AMHERST, Mass. – The public is invited to witness sunrise and sunset on the day of the autumnal equinox among the standing stones of the UMass Amherst Sunwheel on Saturday, Sept. 22 at 6:45 a.m. and 6 p.m.
At the gatherings, UMass Amherst astronomer Judith Young will give presentations that include information on the seasonal positions of the Earth, sun and moon, significance of the solstices and equinoxes, phases of the moon, building the Sunwheel, and discussion of other calendar sites such as Stonehenge and Callanish in the U.K. and Chichen Itza in Mexico.
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. – Natasha Trethewey, a Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and 1995 graduate of the MFA Program for Poets and Writers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, begins her duties this week as the 19th poet laureate of the United States.