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Finding darters where no one thought to look
McHENRY COUNTY, Ill. – “Pull off in about a mile and a half,” I tell my colleague Josh Sherwood, an ichthyologist with the Illinois Natural History Survey. A minute goes by before he flips on the amber light bar over our heads and pulls the truck into the grass alongside the Jane Addams Memorial Tollway, […]
Saying goodbye to an old measure
VERSAILLES, FRANCE — I’m video recording on three DSLR cameras today, which is the most I can handle by myself. But I don’t want to miss a second of this event, because I flew to Paris the day before yesterday just to film this auditorium of international delegates. These serious-looking men and women are actually […]
Excavating a cave without leaving campus
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – I’m in a cave with three identical waterfalls. The roar of water fills my ears as I look around, a little shakily. This is not what I was expecting when I showed up to Davenport Hall for an interview. But when I said, “Yes, I’d love to try out a virtual reality […]
Finding water closer to home
JIMU VILLAGE, ZOMBA DISTRICT, MALAWI – It is just past noon as Zuze Dulanya, Evance Mwathunga and I climb out of the van. The shiny new handpump for Jimu Village sits where just last week a drill rig bored the hole for this much needed, much anticipated new water source. Beneath a nearby row of […]
Deciphering the history of a Chinese vase
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — I hold my breath as Walter Wilson, one of our technicians, carefully moves an antique Chinese porcelain vase from its pedestal at Krannert Art Museum to a nearby table. Now, it sits next to an electronic scanning tool and a laptop computer. Wilson positions the vase on its side, using bean bags […]
Playing a parasite for science
Brown-headed cowbirds lay their eggs in other species’ nests and let the foster parents raise their young. This practice often leads to declines in the host birds’ own offspring. Photo by Michael Jeffords and Susan Post Delete Edit embedded media in the Files Tab and re-insert as needed. align image leftalign image centeralign image right […]
Maya Rituals Unearthed
CENTRAL BELIZE – Deep in the untamed lowlands, we search for artifacts buried under hundreds of years of sediment. We are excavating two ancient Maya sites nestled in the sacred landscape of Cara Blanca in central Belize. Both date to A.D. 800-900, when prolonged and severe droughts struck this region, disrupting the daily life of […]
Finding an ancient Maya city in the jungles of Belize
YALBAC RANCH, Belize – The jungles of central Belize contain thousands of species of insects, birds, reptiles, mammals, trees and flowers. They also contain ancient Maya cities, some of which remain unknown and unexplored. We are looking for two massive Maya urban centers close to the Guatemala border in central Belize. These sites, shown to […]
Tracking a forest’s recovery one year after storm
SHAWNEE NATIONAL FOREST, Ill. – We walk out of the typical southern Illinois shady forest into a crazy jumble of fallen trees, thorny vines and tangled shrubs. It’s almost 100 degrees, the humidity is over 85 percent and all of the shade has disappeared. My lab mate and her undergraduate technician volunteered to work with […]
In search of ‘white birds in a nest’
APALACHICOLA, Fla. – It’s summer in the Florida Panhandle, and we are either drenched in rain or covered in sweat. The mosquitoes are out in full force, and the risk of stumbling upon a venomous snake in the seepage slope and swamps is palpable. If I can look beyond the immediate discomfort, the payoff is […]
The journey to becoming a physician-innovator
The dean of the Carle Illinois College of Medicine, Dr. King Li, walks into my research group meeting, and time seems to stop. Could he be here for me? I quickly remind myself he could be here to talk to my research advisor instead. I applied to be a member of the inaugural class of […]
The weavers of Tambo Perccaro
CANAS PROVINCE, Peru – About 70 people are waiting for us in the courtyard of the community center when we arrive. Many have walked for miles to be here, some with small children on their backs. We’re not sure what the community center staff told this crowd to get them to show up, but we’re […]