Senior Geology major Opal Perron-Feller is co-author in Current Biology

Lamsdell, J. C., V. E. McCoy, Opal A. Perron-Feller, and M. J. Hopkins. 2020. Air Breathing in an Exceptionally Preserved 340-Million-Year-Old Sea Scorpion. Current Biology 30:4316-+.

From the abstract: 

"Arachnids are the second most successful terrestrial animal group after insects and were one of the first arthropod clades to successfully invade land. Fossil evidence for this transition is limited, with the majority of arachnid clades first appearing in the terrestrial fossil record. Furthermore, molecular clock dating has suggested a Cambrian-Ordovician terrestrialization event for arachnids, some 60 Ma before their first fossils in the Silurian, although these estimates assume that arachnids evolved from a fully aquatic ancestor. ... Here, we present details of the respiratory organs of Adelophthalmus pyrrhae sp. nov. from the Carboniferous of Montagne Noire, France, revealed through micro computed tomography (m-CT) imaging. ... The discovery of air-breathing structures in eurypterids indicates that characters permitting terrestrialization accrued in the arachnid stem lineage and suggests the Cambrian-Ordovician ancestor of arachnids would also have been semi-terrestrial."  Published by Cell Press, online at Elsevier's ScienceDirect.com.

Full-text available in the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center, for those at OhioLINK libraries.

Christopher Marx publishes in IMRN

 New publication for Christopher Marx, Associate Professor of Mathematics, as reported in Web of Science

Hislop, Peter D., and Christoph A. Marx. "Dependence of the Density of States on the Probability Distribution for Discrete Random Schrodinger Operators." International Mathematics Research Notices 2020.17 (2020): 5279-341. Web.

This Oxford University Press journal is accessible in the OhioLINK Electronic Journal Center.

Michael Moore Publishes in Gene, with Collaborators at Hainan Univ, China

 Wang, J., Moore, Michael J., Wang, H., Zhu, Z., & Wang, H. (2021). Plastome evolution and phylogenetic relationships among Malvaceae subfamilies. Gene, 765, 145103. 10.1016/j.gene.2020.145103

From the abstract: "Malvaceae s.l. is the largest family of Malvales, comprising more than 4225 species. Within Malvaceae, the phylogenetic relationships among subfamilies remain controversial. To resolve these relationships and explore plastome evolution in Malvaceae, we assembled a complete plastome data set of 39 Malvales species, including newly reported sequences for 13 Malvaceae and two Dipterocarpaceae species. ...Phylogenetic reconstructions based on 78 protein-coding genes strongly supported nearly all relationships among Malvaceae subfamilies. The diversification of the subfamilies of Malvaceae was dated to the late Cretaceous and early Eocene, during a time of global warmth."

Malvaceae, also known as the mallow family, includes Hibiscus, okra, cotton, and cacao.  More from Britannica.com.

Matthew Elrod publishes in ACS Earth and Space Chemistry

Matthew Elrod, Robert and Eleanor Biggs Professor of Natural Science and Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, co-authored this paper with three currently enrolled students: senior Erika Aoki, junior Jon Sarrimanolis, and junior Sophie Lyon.

Aoki, E., Sarrimanolis, J. N., Lyon, S. A., & Elrod, M. J. (2020). Determining the relative reactivity of sulfate, bisulfate, and organosulfates with epoxides on secondary organic aerosol. ACS Earth and Space Chemistry, 4(10), 1793-1801. 10.1021/acsearthspacechem.Oc00178

From the abstract: "The relative reactivities (nucleophilic strengths relative to water) of sulfate, bisulfate, and methyl sulfate anion were measured through a series of model epoxide-nucleophile experiments using nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy."

This is a relatively new journal from the American Chemical Society.  From an editorial in the first issue, published in 2017:  "The launch of ACS Earth and Space Chemistry presents an opportunity to deepen and expand the conversation about the integral role that chemistry plays in the study of fundamental and applied research in the fields of geology, astronomy, oceanography, and atmospheric science."

New Publications from M. Moore, Biology; C. Oertel, Chemistry; and R. Hoyle, Computer Science

Hammer, A. C., Jia, X., Zeller, M., Coughlin, E. J., Zhang, W., & Oertel, Catherine. M. (Chemistry) (2020). Ligand geometry directs the packing and symmetry of one-dimensional helical motifs in lead oxide naphthoates and biphenylcarboxylates. Crystengcomm, 22(39), 6465-6477. 10.1039/d0ce01150a

Hoyle, Roberto (Computer Science), Stark, L., Ismail, Q., Crandall, D., Kapadia, A., & Anthony, D. (2020). Privacy norms and preferences for photos posted online. ACM Transactions on Computer-Human Interaction, 27(4), 30. 10.1145/3380960

American Journal of Botany
published by Wiley 

Sanchez-del Pino, I., Alfaro, A., Andueza-Noh, R. H., Mora-Olivo, A., Chavez-Pesqueira, M., Ibarra-

Morales, A., Moore, Michael J. (Biology), Flores-Olvera, H. (2020). High phylogeographic and genetic diversity of Tidestromia lanuginosa supports full-glacial refugia for arid-adapted plants in southern and central Coahuila, Mexico. American Journal of Botany, 107(9), 1296-1308. 10.1002/ajb2.1536

Ohio Supreme Court Judicial Candidates Forum 2020

Who is on the ballot for Ohio Supreme Court? Find out here!

