AMHERST, Mass. – Gary Gillis of Mount Holyoke College will present “Brace for Impact,” exploring the acrobatics of jumping frogs and how they, like gymnasts, coordinate their muscles to effectively prepare for landings, at a Science Café on Monday, May 6 at 6 p.m. at Esselon Café in Hadley.
Gillis uses biomechanics and neuromuscular analysis to understand how animals are able to control their movements during rapid deceleration.
Light snacks will be provided and drinks will be available for purchase. All Science Café events are free and designed for a public audience.
The Science
AMHERST, Mass. – Today the National Academy of Sciences announced a three-year, $271,930 grant to chemist Vincent Rotello at the University of Massachusetts Amherst to develop, test and deploy new, sensitive, reliable and affordable inkjet-printed, nanoparticle-based test strips for detecting disease-causing bacteria in drinking water, with researchers at the Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan.
AMHERST, Mass. – Leading Bluefin tuna researchers at the universities of Massachusetts and Maine issued a rebuttal to a “factsheet” they say is an “irresponsible distortion of the information available” issued by the Pew Charitable Trusts this week, as the International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tuna’s (ICCAT) expert working groups meet in Montréal beginning today to discuss tuna stocks.
AMHERST, Mass. – Reporting this month in Molecular Microbiology, Peter Chien and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst describe using a combination of biochemistry and mass spectrometry to “trap” scores of new candidate substrates of the protease ClpXP to reveal how protein degradation is critical to cell cycle progression and bacterial development. The new understanding could lead to identifying new antibiotic targets.
AMHERST, Mass. – In the cover story for the journal Genetics this month, neurobiologist Dan Chase and colleagues at the University of Massachusetts Amherst describe a new experimental technique they developed that will allow scientists to study the function of individual proteins in individual cell types in a living organism.
AMHERST, Mass. – The University of Massachusetts Amherst’s first-ever fundraising campaign driven by social media was a resounding success this week, raising $83,947 during a 36-hour event that included 1,533 online gifts as the campus kicked off its 150th birthday celebration.
AMHERST, Mass. – Max Page, professor of architecture and history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is one of three scholars nationally named to receive the Rome Prize for Historic Preservation and Conservation, awarded annually by the American Academy in Rome to honor “the highest standard of excellence in the arts and humanities.”
AMHERST, Mass. – Undergraduate Commencement at the University of Massachusetts Amherst on Friday, May 10 will feature a keynote address by Kenneth I. Chenault, chairman and CEO of American Express. He will speak to 5,500 graduating seniors at McGuirk Alumni Stadium where friends, family and alumni will gather to take part in a full day’s schedule of commencement observances. The ceremony runs from 5-6:30 p.m.
AMHERST, Mass. – Thousands of students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends attended festivities marking Founders Day celebration on the University of Massachusetts Amherst campus today on the 150th anniversary of the signing of the campus charter. Among the highlights was the ceremonial cutting of a 150-pound birthday cake created in the shape of the university’s iconic Old Chapel.