AMHERST, Mass. – Sarah Partan of Hampshire College will present “Beyond the Chatter: Adventures in Animal Communication” at a Science Café on Monday, March 4 at 6 p.m. at the Esselon Café in Hadley.
Partan will highlight the fascinating world of animal communication and answer such questions as: Why did the robot squirrel wave its tail? What do female pigeons really want, his song or his dance? Do urban birds find it harder to get a date over all that noise?
Light snacks will be provided and drinks will be available for purchase.
The Science Café series is organized by graduate
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. – Randolph Wilson “Bill” Bromery, of Peabody, chancellor of the University of Massachusetts Amherst from 1971-79 and Commonwealth Professor emeritus of geophysics, died Feb. 26 in Danvers, Mass. He was 87.
AMHERST, Mass. – Chefs from six of the schools listed in the Best Campus Food rankings in the 2013 edition of The Best 377 Colleges published by The Princeton Review will serve up signature dishes on Tuesday, March 5, from 5-9 p.m. at Berkshire Dining Commons at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
AMHERST, Mass. – Daniel Gordon, professor of History and associate dean of Commonwealth Honors College, will speak on “The Fatal Truth: The Cult of Violence in Western Political Thought” on Tuesday, March 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Student Union Ballroom at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
AMHERST, Mass. – More than 300 female high school students, teachers, and guidance counselors from across Massachusetts will travel to the University of Massachusetts Amherst to attend the annual Women in Engineering and Computing Career Day Conference on Monday, March 4. The conference is being held in the Campus Center Auditorium beginning at 8:30 a.m. It seeks to excite, inspire and encourage young women to pursue engineering as a career path.
AMHERST, Mass. – Historian Robin D.G. Kelley, award-winning African-American scholar and 2013 history department writer-in-residence at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will speak Tuesday, March 5 in the Student Union’s Cape Cod Lounge beginning at 4 p.m.
AMHERST, Mass. – Hundreds of University of Massachusetts Amherst students, faculty and staff are expected to participate in a weeklong challenge called “No Impact Week” beginning on Sunday, Feb. 24, to reduce their individual carbon footprints and other environmental impacts through daily personal experiments in waste reduction, transportation, energy, food and water consumption.
AMHERST, Mass. – An 18-foot-long rhinestone-covered replica of a U.S. Predator drone will be the center of a new multimedia art exhibit opening on March 1 at the Hampden Gallery at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. The exhibit, titled “Home Drone,” challenges viewers to imagine their reaction if thousands of deadly drones had struck in the U.S. – specifically Massachusetts – rather than in Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan.
AMHERST, Mass. – A series of seminars on home gardening topics taught by University of Massachusetts Amherst agriculture faculty and professional staff is being offered at sites around the state starting March 9.