• The deadline to apply for summer housing is fast approaching. Visit our housing application web page for more information. Housing deadline is February 15
  
  
• We have limited research lab space available for summer rental, cost is $62.50 per square foot. If you are interested in renting space for summer 2008 please contact Ann Woolford at awoolford@mbl.edu and complete a registration form online.

• The Oosight^TM Lights the Way: Microscope system based on MBL technology illuminates stem-cell research.
  
  
• Ozone Alert: “Business as usual” in fossil-fuel burning may cause major damage to crops.
  
  
• Medical Usefulness of the Sponge: Marine animal offers insights into the basics of immunity.
  
  
• A Cancer Prevention Clue: Zebrafish excel at repairing their own DNA.

• In the New York Times:
  Damaged Landscape Can Still Be Helpful, Researchers Say: MBL scientists Ivan Valiela and Sophia Fox commented on research promoting ecosystem-based management as a way to reconcile the decline in ecosystem services with development pressures. They questioned whether, as yet, “ecological function can be converted into a currency directly equivalent to money” without unwarranted leaps of faith.
  
  Libraries Shun Deals to Place Books on Web: Concerned by restrictions that companies like Google and Microsoft place on materials they digitize, the MBLWHOI Library, as a member of the Biodiversity Heritage Library, has signed on with the Internet Archive to scan books for open access and broad availability.
  
  
• In the Washington Post:
  At the Poles, Melting Occurring at Alarming Rate: Hugh Ducklow, Co-Director of the MBL's Ecosystems Center, joins a chorus of researchers from around the world warning that the Earth's polar ice is melting much faster than expected.
  
  
• In Science:
  Adaptive Composites: Inspired by Biology
  A paper by U.S. Air Force scientists referenced squid skin coloration work by Marine Resources scientists Roger Hanlon and Lydia Mäthger. The article highlights how the properties of biological systems such as squid skin can be used as inspiration for manmade composite materials.
  
  
• In the Cape Cod Times:
  Genome of a giant problem: MBL unravels Giardia lamblia: Bay Paul Center scientists Mitch Sogin and Hilary Morrison were interviewed about sequencing the Giardia genome and its implications for improved drug treatments and vaccines.

• MBL Signs Agreement with National University of Colombia - MBL Director and CEO Gary Borisy has signed an agreement with The National University of Colombia (UNal) aimed to foster the exchange of graduate students and faculty. The agreement includes the possibility of UNal students developing graduate thesis work and having an MBL scientist as co-advisor. Reciprocally, UNal would welcome visiting MBL scientists. The agreement was coordinated by MBL adjunct scientists Enrico Nasi and María del Pilar Gomez.
  
  
• Brown-MBL Graduate program student Marselle Alexander-Ozinskas completed her Master's degree in the fall of 2007. She studied the effects of topography, landscape age, and climate change on biogeochemical nitrogen cycling in the arctic and other arid ecosystems with Ecosystems Center senior scientist Gus Shaver of and Brown professor Osvaldo Sala. Marselle was recently selected for a National Sea Grant College Program Dean John A. Knauss Marine Policy Fellowship.
  
  
• Haverford College Junior Spends a Semester as "The Pyrite Guy" - During the fall of 2007, Benjamin Pyenson of Haverford College in Pennsylvania took part in the MBL Ecosystems Semester in Environmental Science.

There are only two more Falmouth Forum presentations to be held in what has been a very successful 2007-2008 season. The next is this Friday, February 8th. Ian Bowles, Secretary of Massachusetts’ Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs will talk about issues and initiatives which affect us here on Cape Cod. The final Forum on March 7th is very pertinent to current events—it’s titled “The Media and the Presidential Campaign.”

Gift Shop

The Associates Gift Shop is closed right now, but you can always shop online. Our current ONLINE SALE features 20% OFF all MBL “classic” large logo, short-sleeved tees and MBL socks for children and adults—a best-selling exclusive design featuring toadfish, squid, skates, sea urchins, and horseshoe crabs.

We reopen for the season on Monday, April 7th. If you have any questions, requests or problems with online shopping please feel free to call the Associates Office, 508-289-7281.

• Climate Commitment Committee Established
• MBL Climate Commitment Committee Members
• Rowe Renovation Wins Award
• MBL Cottages Receive Makeover

• The December 2007 issue of The Biological Bulletin features a "virtual" symposium entitled "The Neuroecology of Chemical Defense." Six articles by leading scientists in this newly emerging field cover a range of environments and taxa, exploring both the neural basis for behavior and the role of behavior in establishing patterns of organism abundances and species distributions within natural habitats. Read the press release here.
  
