17 posts · 3,808 views
I'm a recent graduate of Carleton College (Northfield, MN), currently working in a molecular biology lab at the UPenn Med School studying the mechanisms of aging in yeast. However, my personal scientific interests veer towards ecology and evolution. I've done shorebird conservation work on the Maine coast, seabird trophic interaction research on the Oregon coast, and leaf-cutter ant distribution research in the Costa Rican rainforest. I also have strong feelings for paleoecology and paleoclimateology. Some questions I often ponder: How can the scientific community make actual progress? Is science really objective? Is the work I'm doing actually productive for society? Feel free to drop me a line at hannah.waters@gmail.com
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- August 19, 2010
- 12:33 PM
- 60 views
Marine Snow: dead organisms and poop as manna in the ocean
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
“When I think of the floor of the deep sea…I see always the steady, unremitting, downward drift of materials from above, flake upon flake, layer upon layer…the most stupendous “snowfall” the earth has ever seen.” -Rachel Carson, The Sea Around … Continue reading →... Read more »
Bochdansky, A., van Aken, H., & Herndl, G. (2010) Role of macroscopic particles in deep-sea oxygen consumption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(18), 8287-8291. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913744107
Boyce, D., Lewis, M., & Worm, B. (2010) Global phytoplankton decline over the past century. Nature, 466(7306), 591-596. DOI: 10.1038/nature09268
Fowler, S., Buat-Menard, P., Yokoyama, Y., Ballestra, S., Holm, E., & Nguyen, H. (1987) Rapid removal of Chernobyl fallout from Mediterranean surface waters by biological activity. Nature, 329(6134), 56-58. DOI: 10.1038/329056a0
Goldthwait, S., Carlson, C., Henderson, G., & Alldredge, A. (2005) Effects of physical fragmentation on remineralization of marine snow. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 59-65. DOI: 10.3354/meps305059
Iseki, K. (1981) Particulate Organic Matter Transport to the Deep Sea by Salp Fecal Pellets. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 55-60. DOI: 10.3354/meps005055
Lampitt, R., Hillier, W., & Challenor, P. (1993) Seasonal and diel variation in the open ocean concentration of marine snow aggregates. Nature, 362(6422), 737-739. DOI: 10.1038/362737a0
SILVER, M., SHANKS, A., & TRENT, J. (1978) Marine Snow: Microplankton Habitat and Source of Small-Scale Patchiness in Pelagic Populations. Science, 201(4353), 371-373. DOI: 10.1126/science.201.4353.371
Turner, J. (2002) Zooplankton fecal pellets, marine snow and sinking phytoplankton blooms. Aquatic Microbial Ecology, 57-102. DOI: 10.3354/ame027057
WOTTON, R., & MALMQVIST, B. (2001) Feces in Aquatic Ecosystems. BioScience, 51(7), 537. DOI: 10.1641/0006-3568(2001)051[0537:FIAE]2.0.CO;2
- August 5, 2010
- 11:21 AM
- 63 views
Inevitability and oil, Pt. 2: the “end of oil” and human empathy
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
Never thought I’d actually get around to a Pt. 2, eh? Well, I’ve shown you! Here’s the first part: Inevitability and Oil, Pt. 1: the inherent risk for accidents in complex technology For decades now economists and scientists have predicted the “end of oil:” the day when we use up our oil reserves, potentially resulting [...]... Read more »
Haber, W. (2007) Energy, food, and land — The ecological traps of humankind. Environmental Science and Pollution Research - International, 14(6), 359-365. DOI: 10.1065/espr2007.09.449
Kerr, R. (1998) GEOLOGY:The Next Oil Crisis Looms Large--and Perhaps Close. Science, 281(5380), 1128-1131. DOI: 10.1126/science.281.5380.1128
Szeman, I. (2007) System Failure: Oil, Futurity, and the Anticipation of Disaster. South Atlantic Quarterly, 106(4), 805-823. DOI: 10.1215/00382876-2007-047
- July 28, 2010
- 09:12 AM
- 89 views
Forest canopy height: why do we care?
