News
Katia Koelle One of Popular Science's "Brilliant Ten"
September 22, 2014
Popular Science has selected Katia Koelle as one of their "Brilliant Ten," which features ten of the "brightest young minds reshaping...
In Plain English: John Mercer
August 11, 2015
Before going to college John Mercer joined the Navy. See the world! Experience life! After much training John became a reactor operator...
In Plain English: Paul Magwene
August 11, 2015
Deep in the darkest recesses of a cell something determines its fate: How will it react to food or famine? Should it grow and divide? ...
In Plain English: Chantal Reid
June 29, 2015
Chantal Reid is excited about teaching “How Plants Feed and Fuel the World.” She and Jim Siedow have taught it before, but this time is...
In Plain English: Zhen-Ming Pei
June 29, 2015
Zhen-Ming Pei wants to understand how plants sense basic aspects of their environment: salt, temperature and most of all, water. They do...
In Plain English: Alec Motten
August 11, 2015
Alec Motten is excited about bioluminescence—live creatures that glow in the dark. The lab for Organismal Diversity gives him an excuse to...
In Plain English: John Willis
August 11, 2015
John Willis loves figuring things out--specifically, how the wildflower Mimulus adapts to different environments. Colonies adapt to...
In Plain English: Vikas Bhandawat
August 07, 2015
Vikas Bhandawat chose to study the sense of smell in fruit flies because it is so much simpler than sight. Less than 10,000 neurons! But...
In Plain English: Sam Johnson
August 11, 2015
The great scientist Sir Isaac Newton formulated his theory of light, indispensable to using microscopes and telescopes, at Cambridge...
In Plain English: Nina Tang Sherwood
August 11, 2015
Fruit flies live long enough to have degenerative diseases? Yes, and Nina Sherwood studies one that impairs the ability to walk. A...
In Plain English: Terry Corliss
August 11, 2015
Terry Corliss started collecting insects at age 5 and progressed to fish, reptiles and eventually microbes. Now she leads a hard-working...
In Plain English: Meng Chen
August 11, 2015
Meng Chen got his job by accident; that is, he accidentally discovered a mutant while he was a post-doc, and now his lab is defining a new...
In Plain English: Michael Barnes
August 11, 2015
Down behind the French building, far from the mailroom and offices, the labs on upper floors and the subterranean teaching space, there is...
In Plain English: Rytas Vilgalys
June 23, 2015
“It’s a good time to be a mycologist,” says Rytas Vilgalys. Rytas began by learning the edible and inedible mushrooms at his Muka’s (...
In Plain English: Fred Nijhout
August 11, 2015
Animals come in all sizes, but how does an animal know when it’s grown to the right size? That’s been puzzling Fred Nijhout for a long...
In Plain English: Katia Koelle
August 07, 2015
Like many people today, Katia Koelle is fascinated by ancestry. But she's not tracing her family tree; instead, she uses sophisticated...
In Plain English: Eric Spana
June 29, 2015
Eric Spana just finished running “Nerd Camp”—that is, pSearch, a pre-orientation program introducing freshmen to research. All day for 2...
Willard to Lead New Research Program for Undergrads
September 10, 2014
The Trinity Science & Research Scholars Program is launching this fall to provide opportunities for Trinity College freshmen and...
Being Born in Lean Times Is Bad News for Baboons
April 02, 2015
The saying ”what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” may not hold up to scientific scrutiny. Baboons born in times of famine are more...
Longing for Nepal
September 15, 2014
Name: Jill Chaskes FosterPosition: Staff assistant, Department of BiologyYears at Duke:...
Fulbright Scholarship Winners From Duke University Announced
August 19, 2014
Eighteen recent graduates and graduate students from Duke University received Fulbright Scholarships and will spend the 2014-15 academic...
Why Sharks Matter
August 18, 2014
When David Shiffman ‘07 applied to Duke University in 2002, he wrote his application essay about the first time he swam with sharks. The...
Distant Species Produce Love Child After 60-Millon-Year Breakup
February 13, 2015
A delicate woodland fern discovered in the mountains of France is the love child of two distantly-related groups of plants that haven’t...
Society Bloomed With Gentler Personalities and More Feminine Faces
August 01, 2014
Modern humans appear in the fossil record about 200,000 years ago, but it was only about 50,000 years ago that making art and advanced...