  
• The Biological Bulletin is pleased to announce that all archival content more than a year old, from 1897 to 2007, is now freely available online.
  
  
• The February 2008 issue, which will be available in mid-February, features as the Editor's Pick a thought-provoking article by N.J. Brown-Peterson, C.S. Manning, V. Patel, N.D. Denslow, and M. Brouwer entitled, "Effects of cyclic hypoxia on gene expression and reproduction in grass shrimp, Palaemonetes pugio." This article is available free without a subscription.
  
  
• The Biological Bulletin wishes to thank Sutter Instrument for advertising in the December issue, with their MPC-200 Multi-manipulator system, and Olympus America, Inc. for advertising their DSU Spinning Disk Confocal in the February issue.

• MBL Senior Scientist Roger Hanlon's research was highlighted at the 2007 TED (Technology, Entertainment, and Design) Conference. During a talk by oceanographer David Gallo, video taken by Roger Hanlon of cuttlefish and octopi was used to illustrate the many astonishing abilities of undersea creatures. View "Underwater Astonishments".
  
  
• Whitman investigator Lawrence Rome has been named one of the top 50 technology leaders of 2007 for his ergonomic backpack invention. Learn more about the backpack here.
  
  
• MBL Visiting Research Scientist Paul Colinvaux published a book on his 40 years of research in the Amazon. Amazon Exhibitions: My Quest for the Ice-Age Equator, Yale University Press.
  
  
• Chief Financial Officer Homer Lane was appointed Vice President for Member Communications for The Association of Independent Research Institutes (AIRI), at their Annual Meeting on September 26, 2007.
  
  
• MBLWHOI Library Director Cathy Norton has been appointed to the Board of Directors of BioOne, an aggregation of high-impact bioscience research journals.
  
  
• Neil Sarkar, MBLWHOI Library Informatics Manager, has been named as chair of the Data Analysis Working Group (DAWG), one of five working groups that are part of the Consortium for the Barcode of Life.
  
  
• Bay Paul Center assistant scientist Julie Huber has been named a lecturer in the Ridge 2000 (R2K) Distinguished Lecturer Series.
  
  
• BioCurrents Research Center Scientist Shanta Messerli received the Neurofibromatosis (NF) Cure Japan award (2007-2008) for a project titled: “Development of effective NF therapeutics” from the Peterson Foundation, and funding from Yamada Bee Farm to determine whether Brazilian green propolis reduces growth of schwannomas in a mouse model of Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2).
  
  
• Adjunct senior scientist Ivan Valiela was the 2007 Wiese Distinguished Lecturer at the Dauphin Island Sea Laboratory in Alabama.
  
  
• After 18 years at the MBL, Senior Scientist Chuck Hopkinson has taken a new position at the Georgia Sea Grant Program, part of a national network of 30 university-based offices run by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
  

Please share your news and awards with us. E-mail them to ghebert@mbl.edu.

The MBL announces with sadness the passing of MBL Corporation member and Nobel Laureate Dr. Joshua Lederberg (February 2, 2008).

The MBL has received a number of new gifts and peer-reviewed federal grants since LabNotes was last published... More >>>

MBL researchers have published many papers on a wide variety of topics since LabNotes was last published... More >>>

• 02/08: Falmouth Forum Series - "An Overview of the First Year & Looking Ahead" - Ian Bowles, Secretary, Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, Massachusetts - 7:30 PM, Lillie Auditorium
  
  
• 02/18: Ecosystems Center Seminar - "Carbon flux through bacterioplankton" - Xosé Morán, Centro Oceanográfico de Xixón, Instituto Español de Oceanografía - 12:15 PM, Speck Auditorium
  
  
• 02/26: Ecosystems Center Seminar - "Paleoenvironmental history of Long Island Sound" - Johan (Joop) Varekamp, Wesleyan University - 12:15 PM, Speck Auditorium
  
  
• 03/04: State of the MBL - Director and CEO Gary Borisy invites the MBL Community to attend the annual "State of the MBL" presentation. 11:00 AM, Lillie Auditorium.

Looking ahead to summer...

• 6/20-8/22: 2008 Friday Evening Lecture Series - Speaker titles and abstracts will be posted as they become available.
  
  
• 6/28: MBL Associates Annual Meeting
  
  
• 8/1: MBL Corporation Meeting
  
  
• 8/10: 2008 MBL Chamber Music Concert featuring the Tokyo String Quartet
  
  
• 8/20-8/22: Colloquium on the Biology of Aging, sponsored by the Ellison Medical Foundation and the MBL

For full event listings, visit our online calendar.