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
If you’ve been on the internet at all in the past week, you’ve probably seen these lovely images from NASA, visualizing the height of tree canopies around the world. They’ve been on science sites along with art ones. In a sense, that alone is useful: using beautiful visuals to make people think about the world [...]... Read more »
Cohen, W., Harmon, M., Wallin, D., & Fiorella, M. (1996) Two Decades of Carbon Flux from Forests of the Pacific Northwest. BioScience, 46(11), 836. DOI: 10.2307/1312969
Lefsky, M., Cohen, W., Harding, D., Parker, G., Acker, S., & Gower, S. (2002) Lidar remote sensing of above-ground biomass in three biomes. Global Ecology and Biogeography, 11(5), 393-399. DOI: 10.1046/j.1466-822x.2002.00303.x
Lefsky, M., Harding, D., Keller, M., Cohen, W., Carabajal, C., Del Bom Espirito-Santo, F., Hunter, M., & de Oliveira, R. (2005) Estimates of forest canopy height and aboveground biomass using ICESat. Geophysical Research Letters, 32(22). DOI: 10.1029/2005GL023971
Running, S. (1999) A Global Terrestrial Monitoring Network Integrating Tower Fluxes, Flask Sampling, Ecosystem Modeling and EOS Satellite Data. Remote Sensing of Environment, 70(1), 108-127. DOI: 10.1016/S0034-4257(99)00061-9
Silva, L., Anand, M., & Leithead, M. (2010) Recent Widespread Tree Growth Decline Despite Increasing Atmospheric CO2. PLoS ONE, 5(7). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0011543
- July 19, 2010
- 09:19 AM
- 116 views
DMS(P): the amazing story of a pervasive indicator molecule in the marine food web
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
Dimethylsulfide. Does that word mean anything to you? “Why yes,” you organic chemistry nerds may say, “It clearly is a molecule of sulfur with two methyl groups attached.” That’s as far as I could have gotten – until this past week, when I inundated myself with information on dimethylsulfide (DMS) due to a paper published [...]... Read more »
DeBose, J., Lema, S., & Nevitt, G. (2008) Dimethylsulfoniopropionate as a Foraging Cue for Reef Fishes. Science, 319(5868), 1356-1356. DOI: 10.1126/science.1151109
Nevitt, G. (2008) Sensory ecology on the high seas: the odor world of the procellariiform seabirds. Journal of Experimental Biology, 211(11), 1706-1713. DOI: 10.1242/jeb.015412
Seymour, J., Simo, R., Ahmed, T., & Stocker, R. (2010) Chemoattraction to Dimethylsulfoniopropionate Throughout the Marine Microbial Food Web. Science, 329(5989), 342-345. DOI: 10.1126/science.1188418
Simó, R. (2001) Production of atmospheric sulfur by oceanic plankton: biogeochemical, ecological and evolutionary links. Trends in Ecology , 16(6), 287-294. DOI: 10.1016/S0169-5347(01)02152-8
Stefels, J., Steinke, M., Turner, S., Malin, G., & Belviso, S. (2007) Environmental constraints on the production and removal of the climatically active gas dimethylsulphide (DMS) and implications for ecosystem modelling. Biogeochemistry, 83(1-3), 245-275. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-007-9091-5
Van Alstyne, K., Wolfe, G., Freidenburg, T., Neill, A., & Hicken, C. (2001) Activated defense systems in marine macroalgae: evidence for an ecological role for DMSP cleavage. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 53-65. DOI: 10.3354/meps213053
G. V. Wolfe, M. Steinke, & G. O. Kirst. (1997) Grazing-activated chemical defence in a unicellular marine alga. Nature, 894-897. info:/
- June 25, 2010
- 11:28 AM
- 137 views
How did they get there? The colonization of a hydrothermal vent after volcanic eruption
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
To some people, a volcanic eruption means “Ahh! Run! Hot Lava!” But to others, it means “SCIENCE!” To those studying hydrothermal vent communities, that is (and a wide berth of geologists). Hydrothermal vents are cracks in the seafloor formed when tectonic plates spread apart, which spew out hot, mineral-rich water from the interior of the [...]... Read more »
Mullineaux, L., Adams, D., Mills, S., & Beaulieu, S. (2010) Larvae from afar colonize deep-sea hydrothermal vents after a catastrophic eruption. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(17), 7829-7834. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0913187107
- June 22, 2010
- 04:05 PM
- 142 views
Inevitability and Oil, Pt. 1: the inherent risk for accidents in complex technology
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
When I read updates on blogs or the news about the BP oil spill, my expression is generally very serious: furrowed brow, pursed lips which I’m probably chewing in alternation with gnawing a nail. But last week I laughed out loud, a true LOL, a brash guffaw. (“What?!” my labmates inquired.) I had read this [...]... Read more »
