

The field work circus...

2011-05-01T20:45:00.006-05:00

Wouldn't it be lovely if travel ran smoothly? Alas, I am still at the Los Angeles airport, due to a "fueling error" that had us removed from the flight after four hours on the runway. United offered hotel rooms and meal vouchers, which helped. But the disruption has altered trip logistics and we are scrambling to get things back in order.

Minor casualties thus far:
One cell phone
One airplane pillow
One bottle of Jim Beam triple black (returned to duty-free shop with canceled flight)
One pre-arranged car ride from Sydney to Canberra with Jeff

Minor casualties replaced thus far:
One airplane pillow
One bottle of Jim Beam triple black (refunded and repurchased from duty-free shop)
One bus ride from Sydney to Canberra now purchased

The strain of shifting plans is exhausting and the lost cell phone does little to help with the chaos of restructuring our itinerary. I secretly wish I could catch the next flight home and count the entire trip a loss. But I know that the adventures that lie ahead will soon outshine the frustrations associated with this departure.

As they say in the circus business, the show must go on...

Leeeeaaaavin on a jet plane...

2011-04-29T11:59:00.003-05:00

Tomorrow I board the plane taking me across the Pacific to Australia for my first field season as a doctoral student. The purpose of this trip is not to collect data for other people's studies...no, no those days have ended. For the first time, I am harvesting the results that will fruit into my own publications and scientific findings. I have to admit: it is an incredible feeling : )

I have packed a 40 lb waterproof duffle bag full of the following:
XtraTuf boots and my old running shoes
Gaiters, rain wear, and camping gear
Binoculars, a critter net and field guides (birds, mammals, and reptiles of Australia)
I have gifts to bring the new baby of my old bosses
Couple of books and a neck pillow for the plane
2 Nyquil to knock me out (probably negating the books just mentioned)
My camera, tripod, and extra lenses
Data loggers and satellite phone
A bottle of Tequila for Cinco de Mayo : )

The bag is sealed and stacked downstairs by the front door--a shrine of the voyage impending. Tears have been shed, excitement is building, adventure lays waiting at the doorstep. And I am off...

Academic conferenences demystified...

2011-04-04T09:28:00.005-05:00

I am writing this morning from under the gray skies of Portland, Oregon, where I am attending my first ever professional conference: the International Association of Landscape Ecologists (IALE--an acronym pronounced "eye, alley" as if you had a southern accent).

There is little substitute for academic conferences, and I can only wax poetic about the nature of such events. There is no better place to get inspired about your work than a conference, where you are suddenly surrounded with hundreds of enthusiastic kindred spirits. People are excited to talk about science, to share ideas and methodology, to weigh the pros and cons of existing theoretical paradigms. If dog heaven is a place full of grassy fields and endless tennis balls, I suspect scientist heaven is an academic conference full of compelling talks and boundless praise for research ideas.

There is some advice that was given to me that I would like to share, for others boarding planes to conferences and workshops across the globe. Counter to what you might think: this is not about going to talks. This is about cheerleading your project to the people that dictate your future in this field.

Don't spend all day in a lecture hall, listening quietly to research details. Hang out in the halls or at the bar instead, socializing and networking with those around you. This is a rare opportunity. For these few days, you are surrounded by the people who will be reading your grants and revising your papers for the rest of your career. Introduce yourself to every single one of them if you can. Put in the plug for your research that may just tip the balance between being funded or not.

For this conference, I am presenting a poster that introduces our project in Australia and highlights the golden opportunities that an experimental landscape presents. I have some preliminary graphs to present, but no formal analyses (there is not a single p-value on my poster) and no conclusions. Believe it or not, that is okay to do. Again, this is about selling the project and the earlier you can start doing so, the better.

This is not to discredit talks, which can be the absolute best way to impress future grant reviewers, paper editors, and employers. I just mean to say start going to these events early in your career and go to as many as you can afford to attend. Force yourself to step away from the people you came with and introduce yourself to as many people as possible, systematically offering your 30-second elevator speech to anyone who will listen. That is what these events are about.

In science, as in business, strategy is everything. Register for conferences, board those planes, and revel in the rare opportunities to sell yourself to people who influence your future. Be bold, be friendly, be intelligent, be professional and be poised to reap the endless benefits that academic conferences have to offer.

Round 2

2011-01-14T08:28:00.005-06:00

We are officially five days, one hour and 28 minutes into the second semester, and I figure it is better to check in now before the chaos truly begins.

Life in Boulder couldn't be better. Compared to the east coast, which is getting hammered by frequent blizzards, we have seen little more than a medium dusting around town and the kind of powder coat in the mountains that screams for a ski vacation. It has been perfect for such marginalized winter sports as snowshoeing and ice fishing, and I was floored to watch a father and two sons carve fishing holes in a frozen Boulder Creek and pull up plastic buckets to fish the day away. Classic! Meanwhile, the natives continue to cycle around town as if the ice on the roads was a shared hallucination and not a winter certainty. For the last week, the temperature has dropped into single digits. But...ahhh...we are now back in the 50s.

Second semester has already felt markedly different than the first. My first day of teaching was not spent trembling, murmuring in front of a confused student body. Instead, it felt...dare I say...old hat. I read the syllabus casually, confidently and described my expertise as if I actually believed in it. I didn't spend an entire week fretting about what to wear to balance asserted authority and desired coolness. Progress has unknowingly been made.

About time...

2010-11-17T08:19:00.008-06:00

Theory of relativity predicts that time moves relative to the speed of the individual and is used to explain the phenomenon known as "Time Dilation:" time moving faster for those standing still and slower for those moving quickly.

This theory has been demonstrated; however, it feels as if Einstein got it all wrong. Surely it's just the opposite: the faster you move, the faster time slips away from you. We are going to title this the "work pile theory" and it surpasses all physical understanding: the faster the work piles up, the faster you move throughout your day, the faster time to complete your work slips through your panicked, sleep deprived fingers. (Sorry, can't resist an opportunity for melodrama!)

And thus, time in my world has increased its velocity exponentially, perfectly correlated to the amount of work that I have yet to complete. It is sheer scientific wonder!

But I have turned in a couple of big grant applications and last week I had my "first semester meeting"--a somewhat momentous occasion where you present your research plans to a group of hand-picked faculty now collectively known as your "Graduate School Committee."

The Graduate School Committee is a panel of professors, strategically chosen by the student based on his/her research interests, that guides and scrutinizes the student's research and career plans. I have three committee members (out of 5) selected: My primary advisor, Kendi Davies (a community ecologist) and two secondary advisors, Brett Melbourne (a mathematical and population ecologist) and Andy Martin (a conservation geneticist). Last week, for the first time, we gathered together to discuss my career goals and the research and coursework necessary to achieve them.