Beethoven 9 Project | Cleveland Orchestra musicians

A glorious thing for a perfect fall Saturday afternoon.  Neuroscience tells us that listening to and making music are good for your honing your creative and deductive thinking... ergo, music and science make for a wonderful partnership.  Enjoy!

All New Books List on the Redesigned Libraries Website! Check Us Out.

 

From the Science Libraries page, link to the new books LibGuide.  Browse by subject area, where books are listed in call number order, and you can quickly jump to the OBIS record for each book to get more details.  In OBIS, click on Request Item and we will get the book ready for you to borrow.

Michael Moore publishes in Systematic Biology and in an important new monograph from Springer

Two new publications from Michael Moore, Biology:  

Zhang, R., Y. Wang, J. Jin, G. W. Stull, A. Bruneau, D. Cardoso, L. P. De Queiroz, Michael J. Moore, S. Zhang, S. Chen, J. Wang, D. Li, and T. Yi. 2020. Exploration of plastid phylogenomic conflict yields new insights into the deep relationships of Leguminosae. Systematic Biology 69:613-622. https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syaa013

Springer ebook, available to subscribers

Ochoterena, H., H. Flores-Olvera, C. Gómez-Hinostrosa, and Michael J. Moore. 2020. Gypsum and plant species: a marvel of Cuatro Ciénegas and the Chihuahuan Desert. pp 129-165 in Mandujano, M. C., I. Pisanty, and L. E. Eguiarte, editors. Plant Diversity and Ecology in the Chihuahuan Desert: Emphasis on the Cuatro Ciénegas Basin, Springer International Publishing, Cham.

Recent publications of science faculty and rising senior in Biology, Neuroscience and Physics

Harris, A. J., and Aaron D. Goldman (Biology). 2020. The complex phylogenetic relationships of a 4mC/6mA DNA methyltransferase in prokaryotes. Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 149:106837. Open access.

published by Elsevier

Holtzman, Joshua (Class of 2021) and H. Lee. 2020. Emerging role of extracellular vesicles in the respiratory system. Experimental and Molecular Medicine 52: 887-895. Open access.

Masia-Roig, H., J. A. Smiga, D. Budker... Jason E. Stalnaker (Physics), et al. 2020. Analysis method for detecting topological defect dark matter with a global magnetometer network. Physics of the Dark Universe 28:100494. access at ScienceDirect or OhioLINK EJC for subscribers

Nadel, J. A., S. S. Pawelko, D. Copes-Finke, M. Neidhart, and Christopher D. Howard (Neuroscience). 2020. Lesion of striatal patches disrupts habitual behaviors and increases behavioral variability. Plos One 15:e0224715. Open access.

Sun, Y., T. Deng, A. Zhang, Michael J. Moore (Biology), J. B. Landis, N. Lin, H. Zhang, X. Zhang, J. Huang, X. Zhang, H. Sun, and H. Wang. 2020. Genome sequencing of the endangered Kingdonia uniflora (Circaeasteraceae, Ranunculales) reveals potential mechanisms of evolutionary specialization. Iscience 23(5): UNSP 101124. Open access.

SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19

SARS-CoV-2-Reactive T Cells Found in Patients with Severe COVID-19: A small subset of uninfected people also had SARS-CoV-2-fighting T cells, a finding that scientists are still trying to figure out.

Kopo Oromeng '18, PhD candidate, shares recollections of OC and POC in STEM

Oromeng at GSA 2019 Conference

We're celebrating Juneteenth with a look at a few* Black women in science and medicine who began their careers at Oberlin.

Kopo Oromeng’18 (Economics and Geology)

MS in Hydrology, University of Delaware ’20
PhD candidate in Geography & Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware

At Oberlin: Oberlin gave me a very wholesome undergrad STEM experience. I learned to be the kind of scientist who interrogated social structures, wrote well, and engaged in community service. As a Bonner Scholar, I spent my time at the Oberlin Public Library working at the children’s desk. My position challenged me to make science fun for pre-k and first graders (which requires a lot of free toys and glitter), but I also noticed that many younger children of color at Oberlin struggled with reading and writing. As a double major in Economics, I took classes in Urban and Development economics along with Geology classes.

