Press for Burghardt: Snakes that recognize whether they are venomous
Professor Gordon Burghardt has a new article out in Journal of Comparative Psychology with Akira Mori called, “Do tiger keelback snakes (Rhabdophis tigrinus) recognize how toxic they are?” (DOI: 10.1037/com0000075)
The findings of the article have been picked up by places like New Scientist. Tiger keelback snakes do not make their own venom; they store and use toxins from the food they eat. Individuals that have been fed a diet of toxic toads display more aggressive behavior when threatened, unlike their non-toxic brethren, who typically slither away. This raises the question of how the snakes know whether they are toxic or not.
Press Takes Interest in New Blum Article
Associate Professor Mike Blum has a new paper out in the journal Ecosphere this month, called “Socioecological disparities in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.” Some science news outlets have picked up on the article:
- Science News Online
- Science Daily
The paper’s findings are particularly topical as communities in Texas and Florida begin to rebuild after recent hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
Magic Mushroom Effects on Insects
There is an August 23, 2017 article in New Scientist about hallucinogenic mushrooms and their insect-repellent properties. The article mentions work done at Ohio State, and the Matheny Lab helped with the research, particularly former grad student Hailee Korotkin (MS 2017).
There’s a similar article in The Atlantic.
New Faculty’s Research Featured on The Atlantic’s CityLab
Associate Professor Michael Blum joined EEB on August 1. He has been researching rats in New Orleans, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. His research is featured in an August 9 article on The Atlantic’s CityLab website called, “Will Cities Ever Outsmart Rats?“.
Burghardt in the News
Professor Gordon Burghardt appears in the June 23 Knoxville News-Sentinel, in an article by Philip Kronk called, “Fear of snakes may date to evolution in Africa.”
Burghardt also appears on The Evolution Institute website, in a conversation with Kevin Laland, author of “Darwin’s Unfinished Symphony: How Culture Made the Human Mind.” They discuss adaptive trends and parallel evolution generated by niche construction. Associate Professor Joe Bailey’s research gets mentioned, too!
Discover Magazine Interviews Burghardt, Pruitt- UPDATE
The June 2017 issue of Discover Magazine has an article on play behavior in non-mammalian animals. Called “The Play’s the Thing,” it features interviews with Professor Gordon Burghardt and alumnus Jonathan Pruit (PhD 2010, Riechert Lab, now on the faculty at UC-Santa Barbara). The article references a paper published in 2012 that was written by Burghardt, Pruitt, and Riechert.
The article is now available online. Tennessee Today also has a story about the article
Gavrilets Article Getting Attention
EEB Professor Sergey Gavrilets has a new paper out in Scientific Reports called “The evolution of extreme cooperation via shared dysphoric experiences.” It’s only been a week, but people all over the world are excited about the research; check out the press links, below!
- http://www.nature.com/articles/srep44292/metrics
- http://tntoday.utk.edu/2017/03/14/nimbios-study-power-shared-pain-triggers-extreme-selfsacrifice/
- http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4312414/Band-brothers-drive-self-sacrificial-behaviour.html
- http://www.ibtimes.co.uk/how-ritual-group-pain-can-set-people-path-suicide-attacks-1611349
- https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/3090982/fans-of-poor-premier-league-teams-develop-a-band-of-brothers-mentality-similar-to-suicide-bombers-study-reveals/
- https://phys.org/news/2017-03-power-pain-triggers-extreme-self-sacrifice.html
Finnish:
German:
- http://www.scinexx.de/wissen-aktuell-21254-2017-03-15.html
- http://www.wissenschaft-aktuell.de/artikel/Warum_fuer_die_Gruppe_sterben_1771015590337.html
Italian:
Ukrainian:
Russian:
Burghardt and Fefferman on NPR
EEB’s Gordon Burghardt and Nina Fefferman were featured on WUOT’s Dialogue program (NPR 91.9 FM) on Wednesday March 1. You can listen to the podcast, entitled “Donald Trump And The Future Of Science” at http://wuot.drupal.publicbroadcasting.net/post/dialogue-donald-trump-and-future-science#stream/0
NPR’s summarizes the show here:
“Donald Trump’s public comments about science and his choices to run the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency have given a lot of scientists cause for concern. How will the President’s attitudes and opinions about science affect funding? How will research on politically-charged issues like climate change be affected? On this episode of Dialogue, we’ll examine the next four years from a scientists’ perspective. Panelists include Dr. Gordon Burghardt and Dr. Nina Fefferman of the University of Tennessee and Dr. Gretchen Goldman from the Union of Concerned Scientists.”
Sheldon Featured in Entomology Today
Kimberly Sheldon was recently featured in Entomology Today for her work on climate and thermal limits in beetles. This is a cool example of outreach to a broader population (many entomologists are not focusing on evolution and ecology).
The feature was based a study Sheldon published in 2014: