David LowBest-selling author Mary Roach 81 has just published her latest gift to readers, Gulp: Adventures on the Alimentary Canal (W. W. Norton), in which she takes a memorable tour inside and outside of the body. Her fascinating book on the process of eating brings readers upclose with the bodily equipment that turns food into the nutrients and sustenance that keeps us ticking. On her quest for knowledge of the digestive tract, Roach meets with professors and technicians, murderers, mad scientists, Eskimos, exorcists, rabbis and other unique characters. She is fearless in asking taboo and embarrassing questions with relish and humor.…
Hannah Norman '16(more…)
Peder Zane ’84 has co-written a new book Design in Nature (Doubleday) with Professor Adrian Bejan of Duke University, which describes Bejan’s groundbreaking discovery, the constructal law, a principle of physics that governs all design and evolution in nature. The constructal law holds that all shape and structure emerges to facilitate flow. Rain drops, for example, coalesce and move together, generating rivulets, streams, and the mighty river basins of the world because this design allows them to move more easily. The question to ask is: Why does design arise at all? Why can't the water just seep through the ground?…
Olivia Drake(more…)
Wesleyan's Project to Increase Mastery of Mathematics and Science (PIMMS) has been selected by The United Illuminating Company (UI) and The Connecticut Light and Power Company (CL&P) to provide professional development workshops for eesmarts teachers regarding energy and energy-efficient behaviors and technologies. These new contracts provide funding for a fourth year of the program and are renewable for an additional two years. The first three years of the program provided nearly $1M in funding to PIMMS to conduct the program. Funding for the next three years show a slight increase. eesmarts is an energy-efficiency learning initiative that is funded by…
David PesciAccording to Gary Yohe and other IPCC members the risks of global warming are increasing at a rapid rate.
Ann Burke, associate professor of biology, comments in Science on a new study that examines turtle embryology with an eye to the animal's evolutionary development.
During a "Who Done It? A DNA Investigation," elementary school aged children sported white lab coats and became "detectives" hoping to solve a crime. The students learned about DNA structure by isolating DNA from wheat germ and comparing DNA samples from a 'crime scene' with the DNA from five suspects. They learn how DNA forensics actually works – just like on the television show "CSI." (more…)
Laura Grabel, the Lauren B. Dachs Professor of Science in Society, was one of three guests featured on PBS's "Where We Live" on March 23. Grabel joined scientists and ethicists from all over the country for StemCONN 2009—an international stem cell research symposium held in New Haven, Conn. The symposium organizers and experts spoke on what new federal policy means for a state like Connecticut, which has already heavily invested in stem cell research. Connecticut is home to leading academic institutions for human stem cell research, including Wesleyan, Yale University, the University of Connecticut. It is a place where national and international stem cell research partnerships develop,…
(more…)
Q: Andrew, you are Wesleyan's new science librarian. What can you tell us about the library? A: We have nearly 200,000 books and thousands of online journals on every science topic imaginable. With a great study environment and a friendly, helpful staff, the Science Library is the best place to go for science information! (more…)
Wesleyan is mentioned in an Oct. 5 New London, Conn. The Day article titled "Nature Reclaims What Damn Had Taken." According to the article, Wesleyan scientists are helping the Connecticut Nature Conservancy lead a long-term research project at the state's East Branch of the Eightmile River Zemko dam site to monitor the changes that take place after dam removal. The research involves tracking the new plant life, collecting samples of the fish found in the river, examining the contents of fish stomachs to learn what they're eating, and recording the river's geomorphology - the changes in the course it follows.…