Postcards from the field: Brandon Semel in Madagascar

POSTCARD from:

Brandon Semel, Ph.D. student in the Department of Fish and Wildlife Conservation

“I’m currently writing this at 2:30 am, Madagascar time, as I wait for the local taxi brousse (or bush taxi) to take me from the small town of Daraina to the coastal cities of Vohemar and Sambava where I can finalize my research permits. Let’s just say that things here don’t always go according to a western schedule, as my ride is already half an hour late ...

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22
JUN
2016

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Biodiversity, Conservation, Interfaces of Global Change IGEP, Postcards, Student Spotlight

Joel McGlothlin’s research on snake resistance to tetrodotoxin featured in the Atlantic Magazine

From VT News

A select group of garter snakes can thank their ancestors for the ability to chow down on a poisonous newt and live to tell the tale.

Common garter snakes, along with four other snake species, have evolved the ability to eat extremely toxic species such as the rough-skinned newt — amphibians that would kill a human predator — thanks to at least 100 million years of evolution, according to Joel McGlothlin, an assistant professor of biological sciences ...

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10
JUN
2016

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Evolution, News

Peer J offers free open access publishing for scientists

From VT News

When Professor Ignacio Moore, of biological sciences, and his research team heard about PeerJ through social media, they connected with the open access publishing philosophy. Even better, their research about a low-cost, automated playback recording system for use in behavioral ecology was accepted for publication in the journal.

PeerJ is an award-winning, leading peer-reviewed open access scholarly journal for biological and medical sciences — a perfect fit for Moore’s research.

“This paper is essentially a methodological publication, and with ...

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10
JUN
2016

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News

Ed Fox and team receive grant for big data research

From VT News:

Every moment data is created.

When a member of the Flint Water Study team tests and records results from a drop of water. When a student steps into Goodwin Hall, activating sensors to track usability and traffic patterns.

But data, especially big data that has to be analyzed computationally, sometimes creates as many questions as it answers. Where does it all go? How do we store it? Who pays to store it? What kind of computer do we need ...