The meeting was somewhat informal, sipping coffee between lengthy debates of methodology and merit, but it signaled a defining moment for me, because I was approached as a colleague-in-training and not as a student. It is the fundamental difference between undergraduate and graduate education. I was not given a course list at the end of the meeting, but a reading list to get me up to speed on the foundational papers of my field. I was not instructed to take genetics classes, but to TEACH them to fill in the gaps in my understanding. It was empowering and humbling all at the same time.

I could wax poetic all day about this beautiful graduate life, but alas time is slipping by and there is much to do before the next class, meeting, conference. I feel like Robert Frost, navigating a splendid forest but incapable of slowing my step:

"The woods are lovely, dark and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep."
-Robert Frost, Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening

Guild Wars: Ecology of the West!

2010-09-10T18:28:00.005-05:00

There comes a time in every life when you realize you have crossed the threshold of adolescence into real adulthood. Similar milestones have come and gone: my first job, my first paycheck, my 21st birthday. But nothing carries the full weight of responsibility of joining my very first...guild.

That's right, as of this weekend I will officially be a member of the Guild of Rocky Mountain Ecologists and Evolutionary Biologists (GREEBs as this weekend's conference is known). So now, I can officially sling my grant proposals around my waist like a sword and drape myself in the thrift store blankets I have to buy since my TA budget is too low for real clothing. I swagger around with my laptop in tow, knowing that people will assume I have important things I should be doing. Indeed, this conference, to me, means I have made it.

Not that I will be presenting. Or that I actually have completed grant proposals to tote around. But it is my first ecological conference and does suggest, to me at least, that someday soon I may very well be presenting something cool. So wish me luck: tomorrow I head off into the mysterious world of academia with my brave guild members, armed with nothing more than blind enthusiasm and the laptop I carry to look important.

Boulder Fire...still a raging

2010-09-08T13:15:00.004-05:00

It's impossible to imagine just how much smoke a forest fire can produce, but today--for the third day in a row now--Boulder is buried in fog. The smell of campfire permeates the buildings on campus and the clothes of the students. In Biology lecture, the classroom echoed this morning with coughs. "Must be a bug going around," the professor joked, but someone clarified "It's all that smoke."

But the response of the city has been timely and effective. Shelters have been established throughout the county--from the Coors Event Center to the local schools--to house more than 3,000 people evacuated from Left Hand, Sunshine and SugarLoaf Canyon. This morning they posted a listing of addresses for homes that have been destroyed--since no one has been able to drive up and check--and it is a daunting list indeed.

The latest update is over 7,100 acres burned--every home in Sunshine Canyon...gone. On campus today, All State and State Farm have booths set up to answer insurance questions for those who have lost everything. People simply have nowhere to go.

My roommate Schmoo, a volunteer firefighter, has been in Four Mile Canyon for basically 3 days, helping evacuate homes and contain the fire. The Boulder Reservoir has been closed to the public to provide campsites for the volunteers, but when Schmoo does make it home for a few hours of sleep, Tamera says, he is coated in black suit.

It's amazing to think I had been in that canyon all day long, climbing with Max just upwind of the flames. Nothing had seemed out of the ordinary, except a noticeable void of other people, which I celebrated and didn't stop to consider. Finally, a policeman flashed his lights and addressed us through his intercom: "Are you departing?" Max assured him we were--it was nearing dinner time and we were starving--and the officer informed us of the fires, the road closure, the evacuations, all of this activity I had somehow simply missed!

Driving back home, we crested a hill and Boulder lay below, adorned with flames along the western edge. It looked as if the city was burning down. Now three days later, the city is shrouded in smoke but the fires have pushed west into further and narrower canyons. The community has rallied with donations of food, shelter, water, money, whatever they can scrounge together. We are still waiting to hear if a temporary animal shelter is being set up on our property for stranded pets--Tamera is spearheading this project.

So for now, people wait and hope but assume the most probable: that everything in the canyon is gone. I thank my lucky stars for a home outside of the city haze and the still raging flames.

Beginning of the end

2010-08-16T23:58:00.003-05:00

Dear Colorado Summer,
Thank you for your short and spectacular visit this year, but alas tomorrow you fade from my life. I appreciate all the free time you have offered me--time to hike, climb, explore this gorgeous landscape, and to indulge in a leisurely schedule. You will be greatly, greatly missed.

Tomorrow marks the beginning of the end: a first orientation meeting of the incoming graduate students--my "cohort"--followed by 3 days of intensive teaching seminars followed by 3 months of intensive schooling. Summer, my love, you have left me all too soon.

But c'est la vie I hear your Winter brethren (Christmas Break) brings good tidings before too long. I shall someday know leisure again : )

With love and the fondest of memories,
Kika

Summer highlights:

Driving out with my mom and our first hike in Indian Peaks Wilderness Area

Sydney playing in her first ever snow patch

Rediscovering climbing with Joseph and Wes

And many, many, many more...

Porcinis!

2010-08-14T12:23:00.004-05:00

This week has revolved around one of nature's greatest gift: fresh mushrooms! Morelia, Lexi, Nate, and this week's Funk Ranch guest star Ian--a graphic designer from Portland--have been bushwacking daily through the Indian Peaks Wilderness to harvest enough Porcini mushrooms to feed our entire household AND supplement the Empire Restaurant.

This was Monday's load, which converted into 2 homemade porcini pasta dishes (simply seasoned with butter, garlic, lemon, and parsley and topped with fresh grated parmesan) and a soup stock (porcinis, celery, asparagus, onion, and herbs).

This was early in the mushroom game. Jim (Morelia's boss) later coached her on Porcini preparation:

1) Look for mushrooms with a thick stem and small cap--smaller mushrooms are actually better
2) Avoid mushrooms that have a "woody" texture to their stem
3) To prepare them properly, Jim advised cut the cap for stock and then take a pairing knife and gently scrape the outer layer of the stem. Then wipe them gently with a damp paper towel
4) Lastly, after slicing them for sauteing, wait five minutes: the undesirable porcinis develop a bluish hue, while the desirable ones remain a beautiful pearly white.

Morelia crafting flat-noodle pasta from scratch. The rest of the crew is in charge of entertaining her while she works. My usual role is dish diva : )

Lexi pairing pasta with a spicy Pinot Noir...she seems pleased with her selection

High school portrait style: Ian, who was visiting Boulder to celebrate a full-time position in a design firm, and Roo. Alejandro, I told Ian you may want to chat, share connections, swap advice, etc. If you want his number, lemme know.

Pictures from Arches, etc

2010-08-10T11:44:00.005-05:00

Just wanted to post some pictures from Arches NP and Rifle, CO. Thanks guys for sharing these with me:

First stop of the road trip: Rifle Mountian Park--as previously explained, a narrow canyon noted for its challenging climbs and RIDICULOUS overhangs. This is me attempting my first 5.12. But don't be fooled--I made it about 1/3 of the way (this move was probably the last move I even attempted), mostly with Joseph hauling me up the face.

