AMHERST, Mass. – UMass Transit Services has organized a “Fill-a-Bus” campaign to aid those affected by the recent storm that battered the Eastern Seaboard. Hundreds of people have been forced out of their homes and are currently seeking refuge in shelters and supplies are running dangerously low, according to organizers of the effort.
Community members in the Amherst and Hadley area are being asked to donate toiletries and personal care items, such as soap, toothpaste, toilet paper, cotton swabs, diapers, baby wipes, toothbrushes, razors, combs and hairbrushes, dental floss, hand sanitizer,
AMHERST, Mass. – Scientists studying how early land vertebrates evolved from fishes long thought that the animals developed legs for moving around on land well before their feeding systems and dietary habits changed enough to let them eat a land-based diet, but strong evidence was lacking. Now, for the first time fossil jaw measurements by Philip Anderson at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and others have tested and statistically confirmed this lag.
AMHERST, Mass. – A team of researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst is proposing a new investigative roadmap for the field of evolutionary developmental biology, or “evo devo,” to better understand how innovation at the genetic level can lead to ecological adaptations over time. Evo devo seeks to understand the specific genetic mechanisms underlying evolutionary change.
AMHERST, Mass. – Geoscientist Michele Cooke and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst take an uncommon, “Earth is lazy” approach to modeling fault development in the crust that is providing new insights into how faults grow. In particular, they study irregularities along strike-slip faults, the active zones where plates slip past each other such as at the San Andreas Fault of southern California.
AMHERST, Mass. – New recommendations by a National Research Council (NRC) expert panel on green and sustainable building performance could lead to a revolution in building science by creating the first large building performance database, says panel member Paul Fisette, a nationally recognized sustainable building expert at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
AMHERST, Mass. – Evolutionary ecologist Sonya Auer of the University of Massachusetts Amherst has won the Elton Prize, one of only five British Ecological Society (BES) young investigator awards given each year to recognize the best research papers published in the society’s journals by early-career scientists.
AMHERST, Mass. – A history of the Taiping rebellion by Stephen R. Platt, associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is one of three finalists for McGill University’s 2012 Cundill Prize, the world’s most lucrative award for a non-fiction book.
AMHERST, Mass. – For more than 30 years, climate scientists have debated whether flood waters from melting of the enormous Laurentide Ice Sheet, which ushered in the last major cold episode on Earth about 12,900 years ago, flowed northwest into the Arctic first, or east via the Gulf of St. Lawrence, to weaken ocean thermohaline circulation and have a frigid effect on global climate.
AMHERST, Mass. – The Northampton Senior Center and University of Massachusetts Amherst are encouraging members of the community to be proactive about memory health by taking advantage of free, confidential memory screenings and information about successful aging on Tuesday, Nov. 13 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the center, 67 Conz St., Northampton.
AMHERST, Mass. – Laura Katz, professor of biological sciences at Smith College, will speak on “Microbes Shake the Tree of Life” at a Science Café on Monday, Nov. 12 at 5:30 p.m. at the Esselon Café in Hadley.