August 10, 2011

Managing On the Shoulders of Giants

Biologist Mohamed Noor recently shared some of his scientific wisdom and management philosophy with Duke's "Faith and Leadership" online magazine.

August 9, 2011

Baby sea urchins aren’t all the same

Guest post by Viviane Callier, Duke biology

July 25, 2011

Drawing a Line on Preservation

Conservation programs that perform captive breeding for endangered animals  – like the Duke Lemur Center – face a difficult choice when choosing pairs to breed.

DNA analysis suggests that some populations of rare animals which have been isolated from one another by fragmented habitat may in fact be distinct sub-species. If they've been separated long enough without mating opportunities, their genomes have evolved subtle differences.

July 21, 2011

Flying high on stolen wings

Guest post by Viviane Callier, Duke biology

The wing color patterns on some butterfly species have evolved to copy wings on other butterfly species. In Heliconius butterflies, which are toxic to birds, the convergence of several species on the same wing color pattern gives them all mutual benefit – birds recognize one pattern saying “I’m poisonous; don’t eat me!"

July 13, 2011

Cooperating E. coli eat better

June 17, 2011

Phytophthora, destroyer of plants

By Ashley Yeager

June 16, 2011

Mining Beneath the Sea

If mountaintop mining were being conducted 1600 meters under the ocean – where very few people would ever see it – would it make any difference?

Well, it just might, says Cindy Lee Van Dover, director of the Duke Marine Lab and one of the world's authorities on the unique life forms surrounding deep sea hydrothermal vents. 

June 1, 2011

A hook into ocean lore

By Ashley Yeager

April 22, 2011

Sir Richard's Possible Folly

Moving animals, like the ring-tailed lemur, from one continent to another to save the species hasn't been done often and typically isn’t successful.

But that hasn't deterred businessman and adventure tycoon Sir Richard Branson from announcing plans to import 30 ring-tailed lemurs from global zoos to his private island of Moskito, located in the Caribbean.

March 28, 2011

Putting Values on Resources

“Unless you know that [a resource] is going to be in your family for a very long time, you usually don’t manage it sustainably,” evolutionary anthropology professor Thomas Struhsaker said during a panel discussion, March 25.