Advice: The first time I met a black female geologist was at the National Association of Black Geoscientists. She was an Obie and would later mentor me over a summer research internship at the University of Arizona. Seeing someone who looked like me excel in a STEM field validated my aspirations. My advice to current Oberlin students is to seek out alumni, connect with us, and we’ll meet you wherever you are because we’ve been there too.

We, of course, need more people of color in STEM now more than ever before. We need Black data and artificial intelligence scientists, physicists, marine biologists, mathematicians, and so many more scientists who can design systems that do not exclude people who look like us, and who will contribute to science that challenges the status quo and changes the way we understand the world.

--contributed by Kopo Oromeng at our invitation, with minor editing

*Please look for the other Black women in science and medicine we will profile this Juneteenth: Matilda A. Evans, MD;  Jé Judson, MPH; Lauren V. Wood, MD; in the Science Library's Instagram, Twitter and tumblr posts.  Thank you!
#oclcelebratesjuneteenth #ocjuneteenth #POC in STEM #BlacksInSTEM #Juneteenth2020

New Publications from Cruz, Moore (Biology), Stinebring (Physics & Astronomy), and Eveleth (Geology)

Latest publications from Oberlin faculty (noted in bold font), as indexed in Web of Science, include the following:

Drabeck, D. H., A. Rucavado, E. Hingst-Zaher, Yolanda P. Cruz, A. M. Dean, and S. A. Jansa. 2020. Resistance of South American opossums to vWF-binding venom C-type lectins. Toxicon 178:92-99.

Vallisneri, M., S. R. Taylor, J. Simon… Daniel R. Stinebring, et al. 2020. Modeling the uncertainties of solar system ephemerides for robust gravitational-wave searches with pulsar-timing arrays. Astrophysical Journal 893:112.

journal masthead

Yang, B., E. S. Boss, N. Haentjens, M. C. Long, M. J. Behrenfeld, Rachel Eveleth, and S. C. Doney. 2020. Phytoplankton phenology in the North Atlantic: insights from profiling float measurements. Frontiers in Marine Science 7:276.

Zhu, Z., J. Wang, S. Sakaguchi, K. Zhao, Michael J. Moore, and H. Wang. 2019. Complete plastome sequences of two Neottia species and comparative analysis with other Neottieae species (Orchidaceae). Folia Geobotanica 54:257-266.

Congrats to the Class of 2020 from the Science Library.

On this quiet afternoon, a day that would normally resound with music and laughter from Tappan Square as Commencement exercises end and families celebrate, it seemed fitting to don academic regalia and say Congratulations! to the Class of 2020. Be well, be bold, do good.

Good News! Senior Rainie Heck receives NSF Graduate Research Fellowship

https://tinyurl.com/yanexrqs

Congratulations to Rainie Heck, a senior mathematics and physics major, on receiving a National Science Foundation (NSF) Graduate Research Fellowship, an award that supports graduate students in NSF-supported science, technology, engineering, and mathematics disciplines who are pursuing research-based master's and doctoral degrees in the United States.

Story by Amanda Nagy

Articles recently published by faculty and students in astronomy, neuroscience, and mathematics

As indexed in Web of Science

  Faculty names are in boldface, names of current students and recent graduates are italicized.

Ellison, S. L., M. D. Thorp, L. Lin, H. Pan, A. F. L. Bluck, Jillian M. Scudder, H. Teimoorinia, S. F. Sanchez, and M. Sargent. 2020. The ALMaQUEST survey - III. Scatter in the resolved star-forming main sequence is primarily due to variations in star formation efficiency. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 493:L39-L43.

Lam, M. T., T. J. W. Lazio, T. Dolch, M. L. Jones, M. A. McLaughlin, Daniel R. Stinebring, and M. Surnis. 2020. On frequency-dependent dispersion measures and extreme scattering events. Astrophysical Journal 892:89.

Paine, Tracie A., Sara Chang, and Rachel Poyle. 2020. Contribution of GABA(A) receptor subunits to attention and social behavior. Behavioural brain research 378:112261.

Walsh, James, and E. Widiasih. 2020. A Discontinuous ODE model of the glacial cycles with diffusive heat transport. Mathematics 8 (3). DOI: 10.3390/math8030316

Throwback Thursday: Science Soirée for All In For Oberlin

Emeritus Professor Bruce Richards, acoustics demonstration

Helen Fleischer, alphorn

The Science Soirée "Shatter the Silence" (2015) was a great opportunity to enjoy the quirky acoustics of the north reading area.  We are looking forward to having our community together again, post-COVID-19, to celebrate the diversity of talents in a variety of library spaces.  Donate today to support the libraries! 