Next stop: Arches National Park. We are those 3 specks in the middle of Window Arch. Sydney is curiously absent from this photo...not really sure where she wandered off to at this moment

Arches again: Wes and I in front of The Organ--a palacial piece of rock that greets you early in your park tour. If you are in need of a humbling perspective, look no further.

Arches a last time: Syd and I chillin in the shade, escaping the ever-radiant Utah desert sun

Adventures in Home Ownership #32: hornets

2010-08-08T15:52:00.003-05:00

Imagine, if you will, taking a crisp summer shower: cool water cutting the sweltering heat and leaving you feeling alive, refreshed, ready for action. That is how I felt on Saturday, anyway, when I showered and then sauntered to my room to get ready for work.

**To offer some contextual info for this story, I have to shower inside the main house and then climb a small set of stairs and cross an outdoor patio to get to my bedroom. Crossing this patio is where the trouble started.

As previously explained, I was feeling fresh after showering and headed to my room with a casual stroll, when out of nowhere two hornets dove like kamikaze pilots and hit their target (namely my right shoulder blade and my left wrist) squarely and with intent to harm. I squealed a little, mostly out of shock, and dove with equal resolution into my room to escape further attack.

I regrouped once inside, dressed quickly and, still feeling energized from the cold shower, decided I would teach those hornet b@#%&#$ a lesson. I walked to the middle of the patio with my wet bath towel, spinning it like a propeller blade and whipping wildly at the hornet's nest folded into the frame of the sliding door to my bedroom.

**Tangent Alert:**If you remember the show "Animaniacs," there was a skit titled "Good Idea, Bad idea" that demonstrated 2 responses to the same scenario with short animated clips . Some examples include:

#4 (Show 28)
Good Idea: Taking a deep breath before jumping into a swimming pool.
Bad Idea: Taking a deep breath after jumping into a swimming pool.

#6 (Show 28)
Good Idea: Kissing a loved one.
Bad Idea: Kissing a total stranger

#8 (Show 30)
Good Idea: Dressing up for Halloween as a pirate.
Bad Idea: Dressing up for Halloween as a pin~ata.

If I could have had a moment at this time, when I thought back to Animaniacs, I could have perhaps made the right choice:

Good idea: Attacking hornet nest with foaming wasp killer.
Bad idea: Attacking hornet nest with VERY penetrable spinning bath towel.

Anyway, you can assume how this story ends. Before I knew it, I was being hit from all sides by more than 20 angry hornets. They stung me in the face, on my hands and arms, on the back. It was ugly. Finally, logic kicked in:

Bad idea: Continue fighting losing battle with hornet soldiers
Good idea: abandon your spinning towel stronghold and run for cover, screaming wildly

When I strolled into work, ten minutes later, my head was bruised and swelled in several places and my arms ached with welts. After work, however, I stopped by the hardware store and picked up foaming wasp destructo spray and my swollen face cracked into a wide smile. Today, I wage war and win : )

Dub Step and Climbing Love

2010-08-05T22:05:00.009-05:00

Since surviving the full moon soiree, my days here have been guided by the itinerary of my two friends--Wes (front) and Joseph (rear)--traveling through on a cross-country rock climbing expedition. The pair have ventured from New York to Miami and up and across the western states, wrapping me into their schedule for the Colorado/Utah leg of the trip.

For their full blog, click HERE (*Note: the video of us nearly washed down the trail during a rainstorm in Rocky Mountain National Park--particularly, look for Sydney in her electric orange "Service Dog" vest--the ONLY way you can get your dog on a trail in national parks around here)

In the past week, we have managed more than I would have thought possible: hiking passes in Indian Peaks, exploring the boulder fields of Flagstone, scaling slabs in Boulder Canyon that could scrape the prints from your fingers. After nearly a week in the front range, we then journeyed south of Boulder to Rifle Mountain Park--a single, narrow canyon in red-neck Colorado notorious for technical routes and vicious overhangs.

*Joseph sending his first 5.12--a gnarly overhang characteristic of Rifle's canyon

The boys were leaps and bounds ahead of me on the climbing front, but they let me tag along and continue westward with them to Arches National Park in Moab, Utah. My camera was far beyond dead at this point (I hadn't intended to leave Colorado after all), so unfortunately I don't have any pictures. But I found this photo of the Garden of Eden...yes, it really looks like that!

But alas, my vacation came to an all-too-abrupt end and without enthusiasm I was on the road back to Boulder. Tonight I am certain that when my eyes finally close, my view will be saturated with visions of burnt orange cliffs and rock soft to the touch. I will dream of a hard climb and a warm tent at the end of it. Thanks guys for a truly unforgettable adventure.

Full moon retrospect

2010-07-27T10:17:00.004-05:00

After all of that fretting and preparatory work, the full moon soiree turned out to be little more than a small bonfire and an intimate evening with friends. There were not the anticipated hundreds of guests; the party wasn't a throbbing mass of activity; the kegs weren't being downed and regurgitated all over the yard--yes, that is what I was expecting. It was just a standard gathering, accented of course with poi fire spinners and bluegrass musicians on rusted saws and banjos...hey, it is still Funk Ranch after all.

In fact, as the evening wore on, my friends and I (I happened to have 4 visiting from throughout the US this weekend) left the party early and headed out to downtown Boulder to find some real excitement. We found it in a pizza parlor (Abos on west Pearl Street) that converts into a house party when the sun goes down on the weekends. To the pulsing bass of 6-foot speakers, we danced until our legs ached and celebrated the 26th birthday of my dear friend Brian.

When we finally returned home, everybody piled onto the roof to say goodnight to the full moon and then scattered to the beds set up throughout Funk Ranch--a blowup mattress here, a pull-out couch there. The night passed easily and without conflict: an amazing feat in the Real World Boulder I have come to call home.

Stunning array of 4-legged children

2010-07-22T13:58:00.005-05:00

Most at Funk Ranch agree that the dog policy (namely any and all are welcome) was one of the main draws of the property. Scott does not seem to discriminate based on size, breed, or disposition. Quite frankly, he doesn't even seem to mind how many we have or where we keep them. It's wonderful!

So, since things around here have been relatively quiet, I figured I'd take a moment to introduce the current canine inventory:

1) Roo--the oldest, most dignified of the bunch. He is Morelia's Rhodesian Ridgeback and the self-proclaimed guardian of the house and property. Not too long ago, Roo was involved in a car accident that fractured his front paw, but he is doing well and hiking trails again. This is him in our backyard, by the way--can you believe this view?

2) Nutella Isabella (Izzi)--the youngest, most playful of the crew and Sydney's best friend in the entire universe. She is Dan's chocolate lab, who accompanies him every day to his office and around the house every evening. We took this photo this morning on a short hike up the South Mesa trailhead.

3) Sydney--my spoiled baby. I just wanted to post this photo really--Syd is sleeping outside of my room on the roof of the garage, which she considers her personal observation platform and star-gazing balcony.

