Life Sciences Commons^™

Legacies Align With Colby’S Acquisition Of Allen And Benner Islands, Bob Keyes

Colby Magazine

The College creates a 500-acre island campus in Muscongus Bay

Banned But Still Toxic: Gail Carlson Serves Notice That Chemical In Ski Racers' Waxes Still Lurk At The Starting Line, Bill Donahue

Colby Magazine

We live in a chemical world, exposing ourselves all day long to scary toxins created in laboratories—to the traces of herbicide that lurk in our water, to the carcinogenic Teflon coating our cookware, and to the pesticides sprayed on our vegetables.

A New Window Into Children's Memory: Professor Of Psychology Martha Arterberry's New Study Comes With Implications For Eyewitness Testimonies, Kardelen Koldas

Colby Magazine

When children are eyewitnesses—to an incident, an accident, or a crime— does age matter? Are older kids more precise in recounting an event than the younger ones?

Rapid Response: Cat-Scan Machine And 3d Printers Vital In Covid-19, Laura Meader

Colby Magazine

Colby’s Assistant Professor of Biology Josh Martin is using his expertise and sophisticated scientific equipment to create face shields, respirator masks, and air filter cartridges for local first responders and hospitals in need of equipment that is crucial to treating patients with COVID-19.

Doors Pushed Open: For Devin Gibbs, College Seemed Like A Longshot--Until It Wasn't, Kardelen Koldas

Colby Magazine

Before enrolling, Devin Gibbs ’14 received an invitation from Colby. The letter offered to bring him to campus and provide accommodations so he could get a feel for the school. What it didn’t say was he had, in essence, been admitted. Gibbs, who lived in Waterville just minutes from campus, thought the letter was a scam. “I had never gotten anything for free before,” he said.

A Better Way, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Alane O’Connor ’96 studied environmental economics at Colby. Associate Professor of Statistics Liam O’Brien first studied physics and mathematics.Together the pair has combined their broad experience to produce groundbreaking research that is changing the way clinicians around the world treat pregnant and opioid-addicted women and their unborn children.

One Step At A Time: Robotics Lab Team Combines Talents In Quest For The Perfect Synthetic Tendon, Laura Meader

Colby Magazine

When Caitrin Eaton arrived at Colby a year ago, she named her new robotics lab C3PO. The name grabs students’ attention, but they’re drawn to the lab for another reason: Eaton’s cutting-edge research unites engineering and animal physiology to help robots walk more smoothly than Hollywood’s stiff-legged C-3PO robot.

Big Data: Computational Biology Opens A New Window On The World's Challenges For Colby Scientists, Kate Carlisle

Colby Magazine

"What makes us 'us' and not a plant? Not a bacteria, or a virus," asks Andrea Tilden, the J. Warren Merrill Associate Professor of Biology and a genomics expert. "Any one genome has six thousand novels worth of information. Computational biology is the tool we use to read them."

Collaboration: Professor And Former Protégé Are Finding Answers To Nature's Questions, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Biologist Dave Angelini and collaborator Will Simmons '17J have published findings of their three-year study of the effect of pesticides on bumblebees and hope the results will have the scientific community looking for new solutions to the problem.

Science Phobic?: Professor Frank Fekete Can Fix That - And, Perhaps, Some Global Problems, Abukar Adan

Colby Magazine

"It shouldn't be a surprise. Of any subdiscipline in biology, microbiology is the most relevant to my students' lives because everyone is concerned about his or her health." - Frank Fekete, professor of biology

Snap, Crackle, Crunch: For This Team Of Food Visionaries, Insects Are The Key To Feeding The World, Susan Abram

Colby Magazine

For most people, a cricket's chirp is the song of summer. But for a multidisciplinary team of Colby alumni, the uninhibited chorus that comes from the insects marks a leap towards the future of sustainable food systems.

Sweating The Small Stuff: Linking Plankton To Climate Change, Brian Kim '18 Makes Conncetions, Stephen Collins

Colby Magazine

It takes an expansive mind to connect microscopic marine copepods (certain crustacean plankton) unwittingly chomping on floating microplastics with a bigger picture: the planet’s carbon pump and global climate change. But that’s what Brian Kim ’18 decided to investigate during Jan Plan, working with Bigelow Lab Senior Research Scientist David Fields.

