News to Share…
New Grant
Billie Swalla received a $97,000 grant from the BEACON Center for Evolution in Action at Michigan State University (MSU): to continue her work on the Molecular Analysis of Ascidian Development and Evolution. This is research that is in collaboration with C. Titus Brown at MSU, who is a computational biologist and Lionel Christaen at New York University who studies gene networks in Ciona intestinalis. http://beacon-center.org
Underwater Monitoring Cables
FHL has installed infrastructure for two underwater cables at FHL in February as part of a long term partnership with UW Oceanography and APL. One cable is for UW Oceanography and will be used to test long term monitoring equipment for Puget Sound and the Salish Sea, as part of a long term monitoring program. The other cable will be used by FHL, also for monitoring purposes, to be used with equipment for which we are seeking funding.
In the News…
Dr. Emily Carrington’s Mussel Research
The fibrous threads helping mussels stay anchored – in spite of waves that sometimes pound the shore with a force equivalent to a jet liner flying at 600 miles per hour – are more prone to snap when ocean temperatures climb higher than normal.
Dr. Emily Carrington reported that the fibrous threads she calls “nature’s bungee cords” become 60 percent weaker in water that was 15 degrees F (7 C) above typical summer temperatures where the mussels were from. She spoke at the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Boston and also had a new paper recently published in Nature Climate Change – Congratulations Emily! Read more…
Marine Sedimentary Processes:
Elwha River Dam Removal Impacts
Research Apprenticeship
Andrea Ogston and Charles Nittrouer offered a Friday Harbor Labs Research Apprenticeship in 2012 and will offer another in Spring 2013. The topic — Marine Sedimentary Processes. They are focusing on the removal of Elwha dam in Washington state. (This is the largest-ever dam removal.) The FHL students are helping understand what is happening to all of the sediment released from the dam. Read more…
Piranha Kin Wielded Dental Weaponry Even T. Rex Would Have Admired
Besides the force of the bite, Megapiranha paranensis appears to have had teeth capable of shearing through soft tissue the way today’s piranhas do, while also being able to pierce thick shells and crack armoring and bones, according to Stephanie Crofts, a University of Washington Biology doctoral student … and FHL regular. Congratulations Stephanie! Read more…