Gephart, R. (2004) Normal Risk: Technology, Sense Making, and Environmental Disasters. Organization , 17(1), 20-26. DOI: 10.1177/1086026603262030
Leveson, N., Dulac, N., Marais, K., & Carroll, J. (2009) Moving Beyond Normal Accidents and High Reliability Organizations: A Systems Approach to Safety in Complex Systems. Organization Studies, 30(2-3), 227-249. DOI: 10.1177/0170840608101478
Weick, K. (2004) Normal Accident Theory As Frame, Link, and Provocation. Organization , 17(1), 27-31. DOI: 10.1177/1086026603262031
- June 18, 2010
- 11:49 AM
- 268 views
Microbe biogeography: the distribution, dispersal and evolution of the littlest organisms
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
In any high school biology class1, we learn that isolation is key to the evolution of species. For example, take Australia, where an array of marsupials such as koalas and kangaroos reproduce like no other animals on the planet. Isolation on a continental island allowed ancestral marsupials to evolve gestation via pouch, a trait which [...]... Read more »
Cermeño, P., de Vargas, C., Abrantes, F., & Falkowski, P. (2010) Phytoplankton Biogeography and Community Stability in the Ocean. PLoS ONE, 5(4). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0010037
Fenchel, T., & Finlay, B. (2004) The Ubiquity of Small Species: Patterns of Local and Global Diversity. BioScience, 54(8), 777. DOI: 10.1641/0006-3568(2004)054[0777:TUOSSP]2.0.CO;2
Martiny, J., Bohannan, B., Brown, J., Colwell, R., Fuhrman, J., Green, J., Horner-Devine, M., Kane, M., Krumins, J., Kuske, C.... (2006) Microbial biogeography: putting microorganisms on the map. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 4(2), 102-112. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1341
O'Malley, M. (2007) The nineteenth century roots of 'everything is everywhere'. Nature Reviews Microbiology, 5(8), 647-651. DOI: 10.1038/nrmicro1711
- May 25, 2010
- 10:13 AM
- 144 views
Molecular biology and globsters: dashing cryptozoologists’ dreams
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
On July 29th 2008, the day I turned 21 years, I received the best thing I could ask for: a birthday gift from Poseidon. I was living in Newport, OR at the time. After a long morning of observing nesting seabirds through a telescope, I returned home for what I presumed to be a long [...]... Read more »
Carr, S., Marshall, H., Johnstone, K., Pynn, L., & Stenson, G. (2002) How to Tell a Sea Monster: Molecular Discrimination of Large Marine Animals of the North Atlantic. Biological Bulletin, 202(1), 1. DOI: 10.2307/1543217
Pierce, S., Massey, S., Curtis, N., Smith, G., Olavarria, C., & Maugel, T. (2004) Microscopic, Biochemical, and Molecular Characteristics of the Chilean Blob and a Comparison with the Remains of Other Sea Monsters: Nothing but Whales. Biological Bulletin, 206(3), 125. DOI: 10.2307/1543636
- April 20, 2010
- 11:21 AM
- 493 views
Octopuses doing tricks on the internet and our search for non-human “intelligence”
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
An underwater photographer has his camera stolen by a thieving octopus, who flees with the device, filming along the way. Sure, he was filming his own flesh, but baby’s first movie isn’t too shabby.
People love to talk about octopus “intelligence.” The photographer specifies that the octopus wasn’t attacking him, but just wanted to steal [...]... Read more »
Edelman, D., Baars, B., & Seth, A. (2005) Identifying hallmarks of consciousness in non-mammalian species. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 169-187. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2004.09.001
Mather, J. (2008) Cephalopod consciousness: Behavioural evidence. Consciousness and Cognition, 17(1), 37-48. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2006.11.006
SETH, A., BAARS, B., & EDELMAN, D. (2005) Criteria for consciousness in humans and other mammals. Consciousness and Cognition, 14(1), 119-139. DOI: 10.1016/j.concog.2004.08.006
- April 7, 2010
- 05:36 PM
- 192 views
Animals without oxygen and their implications for the evolution of life
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
It’s been a slow few weeks around here at Culturing Science. It’s due to a little bit of writer’s block, but mainly it’s just the beautiful weather keeping me outdoors and away from the computer. Hopefully you’ve been outside so much that you haven’t noticed.