New Clues To A Mass Extinction: Colby Geologist Robert Gastaldo And Student Researchers Unearth Evidence That Contradicts Prevailing Models About Ancient Die-Offs, Stephen Collins

Colby Magazine

Colby geologists are rewriting deep time history, altering the script of how scientists understand the mother of all mass extinctions—the End-Permian event that occurred approximately 252 million years ago. Or to suggest that they don’t, in fact, understand it.

They Care What You Eat: With Ingredients From The Classroom, Colbians Are Helping To Shape A New Maine, On The Farm, In The Sea, At The Restaurant Table, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

With ingredients from the classroom, Colbians are helping to shape a new Maine, on the farm, in the sea, at the restaurant table.

Flying Past, Present, And Future, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

The story is about Peter Agelasto ’96 and his groundbreaking digital-archiving work for Bob Dylan and others. Peter Agelasto thinks like an archaeologist to help Bob Dylan and others preserve their legacies.

World-Class Research: Biomedical Science Beyond Experimentation

Colby Magazine

Faculty and relationships with Maine’s big-three research labs propel Colby’s opportunities in biomedical science

Could childhood nutrition set late-life brain function?

Hitting the lab running

Ahmad wins grant for study of neurodegenerative disease

Nsf Bets Big On David Angelini, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Something has been bugging Colby geneticist David Angelini.

How, Angelini wonders, can a single species (in this case the soapberry bug) produce two distinctly different forms, one with long wings and one with short, that are not linked to sex? What is the genetic mechanism that causes the wings to develop differently?

"Why does it not overshoot the long form? he asked. "Why doesn't it undershoot the short form? Why doesn't it end up somewhere in the middle? That's an open question."

And a question that the National Science Foundation wants him to answer.

The Hot Zone And The Cold War, Peter Nichols

Colby Magazine

It was a time when, in the nation's schools, drills for nuclear war were as frequent as fire drills- when Americans and their Soviet counterparts lived with a constant fear of imminent worldwide destruction. "You had a cultural mindset that was apocalyptic," said Robert S. Weisbrot, Christian A. Johnson Distinguished Teaching Professor of History at Colby, "that believed you could not guarantee that your wonderful suburban home and family and community...would survive ten more seconds."

"It was not simply a matter of two countries that are adversaries building up weapons," said Weisbrot. "Each saw the other as the incarnation of …

The Birdman Of Colby: Eagle-Eyed Professor Herb Wilson Is Winging His Way Into The Hearts Of Students And Birders Alike, Robert Gillespie

Colby Magazine

Professor Herb Wilson's passion for ornithology is contagious- at Colby and in the community.

Getting In Deep, Earl Smith

Colby Magazine

Cleaning up Johnson Pond required wading through a quagmire of regulations- and produced some surprising revelations.

Tracking The Forest People: In The Rainforests Of Borneo, Erin Vogel '95 Studies A Group Of Orangutans In Hopes Of Protecting This Dwindling Species, Adriana Nordin Manan

Colby Magazine

Erin Vogel ’95 studies orangutans up close in the rainforest of Borneo. An anthropologist at UC Santa Cruz, Vogel wants to know what these orangutans eat and why, in hopes that the knowledge will help protect this dwindling species.

The Perfect Fit

Colby Magazine

From the classrooms and laboratories of Mayflower Hill, they found their niche in science. Microbiologist Carrie Harwood ’73, transplant surgeon Patrick Wood ’75, and marine biologist Paul Wade ’80 have passion for their professions.

Farm Hands: With A Fresh Perspective, Colbians Join Farming's Next Generation, Molly Pindell

Colby Magazine

As the nation’s farmers grow older, fewer young people are turning to agriculture as a career. Meet Colby farmers who are bucking the trend with everything from organic vegetables to rodeo calves.

The Search For The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker: Sara Barker And A Team Of Researchers Find Conclusive Evidence That Brings The Ivory-Billed Woodpecker Back From 'Extinction', Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

An extinct ivory-billed woodpecker in an Arkansas swamp? Sara Barker '94 coordinated the team that quietly searched the swamp to see if the "grail bird" lives.

The Great Mudpuppy Escape (Sort Of), Stephen Collins

Colby Magazine

The origin of unusual salamanders that inhabit parts of the Belgrade Lakes? We confess, a Colby professor was the culprit.

Campus Life: In Perkins Arboretum There Are Birds Of All Feathers, Trees That Tell A Story, And Even Romance (Especially If You're A Frog), Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

To the uninitiated, Perkins Arboretum is the edge of campus. For those familiar with its flora and fauna, the arboretum is a wondrous classroom and refuge.