A whole new place to play

2010-07-20T21:56:00.004-05:00

For the past few days, I have tried to describe the reconstructive surgery that our property has undergone. These pictures don't capture the full scale of the transformation, but here is some idea:

Before photo:

After photo:

Before photo:

After photo:

Mice: 1; Kika: 1; Dan: 1

2010-07-20T00:23:00.005-05:00

It has been an exciting night indeed, beginning around 9 pm when the sun finally set. I was having dinner with Sam and Tamera, when I noticed through the window 2 mice profiled against my bedroom light, climbing the screen into my room. I finished my dinner, brushed my teeth, and headed over to my bedroom to listen.

Their squeaking voices echoed outwards from the crawlspace where I store my winter clothes and camping gear. I ripped open the crawlspace door and saw 2 small field mice peering back at me. I began to rattle boxes and try to squish them, but when I flashed my headlamp inside they were gone. Systematically, I began pulling each Rubbermaid tote out until I reached the cardboard box housing my winter gear. I opened the box flaps and met a cloud of fluff literally exploding out of the box. Never a good sign.

I ran down the stairs and dumped the box's contents onto the garage floor. Six pinky mice came tumbling out, nested in the down from my North Face jacket. I ran to fetch Dan and Sam, and found my landlord in their living room, sipping Jack Daniels and chatting amicably. All three men followed me back to the garage to help assess the damage. Two of my winter vests and my entire North Face jacket were chewed to pieces, in order to build--what was surely--a wonderful nest for baby mice. Score: Mice: 1. Immediately, I crushed each of the babies to ensure a relatively painless death and to discourage their parents from nesting in my room again. Score: Kika: 1.

I loaded my remaining clothes into an empty Rubbermaid tub--hopefully this will spare me future damage--and graciously received 2 shots of Jack Daniels from my landlord, who asked me sternly: "Well, why didn't you hang your clothes in the closet?" My closet is stuffed to the brim, by the way. I merely looked at him and finished packing what was left of my winter clothes.

We moved on to lighter subjects, and I proudly told Scott that Sam and I had cleaned out the greenhouse and trashed all the disgusting things inside. All the color drained from Dan's face: "You didn't throw out the bumpers, did you?" Sam and I glanced at each other: we had thrown out everything. "Tell me you didn't throw out the bumpers." Again, Sam and I just looked at each other. We had grabbed everything in the decrepit green house and hauled it by the truckload to the Boulder dump for disposal. To be honest, the chance of recovering his multi-hundred dollar antique BMW bumpers is slim to none, but we vowed to him anyway that we will get those bumpers back.

We all said goodnight in a downtrodden tone, and I returned to my room and pulled up my laptop to play a bit before bedtime. I loaded my email and found 4 photos Dan had sent me regarding Sydney and Izzie playing this afternoon. This is the photo he sent:

On first glance, it looks like a sweet photo of Sydney and her best friend. But now look closer and you will spot a terrifying spectre of a girl in the grass below Sydney's feet. Funk Ranch was built on a burial ground, so ghost rumors are particularly scary and relevant. Needless to say, I flipped my lid. I went running down to Dan's room in nothing but my jammies, literally trembling and teared up over the girl in the photo. Dan gave a long and hearty laugh. It is apparently some freakish Iphone app, where your phone can insert a terrifying ghost into photos. I'm not sure why in the world this app was invented, but probably for moments just like this one.

Anyway, I was crying, Dan was laughing and told me that is what I get for throwing away his bumpers. Mice: 1. Kika:1. Dan: 1. And with this draw, I am finally going to bed.

The war is over!

2010-07-19T08:52:00.003-05:00

A time of peace has come to Funk Ranch: the laborer's wife has stopped caling my phone and, thanks to the incredible efforts of my housemates Dan and Sam, our yard is finally under control (bring on the feast and brandy wine!).

After the craigslist fiasco, my landlord returned to the original plan: renting a bush wacker (which is a 24-hour option) and then taking us on a mowing binge for each of the 24 available hours. I didn't think it was possible, but we broke the task into 3 hour shifts. I am not sure how Friday mowing was delegated (as I was working), but Saturday morning Scott was mowing from 3-6 am, Sam from 6-9 am, Dan from 9-12 pm, me from 12-3 pm, and then back to Sam until the drop-off time at 5 pm. It was a monumental achievement in our small kingdom and the yard is hardly recognizable from the tangled mess of yester-week. I will take lots of photos to post : )

So then yesterday, Sam and I went to work on other elements of the yard. We finished emptying Scott's dirt from the truck and then filled the pickup with a heap of garbage (old couches, all the crap from the broken greenhouse--including 2 full grown marijuana trees, broken ladders, etc.) that towers ominously, high above the truck's cab. We hoped to drive it all to the dump last night, but just as we started to drive, the engine died. We started it once...twice...three...four times. But every time you pushed the accelerator, the engine sputtered and went silent.

By this point, I was in a frenzy of extreme motivation, so I immediately ran to the greenhouse (where I had earlier found a bottle of engine oil), unscrewed the engine cap, and began dumping oil like a BP well in the Gulf of Mexico.

**It is important to take a moment here and mention a couple important details that Dan taught me after the fact: (1) new motor oil is has the color and consistency of olive oil: the black tar I dumped into the engine was, in fact, used oil of some unknown origin--not a good thing; and (2) you should actually check the oil dipstick before you start pouring oil into the engine (turns out oil meters in old pickup trucks can be broken...who knew?).

Long story short, thank you karma for my roommate Dan, who drained the entire engine of oil and poured in a fresh batch--instructing me in engine maintenance throughout the process. He had me then check my own vehicle's oil, which was--in fact--incredibly low.

But both vehicle's are now up to specifications, and I will be escorting that giant pile of waste to the dump, where it will spend the rest of its smelly days in the valleys of the Western Disposal landfill. That is, when I get motivated enough to roll out of my bed, which--given the chaos of this weekend--will be a long time from now.

Going to war...

2010-07-16T10:20:00.003-05:00

Craigslist is amateur hour: I know this. But when it comes to affordable handiwork, there is no better place to find abundant labor sources. So when I convinced our landlord to let me hire out yard help, I went straight to craigslist with this post:

"I am looking for someone (or preferentially a team of people) to come and mow our yard as soon as possible. We live on 5 overgrown acres at 6977 Marshall Dr. This job will require a commercial grade mower and some helpers with weed wackers."

Despite the emphasis on "commercial grade mower" and "5 overgrown acres," I awoke in the morning to meet my hired craigslist respondents: 2 Mexican laborers, one with an old push mower and the other with a cracked weed wacker. I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry. But the men seemed enthusiastic. And as we walked the property together, they assured me that they could get the whole yard done. "Don't worry, we'll make it look good," they smiled.

The men fired up their tools at 9:30 am and by noon, I came outside to check in. Nothing was finished...as you might have guessed. The mower was already falling apart and the weed wacker was completely out of wire. I supplied them with cold beers and more weed wacker wire to try and keep them fresh, but as the day wore on it became clear that progress would not be had.

