by Julia DiPinto | Jun 7, 2025 | In the lab, News Briefs, Research
We all know that researchers use DNA to search for hidden answers in living organisms. To do that, researchers must first ensure that their DNA samples are high quality before use. But how do they do this? Whether it’s discovering the cause of white-band...
by Ryan Pianka | Nov 30, 2023 | News Briefs, Research
We all know that protein is essential to life and that our muscles, vital organs, and enzymes—the tiny molecular machines that drive life’s processes—are all made of protein. In fact, your body contains about 20,000 different proteins, each with its own unique...
by Dan Distel | Oct 12, 2023 | In the field, In the lab, News Briefs, Research
Did you know that 75–90% of the estimated 1–2 million species living in the world’s ocean remain undiscovered and undescribed? Together, these species constitute the ocean’s taxonomic dark matter—the critical portion of life’s diversity hidden beneath the waves. To...
by Dan Distel | Sep 30, 2023 | In the field, In the lab, News Briefs, Research
Staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis) were once among the most dominant reef-building corals in the Caribbean. However, starting in the mid-1980s, these iconic corals began a steep decline. Due to climate change and a mysterious bacterial plague known as “white band...
by Zack Anderson | Jul 22, 2023 | In the field, Research
There is no Earth 2, but there is Biosphere 2—an experimental ecosystem entirely isolated from Earth’s atmosphere and ocean. Built more than 30 years ago in Arizona, Biosphere 2 was created as an experimental life raft designed to test the feasibility of creating...
by Zack Anderson | May 19, 2023 | In the field, In the lab, News Briefs, Research
Snails are mollusks with distinctive spiral shells. Slugs are snail-like mollusks that have no shells. Easy to tell apart, right? But not so fast. Mollusks of the family Velutinidae are small marine mollusks that have a shell like a snail—but that shell is small and...
