By: Dr. Dana Sackett As we all face a global pandemic together, we can each do our part in these uncertain times by following the guidance of our amazing scientists at the World Health Organization and Center for Disease Control (I strongly encourage everyone to read over their guidelines).  Their guidance includes telling everyone that…

“Learn how to market yourself.”  Millennials have been beaten over the head with this order since a fairly young age. In a competitive world, knowing what makes you competitive is just as important as being competitive. Being smart, talented, or accomplished may not be worth anything if the gatekeepers never notice. Some argue that having…

By: Dana Sackett Each year brings new discoveries of organisms we had no idea we shared the Earth with.  Some of these discoveries, particularly those in the aquatic environment (though I may be a bit bias), can leave people scratching their heads in wonder.  In 2001, an international project called the All Species Inventory was…

I’ve spent this winter paying attention. I’m learning the names of the birds in the bamboo grove behind my office, where the spotted salamanders hide, where the white-tail deer scrape the ground, where the oyster mushrooms grow. I grew up in almost-urban New Jersey, and my “natural literacy” began and ended with cardinal, blue jay,…

By: Dana Sackett When a specific trait about an animal makes it more likely to survive and produce offspring, that trait will get passed on to the next generation becoming more frequent in successive generations than those traits that do not help individuals survive and reproduce. For example, if being able to swim away from…