By the time I was leaving for work at 3 pm, they had recruited up to 7 people to help and still very little had been done. "Well, I'm out of here," I told the lead guy, "Here's half of the money and I'll give you the rest when the yard is finished." Well, you can imagine how well THAT went over! He wanted all of the cash, despite the amount of work accomplished, and he wanted it before I left. Thankfully--and I never thought I would say this--my landlord pulled up to the house.

I handed the crew over to Scott and told him (in a hushed voice) that I had paid them for the day and not to give them any additional money until they finished the yard. Scott gave me a wink and a thumb's up and I left for work feeling peace about it all. But before I even reached the restaurant, I got a call from the worker's wife--a venomous rant about unpaid wages, racial judgments against her husband, and legal repercussions. "Read the ad again," I explained, "It says compensation: $150 for the yard. When the yard is done, I will give them the rest of the money." She called me several times throughout the evening, but I turned my phone on silent and assumed the issue would die down. Wouldn't that have been nice?

Alas, I work up this morning to my phone ringer blaring. She was up and at it, threatening to call her lawyer and have me arrested. "I'm coming over there bitch!" she screamed. I tried to explain my logic--until the yard is finished (they are about 1/10 of the way), I would not pay them another dollar. So, I consulted with Dan (who agreed to pretend to be my lawyer) and now I am sitting in my kitchen, sipping a cup of fresh coffee and waiting to wage war...

Funk Ranch Full Moon Soiree

2010-07-14T12:15:00.005-05:00

It all started last week, when my landlord posted on a chalkboard in our living room: Party, Satuday July 24th. I wasn't really sure what it meant until we all received an email invite:

"We're delighted to invite you to our Full Moon Party on July 24th, 2010 at 6977 Marshall Drive. Rain or Shine, the party tent will accomodate (open party). Come as you are and bring pants to hike. --Scott and friends"

Now, there are a few ambiguities here--namely who is the "we" and "friends" that Scott is referring to, since we (the residents) are not in fact interested in hosting a full moon party. There are also two certainties: (1) the party is taking place at our house and (2) these flyers are being posted all over Boulder. I attempted to remain neutral about the whole thing, but I received a follow up email from Scott offering to hire me to do some yard work and labor.

As mentioned in previous posts, the house I am living in needs a LOT of work. The rooms haven's been painted in probably ten years, the yard hasn't been mowed in at least 20, and the garbage piles stretch back to at least 3 months. I was excited at the prospect of getting paid to clean this place up and emailed Scott back with an enthusiastic YES! to get the property tidy and functional.

But alas, Scott emailed back with a very different list of tasks he would pay me to perform: (1) set out tiki torches, (2) build the party tent, (3) construct a walking path throughout the yard with purchased rocks and dirt, and other various party regalia. I still agreed--money talks, what can I say?--but I go to work grudgingly, wishing the money was being put to more productive work. Maybe fixing the leak in our sink or repairing the broken dishwasher. Oh well, c'est la vie...

Rainbows and puppies: could life get any better?

2010-07-11T21:25:00.006-05:00

Today began with a florentine benedict dripping in sauteed artichokes and spinach, shared with the 3 year old daughter of my CU advisor, Kendi Davies. Dr. Davies invited me to breakfast this morning at Turley's in downtown Boulder to wish bon voyage to their friend John, who has been working in our lab on sabbatical from a university in Australia.

The visiting professor (of botany) said of all the things he would miss, one thing stood out: bicycling in Boulder, being a part of that army of peddlers swarming the side lanes of seemingly every road in this small mountain town. Well, that and the Farmer's Market, which runs every Wednesday evening and Saturday morning in the downtown area. He insisted I attend every week--for the live music, if not for the costly produce.

When breakfast ended (and I penciled bike riding lessons on to my to-do list), I headed home to work on finishing Phase I of my bedroom garden: (1) the converted chandelier (*see picture) and (2) potting various perennials to scatter around on the garage roof (i.e. my personal patio). I am pleased to announce Phase I is now complete--and I can start saving money to move onto Phase II: greenhouse repairs.

The day ended with a meandering stroll around the property with my housemate Sam and the 2 dogs (Sydney and Roo)--a walk that climaxed at sunset with a double rainbow to the east and profiled mountains to the west. It was the perfect end to a wonderful day and (save for the tragic loss of Holland in today's World Cup finale), I couldn't have imagined a better sequence of events.

Double rainbows after an evening storm

Sam and Roo (short for Roo-tard, Gu-Roo, Roo-Poo, etc)

And we have progress...

2010-07-09T23:02:00.005-05:00

Things are coming along at the ranch and several notable milestones have been passed: (1) our landlord has tarred over some of the holes in our roof, reducing water leaks during rain storms, and (2) the exposed wires in my room have been encased, reducing the risk of electrical fires. As you can see, things are really picking up : )

In addition, I have finished painting the bedroom:

Before photo

After photo

Sydney and I have been doing some exploring as well. We spent the better part of the today hiking up, down, and around the 4th of July Trail in the Indian Peaks Wilderness Area, just 30 minutes west of Boulder, near the town of Nederland.

The 4th of July trail (which starts at over 11,000 feet) is moderately strenuous, but all labor is lost in the exceptional beauty of the surroundings. The trail meanders into alpine meadows dotted with clusters of lavender columbine and up through networks of glacial streams and finally splits above the treeline, where you can opt to hike either the Arapahoe glacier or continue up the saddle of Arapahoe Pass to Caribou and Dorothy Lakes.

Sydney and I chose the Arapahoe Pass trail, which takes you past a rock field absolutely crawling with marmots and American pikas (one of the coolest rodents on the planet). At the top of the pass, the wind reached uncomfortably high levels but any discomfort was immediately extinguished by the expansive mountain vistas stretching both in front of and behind me.

All in all, I would consider this the most beautiful hike we have done so far. I recommend it to anyone looking for a mildly challenging and incredibly gorgeoue mountain walk.

Photos from Funk Ranch

2010-07-06T10:47:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to upload some photos of Funk Ranch (as the chateau has come to be known):

This is the front view of the house from the road. My room is the angled space above the garage. Note: the arched doorways into the front courtyard on the right side of the frame.

Inside my bedroom which (save for a badly needed paint job) is in pretty good shape.

Our kitchen--after 4 hours spent cleaning molded food and mouse droppings from corners and cubbies. Note: the 2 naked women painted on the ceiling above the counter.

Our funky family room: gorgeous stone fireplace and sliding doors to the front courtyard. It has proven plenty of space to accomodate all the people, pets, and guests of the ranch.

Paradise found

2010-07-04T09:55:00.013-05:00

After a pleasant 2-day drive (and a night camping in sleeping bags INSIDE the back of the Penske truck), we have safely arrived in Boulder, CO.

