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For further MBL News and Media Information, contact the MBL Communications Office at (508) 289-7423 or e-mail us at comm@mbl.edu
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MBL Associates Invite Public to Coffee and Conversation, January 18
David Remsen to discuss uBio program
WOODS HOLE, MA—The MBL Associates will present a Coffee and Conversation on Wednesday, January 18 at 9:30 AM in the MBL’s (Marine Biological Laboratory’s) Meigs Room, located in the Swope Center, MBL Street, Woods Hole. The event is part of free series of informal morning lectures about research in the biological sciences. The public is invited to attend. Refreshments will be served.
David Remsen, Project Manager in the MBL’s Universal Biological Indexer and Organizer (uBio) project, will discuss his work cataloging the names of all living (and once-living) organisms in a talk titled A Rose By Any Other Name: Biological Names and the Internet.
In the world of taxonomy, the centuries-old field of science used to classify living things, the master list of life on Earth is always changing. With new discoveries come new names; over time, these scientific names and their classifications can change. Add to this the fact that some organisms have a variety of common names associated with them and what you're left with are millions and millions of names, dozens of which might be describing the same organism.
The uBio project is aiming to compile, for the first time, all names associated with all living things. The goal is to develop a single, Internet-based dictionary that will index and organize information about all known organisms and be available to students, scientists, or any individual with a need for biological information. The project is funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Remsen is the Information Systems Program Developer for the MBL. He is also the Technical Chair of the National Association of Marine Laboratories (NAML) LabNet Program and Web Manager for NAML and the Shark Research Institute. In addition, Remsen is an instructor in the MBL’s Medical Informatics course.
Parking for this Coffee and Conversation is available in the MBL’s Bar Neck Road parking lot, located two blocks from the Swope Center on Bar Neck Road. For more information or directions, contact the MBL Communications Office, 508-289-7423.
Final Coffee and Conversation lecture: March 6 - "Life in a River of Fire" - Linda Amaral Zettler, Assistant Research Scientist, Josephine Bay Paul Center for Comparative Molecular Biology and Evolution, MBL
The MBL Associates were founded in 1944 to provide an opportunity for friends of the Laboratory, both scientists and non-scientists, to support the MBL. The MBL Associates provide fellowships for young scientists, support the MBLWHOI Library, and also help bring the work of the Laboratory to a broader public by sponsoring the Falmouth Forum Series and operating the MBL Gift Shop. Membership is open to anyone with an interest in the Laboratory.
The MBL is an international, independent, nonprofit institution dedicated to improving the human condition through creative research and education in the biological, biomedical and environmental sciences. Founded in 1888 as the Marine Biological Laboratory, the MBL is the oldest private marine laboratory in the Western Hemisphere. For more information, visit www.mbl.edu.
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