Swarms of Bees

Bees are kind of a big topic for some of us here at ODU.  Over the weekend, I had a swarm of bees in the oak tree in my front yard!  The other people in my household were… less thrilled than was.  Actually, I was thrilled. To me, when a bunch of honeybees swarm, it’s a…

Spring 2017… off to a late start

The Spring 2017 term is slightly delayed due to Winter Storm Helena.  Great news for my students, though; the first snow day where we miss classes, they get extra credit for playing in the snow! What does this have to do with Biology?  Not a darned thing.  It’s about that elusive work-life balance.  

Antibiotic Resistance and Drug Discovery

Antibiotic resistance is a topic we discuss in my class.  With our current textbook, we mostly talk about ciprofloxacin and Campylobacter resistance, but there are many, many more examples, including drug-resistant strains of Pseudomonas, Mycobacterium, Staphylococcus, and lots more.  Most people aren’t aware that the problem of antibiotic resistance isn’t new.  Penicillin began to be used…

Using Google Maps to Follow Darwin

http://www.google.com/maps/about/behind-the-scenes/streetview/treks/galapagos-islands/ Last Friday, September 13, 2013, Google didn’t have a doodle.  What it did have was a link under the search box to follow Charles Darwin’s voyage through the Galapagos archipelago. There are a couple of YouTube videos that give you an overview of what the project was about and what they did–and some of…

Evolution Is an Opportunist-By Wynne Parry and Quanta Magazine

Evolution is an Opportunist We just talked about theoretical models (and blue moon butterflies) in class, and how they help us make better scientific predictions and help us refine our understanding of, well, how stuff works.  This article talks about using computer models (computational studies) about metabolism, and how they support the idea of evolutionary…

The Evolution of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse

City Mouse and Country Mouse. By Arthur Rackham. Via Wikipedia http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Rackham_town_mouse_and_country_mouse.jpg The Evolution of the Country Mouse and the City Mouse Many people today still struggle with the idea that evolution could be occurring right now.  In front of us.  This is a really good place to start our understanding of evolution with a current,…