The weather here has been hot (up in the 90's), but without the Missouri humidity it is a bearable heat that warms you without the sticky afterglow. It has left my mom and I eager to hike these jagged Flatiron peaks that I can now officially call neighbors.

The house I am renting is worth a million words: an antiquated, sprawling adobe chateau that was (in the 70's) a sustainability project started by a CU professor. An entire exterior wall is lined in solar panels, and the property is accented with greenhouses, orchards of plum, apple, and pear, and courtyards and garden beds jutting to every angle like the arms of Shiva.

Imagine Eden, if you will, and then age it for 30 years. But leave out any standard lawn care or home maintenance. Stain and crack the adobe exterior. Cave in the roof of the greenhouse. And imagine at least two dozen fruit trees being swallowed alive by unsightly weeds. Now, you have an image closer to the reality of this neglected paradise. This home is our project, and restoring it to some semblance of its original glory (even just getting the greenhouse running again) is the goal of the upcoming years.

Pictures soon to follow...

As for my roommates, you couldn't find a more interesting, more motivated group to launch this project. In the few days I have been here, we have already discussed grand plans of restoration and made baby steps of progress.

Current living mates include: (1) Dan: the architect, a fascinating guy with hobbies ranging from antique car restoration to bronze sculpture--a sort of mechanic/carpenter/engineer and an all around PERFECT house mate; (2) Sam: the chatty and easy going Emergency Medical Technician and a pastry chef apprentice on the side (whatever I did to please you Karma, thanks a million for a desert chef in the home!); (3) Tamera: a wide eyed beauty with a disposition as sweet as molasses and a penchant for cleaning that has me certain we will get along beautifully; and (4) Morelia: the sultry Italian sous chef--child of a traveling anthropologist and sculpture artist, she is less tidy but with a redeeming savvy in both art and culture.

As far as predictions go, I have only optimism for what the 5 of us can make of this place. I will keep you posted as restorations come to fruit.

River Rat Ramble 2010

2010-06-29T15:50:00.006-05:00

Any midwest native will tell you, there is only one way to celebrate the beauty of a muggy Missouri summer, and that is with a weekend float trip.

Since we were old enough to crawl, we were old enough to float on any of the many spectacular rivers permeating this state: the Jack's Fork, the Black River, the Meramec and its associated tributaries. This weeekend, the Tarsi clan gathered in forces along the Huzzah River (a Meramec offshoot) for three days of paddling, partying, and pigging out on the spicy delights of Chef Mathis's grill.

Highlights of the 2010 River Rat Ramble include:

#1: By far, the coolest thing about this year's family float was the growing number of youngsters now attending this annual event. There was a lull in young children for years, as we kids staggered through our teens, but now people are getting married, having babies, and again the family float is teeming with the unmistakable cheer of kids basking in nature's goodies.

#2: The surprising lack of chaos that accompanied this weekend's event. Somehow 35 people managed to float a river, dine like kings, and party like rock stars without even a streak of panic. Thank you, thank you to those who helped coordinate the weekend in advance of arrival (Wow, what a concept!) and allowed this miracle to take place : )

For me personally, this weekend was a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my family and friends before heading off to school. I love you all and will miss you terribly when I leave. I expect many visits between now and next year's float trip!

Countdown continues

2010-06-22T13:00:00.006-05:00

Eight more days until the Gateway Arch trails in my rearview and the Flatiron Mountains rise on the horizon. Of course, I will miss my family and the friends I have made in my months at Scape American Bistro. But there is much to look forward to in Boulder, CO.

According to an article in Kiplinger, Boulder is "a city of crunchy environmentalists, early adopters and entrepreneurs, meandering bike paths, public-transit buses named Dash, Stampede and Bolt, and restaurants powered by wind energy. You’ll find scores of art galleries, performing-arts venues, chic boutiques -- even a Tesla Motors electric-car dealership. Boulder is a wealthy, intellectual hot spot where environmental and scientific ideas blossom into businesses." Click HERE for the full write-up

In Men's Health magazine, Boulder was voted #2 in the top 10 healthies cities in America (January 2010). And in Backpacker magazine, it was voted the #1 place in the US to raise an outdoor kid (November 2009). As an environmentalist hoping for kids someday, this is perhaps the most important ranking for the future.

For the moment, however, I can settle for rankings more applicable to the present. CU Boulder is considered the #1 party school in the US. The school is also recognized as having the highest density of hot, young men in all of America (**this is an anecdotal statistic, but one I firmly believe to be true). Forbes honored the city with several rankings: #1 most educated city in America (meaning the place with the highest density of advanced degrees) and also the #1 place to meet a husband.

As previously stated, I will miss you dearly friends and family. But there is much awaiting my Boulder arrival : )

The big move approaches

2010-06-19T02:02:00.002-05:00

Eleven days and counting before I pack up my snow boots and head off to Boulder for graduate school at the University of Colorado. As it stands this evening, I have accomplished next to nothing on my pre-move to do list. I did dump some stuff at the Goodwill, and I have successfully alienated my coworkers at the restaurant. Not to mention, re-activated my mom's empty nest syndrome.

But, generally speaking, I still have much left to do

House shopping in a market swamped with virgins

2010-04-08T20:25:00.006-05:00

Nothing ecological to present today--instead I'm panicking over house shopping in the Boulder area. The splendor of the $8,000 tax credit for first time home buyers is that it has turned a frantic mob of home-owning virgins loose in the market, armed not with expertise but with panic and anxiety. Only 2 weeks to find a house, draft a budget, apply to a lender, sign a contact, figure out what it even means to be a home owner...waaaah!!!

Whew! Alright now, here is my advice: forget about the tax credit. Let's start there. Breathe for a minute and take your time shopping for a house that you will indeed have to live in and fix up for the next many years. Wait till you find a house that you love!

Here is a renting vs. buying spreadsheet that I found helpful throughout this process--click HERE.
Take it line by line to get a general idea of how home financing operates and decide for yourself whether of not home ownership is really what you want after all.

Back from the Tropics

2010-03-22T09:52:00.005-05:00

After a week on the sunny island of Roatan, I am back in St. Louis, readjusting to this chilled midwestern climate. The trip was the standard blend of adventure and misadventure characteristic of international travel. The experiences my mom, sister, and I garnered--through blood, sweat, and sometimes tears--will keep us laughing for the rest of our lives.

On the most epic moment of our trip, we journeyed to the youth-drenched island of Utila to dive their reefs and explore their party-clad atmosphere. For three days, we wandered the vibrant (albeit small) town center, took boat trips to neighboring reefs, and celebrated life with our gregarious Canadian sister Sarah. But after several incredible days, we needed to get back to Roatan to catch our flight home (and to escape the paranoid, schizophrenic local we had accidentally befriended).

Getting off of Utila, however, proved more difficult than we originally thought. Several tropical storm systems had rolled in, cancelling all regularly scheduled flights and ferries back to Roatan. We began to panic as the days continued to pass and the weather worsened, so we took our return trip into our own hands. With the help of the local Utilan people, we were directed to a single captain (Arturo Menos) who could navigate the stormy seas. When people are injured in the dead of night and need to get to the mainland, it was explained to us, Arturo is the captain who takes them there.