But today my dream article was published: microorganisms, extreme environments, evolution, [...]... Read more »
Danovaro, R., Dell'Anno, A., Pusceddu, A., Gambi, C., Heiner, I., & Kristensen, R. (2010) The first metazoa living in permanently anoxic conditions. BMC Biology, 8(1), 30. DOI: 10.1186/1741-7007-8-30
- March 2, 2010
- 11:14 PM
- 247 views
Invasive species corrupt DNA, not just ecosystems (Fitzpatrick et al., PNAS 2010)
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
I rarely think about how invasive species affect genetics. It’s always in terms of ecosystems or species: invasive brown tree snakes gobbling up birds and lizards in Guam, or zebra mussels overwhelming and altering the environment of the Great Lakes. How one species outcompetes and replaces another, changing the natural system. This is partly [...]... Read more »
Fitzpatrick, B., Johnson, J., Kump, D., Smith, J., Voss, S., & Shaffer, H. (2010) Rapid spread of invasive genes into a threatened native species. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107(8), 3606-3610. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0911802107
- February 11, 2010
- 06:54 AM
- 365 views
Nature-inspired network design: recent studies in slime mold and leaf veins
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
Nature-inspired design: this phrase makes me think of shark-skin swimsuits, velcro, and an endless assortment of coffee tables using natural knots and tree branches. There is logic behind design reliant upon natural elements. After all, organisms have been undergoing evolution for millions of years for the sake of efficiency. If anyone knows how to [...]... Read more »
Andrew Adamatzky, & Jeff Jones. (2009) Road planning with slime mould: If Physarum built motorways it would route M6/M74 through Newcastle. International Journal of Bifurcation and Chaos. arXiv: 0912.3967v1
Katifori, E., Szöllősi, G., & Magnasco, M. (2010) Damage and Fluctuations Induce Loops in Optimal Transport Networks. Physical Review Letters, 104(4). DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.104.048704
Tero A, Takagi S, Saigusa T, Ito K, Bebber DP, Fricker MD, Yumiki K, Kobayashi R, & Nakagaki T. (2010) Rules for biologically inspired adaptive network design. Science (New York, N.Y.), 327(5964), 439-42. PMID: 20093467
- February 5, 2010
- 03:29 PM
- 338 views
How to measure the progress of science (Rosvall and Bergstrom, PLoS 2010)
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
No one can deny that the field of science is undergoing explosive growth. The “technological age” has treated it kindly, giving it both access to new equipment and techniques, as well as creating a larger scientific community with more connections between labs around the world. We are bombarded with information in general: hundreds of papers [...]... Read more »
Rosvall, M., & Bergstrom, C. (2010) Mapping Change in Large Networks. PLoS ONE, 5(1). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008694
- January 21, 2010
- 12:16 AM
- 235 views
Photosynthetic Evolution: how 2 organisms gained or lost the ability to eat sunshine
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
Biologists and taxonomists love to put organisms into categories to help us organize the complicated living world. I grew up on the 5 kingdom system of classification: plants, animals, fungi, bacteria and protists. The first four categories seemed simple enough, but the term “protists” always confused me. This kingdom seemed to be a dumping ground [...]... Read more »
de Castro, F., Gaedke, U., & Boenigk, J. (2009) Reverse Evolution: Driving Forces Behind the Loss of Acquired Photosynthetic Traits. PLoS ONE, 4(12). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0008465
Rumpho, M., Worful, J., Lee, J., Kannan, K., Tyler, M., Bhattacharya, D., Moustafa, A., & Manhart, J. (2008) Horizontal gene transfer of the algal nuclear gene psbO to the photosynthetic sea slug Elysia chlorotica. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 105(46), 17867-17871. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0804968105
- January 12, 2010
- 12:26 AM
- 281 views
Why research articles should be publicly accessible (Shulenburger 2009, PLoS Biology)
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
I cannot even count the number of times when I have been denied access to a journal article I needed. Oftentimes, it was while I was working on a paper in college and couldn’t read the paper that all the other scholars cited, or the paper that supported an argument I was trying to make. [...]... Read more »
Shulenburger, D. (2009) University Public-Access Mandates Are Good for Science. PLoS Biology, 7(11). DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.1000237
- December 24, 2009
- 12:31 PM
- 372 views
How dirt affects global atmospheric carbon dioxide (Wingate et al. 2009, PNAS)
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
I have a tendency to root for the underdog. I rooted for the Phillies throughout the 90s, when my heroes Lenny Dykstra and Darren Dalton could rarely lead them to a win. It’s a mixture of a desire for upheaval, that the unexpected can happen, as well as pure sympathy for the ones who [...]... Read more »
Wingate, L., Ogee, J., Cuntz, M., Genty, B., Reiter, I., Seibt, U., Yakir, D., Maseyk, K., Pendall, E., Barbour, M.... (2009) The impact of soil microorganisms on the global budget of 18O in atmospheric CO2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.0905210106
- December 15, 2009
- 08:55 AM
- 266 views
Apoptosis, or programmed cell death, is regulated by the protein RanBPM (Atabakhsh et al. 2009, Molecular Cancer Research)
by Hannah Waters in Culturing Science – biology as relevant to us earthly beings
I have been fearful of molecular biology for most of my life. This is partially because I so clearly defined myself as an ecologist that I partitioned molecules into “little biology” and out of my range. But mostly it was a fear of what I considered unnatural. Scientists who play around with chemicals and [...]... Read more »
Atabakhsh, E., Bryce, D., Lefebvre, K., & Schild-Poulter, C. (2009) RanBPM Has Proapoptotic Activities That Regulate Cell Death Pathways in Response to DNA Damage. Molecular Cancer Research. DOI: 10.1158/1541-7786.MCR-09-0098
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