So the three of us nestled into Arturo's boat, draped in shower curtains and goggles, and headed off across 30-foot waves for the most hellacious ride of our lives. Waves pounded our thin cigarette boat, crashing over the front, knocking us from the side. But Arturo plodded along, taking us up sheer walls of water without so much even a blink of concern. If we could have heard over the ocean pummeling our boat, I am certain we would have heard him humming pleasantly to himself.

Needless to say, we got back to Roatan and squeezed in a few more dives before returning home safely. But Arturo Menos, if you are out there somewhere and ever stumble across this post, know that you will live on forever as the legendary captain that pulled us free from the storms and chaos of that gorgeous temptation island.

Tree Tanic bar on Utila (this is not my photo):

Snorkeling Roatan (this is not my photo):

We don't know this lady, but you get the idea:

Good news for Tazzys

2010-03-11T09:50:00.006-06:00

ADELAIDE, Australia – The discovery of a genetically distinct colony of Tasmanian devils may save the species from being wiped out by a contagious cancer that has decimated the population, Australian scientists said Wednesday.

So far, the colony in northwestern Tasmania state has proven immune to the face cancer that has ravaged the iconic animal — made famous worldwide by their Looney Tunes cartoon namesake, Taz.

"We think these devils may be able to see the cancer cells as foreign and mount an immune response against them," lead researcher Kathy Belov said. "We think more animals might survive in the wild than we initially thought."

For the full article, click HERE

Real International Heros: Group of concerned scientsy Australian folks

2010-03-05T13:36:00.005-06:00

There is no overestimating the frustrations associated with wildlife conservation. Politics are convoluted, strategies uncertain, and funding scarce. Progress can be painfully slow when action is so painfully, urgently needed. So let's all give a toast to an enthusiastic group of Narembeen volunteers who took conservation in Australia into their own hands to preserve a charismatic marsupial (the red-tailed phascogale) and 7 other endangered endemics.

Starting over a year ago, the group created the 430 hectare Wadderin Wildlife Sanctuary and eradicated all dogs, cats, foxes, and other introduced predators (the leading cause of wildlife extinctions in Australia) from the sanctuary. The group then constructed a predator-proof fence around the outside, and began translocating endangered marsupials into the now safe native habitat.

Special thanks to communications company Exetel for their financial support of the translocation of 20 red-tailed phascogales to Wadderin Sanctuary last May. And to the community members who constructed and donated 20 nest boxes to assist phascogale reintroduction. As of January, eight of the released phascogales had produced litters.

“We’ve made applications to the Department of Environment and Conservation for a whole range of species to go into the sanctuary, " says Wildlife Research and Management director Jeff Short, "and it looks likely that at least some of those will go in this year, probably starting with the woylie."

Brush-tailed possum, mallee-fowl, tamma wallaby and others are all slotted for reintroduction into the sanctuary. Thanks to the concentrated efforts of concerned community members, the future for endemic Australian wildlife now has a glimmer of hope. Narembee volunteers, this beer's for you!

Howdy Folks

2010-03-04T13:47:00.002-06:00

Hey y'all,
Just checking in from College Station, TX where the sun is shining and shouts of "Howdy" abound. I just finished my interview for the ABS-IGERT traineeship in Applied Biodiversity Sciences, and I think it went really well.

They seemed excited about my proposed project exploring ecological impacts of the Trans-Oceanic highway in Amazonia, especially because it correlates with a current student's project on the finance mechanisms and politics of the highway's construction. The ABS-IGERT program centers on partnerships between scientific research and conservation policy, so our complementary projects form a nice example of how two disciplines tackle the same problem from different perspectives--in theory, allowing for the development of an integrated solution.

Competition is stiff, I must say. There are 9 finalists for 5 positions, and I am the only applicant here without a master's degree or a doctorate in veterinary medicine. I will keep you posted on how it all turns out, as we should hear back by next week. Wish me luck!

Preach on Eco Brothas

2010-03-02T09:50:00.008-06:00

In today's LA Times opinion piece, Bruce Mahall (a professor of ecology at UC Santa Barbara) and F. Herbert Bormann (professor emeritus at Yale University) present an interesting--and downright evangelical--summary of the current relationship between humans and the Earth upon which we depend.

The article runs the full gamut of human perspectives on nature--from notions of divine stewardship to Thoreau's reverence to more current emphases on ecosystem services--and recognizes that a new ideology of sustainability is greatly needed. According to the authors, "To achieve a more accurate model of our relation to nature, we need to see ourselves as part of nature, governed by nature (not economics), beholden to nature for ecosystem services and subject to nature's disturbances."

For the full article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mahall2-2010mar02,0,6899831.story

As you read the article, consider a few things: 1) How would changing the perceptions of our relationship with the Earth change the way we are impacting it? and 2) How can we start changing those perceptions on a global scale?

Puzzle Solved: Maintaining the genetic diversity of an all-female lizard species

2010-02-24T09:25:00.000-06:00

More than 40 years ago, Bill Neaves--then a PhD student at Harvard--discovered how an all-female, asexual species of whiptail lizard was able to reproduce. He discovered that the lizard was--genetically speaking--a cross between the female species of one type of lizard and the male species of another. But for years Neaves remained puzzled that this all-female species is able to maintain high levels of genetic variation, an element of evolutionary fitness that typically comes from sexual reproduction. This puzzle has recently been solved.

On Sunday, Aracely Lutes, a graduate student at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research in Kansas City, Mo. where Dr. Neaves works, reported in the journal Nature her research findings:

In a sexually reproducing lizard species, each lizard has 23 chromosomes from its mother, and 23 from its father. But in an all-female species, Lutes found, all 46 of the mother’s chromosomes are duplicated, resulting in 92 chromosomes in each egg cell. Those chromosomes then pair with their identical duplicates, and after two cell divisions, a mature egg with 46 chromosomes is produced. Since crossing-over during the cell divisions occurs only between pairs of identical chromosomes, the lizard that develops from the unfertilized egg is identical to its mother.

Importantly, Lutes notes, each new lizard is also a replication of the original. So, since the original whiptail individuals were genetically diverse, pulling chromosomes from two different species during evolution, their carbon copy descendants are too.

While this reproductive strategy allows the whiptail to persist, it also prevents the species from ever evolving into better adapted individuals. How might this species overcome this reproductive limitation in the future? And how might this process compare to other all-female species, such as the Amazon Molly fish and Amazonian ants (Mycocepurus smithii), which have persisted for thousands and millions of years in a world without sex?

A Rubbery Future

2010-02-22T09:52:00.000-06:00

In this digital composite image, creators Dave Beck (digital artist) and Jennifer Jacquet (marine scientist) provide a creative solution to our changing oceanic communities. As overfishing reduces the number of jellyfish predators and rising ocean temperatures make the water more desirable for jellyfish species, we may find ourselves with a booming population of rubbery seafood and no ecological controls. As the creators suggest: "The jellyfish burger is so close to becoming a reality, we can taste it."

The image earned an honorable mention in the illustrious 2009 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge--a contest sponsored by the National Science Foundation (NSF) and Science magazine to recognize that some of science's most powerful statements are made in images and not words. Winners were selected in 5 categories: photographs, illustrations, informational graphics, interactive media and non-interactive media.

The first place winner in the photography category was this image of plastic fibers spontaneously wrapping themselves around a plastic ball. The image illustrates a new technique in polymer building that involves submerging polymer hairs in a liquid and forcing those hairs to assemble themselves as the liquid evaporates.

To view all competition winners, go to:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/scivis/winners_2009.jsp

Science and Nightclub Collide

2010-02-20T01:17:00.001-06:00

This evening, I returned home after a week in San Francisco, where I was reminded once again of the power of an innovative collective. California, despite its bankrupt condition, is a source of continuous inspiration in the ways of ecologically conscious lifestyles and this trip revealed once again its forward thinking community.

On Thursday I attended an event called Nightlife at the Academy of Sciences, an incredibly educational and--dare I say--incredibly hip event featuring live djs in the aquariums, cocktails in the climatron, and provocative science (offering lectures on morphological varietals of penis bones, for instance) in the demo areas; all activities catering to the 21+ crowd. Several hundred young people piled into this weekly event, donning nightclub attire and guzzling beer like bar hoppers while house beats and live bands echoed throughout the cathedral ceilings.

The Nightlife event brought young adults, science, and socializing opportunities into a unique mash that left one wondering how much each engaged in the others. Regardless, it was an approach to science education that I had never imagined. It was the facebook, the twitter, of Science events and the 20-somethings seemed to flock in steady numbers. We can only hope for the spread of such innovation to our museum assets across the country.

For more info on this spectacular event:
http://www.calacademy.org/events/nightlife/

Warning: narcissistic post to follow

2010-02-12T10:18:00.000-06:00

Blogs are a prime outlet for our digital narcissistic tendencies, and I do not condone or support such wasted use of valuable web space. BUT today I have to post some good news on the grad school front, because--quite frankly--it is AWESOME!

I just received an official invitation to fly down to Texas A&M in March, as a finalist for their Applied Biodiversity Science NSF-IGERT Program. The Applied Biodiversity Science (ABS) NSF-IGERT Program was founded in the fall of 2007 with a grant from the National Science Foundation’s Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (NSF-IGERT) program. Its mission is to achieve integration between biodiversity research and on-the-ground conservation practices by producing scientists prepared to understand ecological functions of local ecosystems, and also the activities and needs of surrounding communities in wider social, economic, and political contexts.

For more information, check out the NSF-IGERT website at:
http://biodiversity.tamu.edu/index.htm

A New Face for Sea Kayaking

2010-02-09T10:07:00.000-06:00

It is not often that young athletes make it big in the sporting world. So I am stunned and thrilled to present the video of a dear friend, Paul Kuthe, who is changing the face of the boating world and who was recently featured in episode 2 of the show "The Season."

Paul became a member of our family nearly 15 years ago through a shared love of the outdoors and, more specifically, whitewater boating. He has continued to pursue his passion for water crafts and is succeeding in expanding our conventional ideas of boating behavior. Surfing sea waves like a whitewater river? Doing cartwheels and acrobatics in the ocean? Paul seems to know no limits to what he can make his boat (a simple extension of his legs) do to have a great time on the water!

To see the episode, go to one of the following sites:
http://www.arcteryx.com/
http://www.theseasontv.com/

Art:21 series, episode "Ecology"

2010-02-08T11:08:00.000-06:00

I recommend taking 53 minutes this evening to watch an amazing episode of Art21: , a PBS series centered on art and artists in the 21st century. Attached is the link for the episode, titled "Ecology," that focuses on 4 artists exploring the relationships between science, culture, nature, and the human dimensions of each: Robert Adams, Mark Dion, Iñigo Manglano-Ovalle, and Ursula von Rydingsvard.

Watch the episode here: http://video.pbs.org/video/1239798902/

If you are pressed for time, take 10 minutes to watch the interview with photographer Robert Adams (work featured above)--scroll to minute 28:00 on the video. His work and philosophies are genuinely intriguing.

"I thought I was taking pictures of things that I hated...but there was something about these pictures. They were unexpectedly, disconcertingly GLORIOUS." --Robert Adams on his photography of suburban Colorado

Public nudity and oxygen deprivation

2010-02-05T11:56:00.000-06:00

It's raining today in St. Louis: fat, stochastic droplets that chill the air all the way through. A perfect day to stay bundled up inside and appreciate the equivalent lifestyles of our underground amigos: the naked mole rats.

These tiny, hairless creatures are native to eastern Africa and have a variety of characteristics worth celebrating: (1) they are the only cold-blooded mammals in existence, (2) they thrive in a genus (Heterocephalus) all their own, and (3) they are one of 2 mammal species that are eusocial (meaning they live in complex, hierarchical groups--like an ant colony). Naked mole rats have a unique set of traits that make them worthy of recognition, but today we are celebrating new research that has uncovered yet another valuable characteristic of the species.

Recently, researchers from the University of Illinois: Chicago discovered that the brains of naked mole rats can stand extensive periods of oxygen deprivation--known as hypoxia--a condition that leads to irreversible brain damage in most mammals. It turns out that naked mole rats, who live in narrow tunnels at least six feet underground, can survive on air so oxygen poor (and thus toxic) that it would kill or permanently disable every other mammal!

During research, the amount of oxygen provided was manipulated to test mouse and naked mole rat brain functions. When the oxygen was severely reduced, the naked mole rats were able to function normally at levels fatal to the mice. When the oxygen was shut off completely, the naked mole rats were able to survive up to 10 times longer. Yowza.

So if you wanted to remain curled up for days at a time this winter, just remember the important differences between our oxygen demands and those of our little naked amigos. Perhaps I will go out for a walk in the rain after all. It seems I could use the fresh air.

For the full article:
http://www.usnews.com/science/articles/2010/01/21/naked-mole-rats-provide-insights-into-oxygen-use.html

Thin White Envelope

2010-02-01T10:55:00.000-06:00

In any application process, there is one item you don't want to find in your mailbox: the thin white envelope. Colorful brochures: great. Fat, stuffed envelopes: even better. But the thin, plain variety always spell doom.

Well, yesterday I received my first thin white envelope from a grad school to which I had applied. The news was as expected: "Record number of applicants...tough decision...we regret to inform you...". So as it stands, Stanford University is out, leaving Texas A&M and Colorado at Boulder still in the running. Time to begin making offerings to the envelope goddesses, praying for a thick, bountiful varieties into the coming months.