Donate at http://ow.ly/wwRq50zmmQ8

   

Daniel Orson, viola

Lawrence Suh, violin

New publications from Neuroscience and Geology departments

Neuroscience professors Mariani and Thornton publish in Hormones and Behavior with alumni Mojziszek and Curley

Mariani, Monica M., Mojziszek, Kirsten '19, Curley, Emily '16, & Thornton, Janice E. (2020). Lowering luteinizing hormone (LH) reverses spatial memory deficits associated with neurotoxin infusion into the hippocampus of ovx rats. Hormones and Behavior, 119, 104631. 10.1016/j.yhbeh.2019.104631 ER

Open access article by oceanographer Rachel Eveleth, Geology department, appears in Frontiers in Marine Science

Yang, B., Boss, E. S., Hantjens, N., Long, M. C., Behrenfeld, M. J., Eveleth, Rachel, & Doney, S. C. (2020). Phytoplankton phenology in the North Atlantic: insights from profiling float measurements. Frontiers in Marine Science, 7, 139. 10.3389/fmars.2020.00139 ER

Jordan Price, Dan Russo '19 publish in Mbio with five co-authors

Jordan Price, Assistant Professor of Biology, and Daniel Russo '19 co-authored a paper with researchers at University of California Berkeley and Duke University, published in mBio, an open-access journal from the American Society for Microbiology.

Price, J. V., Russo, D., Ji, D. X., Chavez, R. A., DiPeso, L., Lee, A. Y., Coers, J., & Vance, R. E. (2019). IRG1 and Inducible Nitric Oxide Synthase Act Redundantly with Other Interferon-Gamma-Induced Factors To Restrict Intracellular Replication of Legionella pneumophila. Mbio, 10(6), 2629.

https://mbio.asm.org/

From the abstract:
"Our study defines a complete set of cell-intrinsic factors required for IFN-􏰀-mediated restriction of an intracellular bacterial pathogen and highlights the combinatorial strategy used by hosts to block bacterial replication in macrophages...Our results clarify the molecular basis underlying the potent effects of IFN-􏰀 and highlight how redundancy downstream of IFN-􏰀 is key to prevent exploitation of macrophages by pathogens."

New publications from Michael Moore, Jillian Scudder

Jillian Scudder's (Physics and Astronomy) latest publication appears in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society with co-authors in Canada, Taiwan, England and Mexico. Michael Moore (Biology) has published in Systematic Botany and the Journal of Systematics and Evolution with co-authors from Mexico, China, Australia, Japan, and Washington D.C.  A strong international collaboration is represented in these three papers!

Ellison SL, Thorp MD, Pan H, Lin L, Scudder Jillian M, Bluck AFL, Sanchez SF, Sargent M. 2020. The ALMaQUEST survey II. what drives central starbursts at z ti 0? Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 492(4):6027-41.

The author present molecular gas maps obtained with the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) observatory for 12 central starburst galaxies at z 0 drawn from the Mapping Nearby Galaxies at Apache Point Observatory (MaNGA) survey.

Antiphytum brevicalyx in the field (Mendoza-Díaz et al. 643, 644).

Mendoza-Diaz N, Ochoterena H, Moore Michael J, Flores-Olvera H. 2020. Molecular and morphological evidence reveals a new species of Antiphytum (Echiochiloideae, Boraginaceae) from Guerrero, Mexico. Systematic Botany 45(1):190-9.

The new species is from the Sierra Madre del Sur, in the state of Guerrero, Mexico, here described as Antiphytum brevicalyx.

Wang H, Moore Michael J, Barrett RL, Landrein S, Sakaguchi S, Maki M, Wen J, Wang H. Plastome phylogenomic insights into the Sino-Japanese biogeography of Diabelia (Caprifoliaceae). Journal of Systematics and Evolution. DO10.1111/jse.12560, early access.

Student Janet Wu publishes in Science Translational Medicine

We were excited to learn that 4th-year student Janet Wu is a co-author on a paper published this week in Science Translational Medicine:

stm.sciencemag.org/

Wnt-mediated endothelial transformation into mesenchymal stem cell–like cells induces chemoresistance in glioblastoma.

Authors: Menggui Huang, Duo Zhang, Janet Y. Wu, Kun Xing, Euin Yeo, Chunsheng Li, Lin Zhang, Eric Holland, Lutian Yao, Ling Qin, Zev A. Binder, Donald M. O'Rourke, Steven Brem, Constantinos Koumenis, Yanqing Gong, Yi Fan.

Science Translational Medicine, 26 Feb 2020, Vol. 12, Issue 532, eaay7522
DOI: 10.1126/scitranslmed.aay7522

The paper stems from research at the Univ. of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, and suggests a strategy to overcome therapeutic resistance in Glioblastoma, one of the most aggressive brain tumors.  

Science Translational Medicine is one of the suite of Science journals published by AAAS.

Aaron Goldman and collaborators publish in Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres

New publication from Associate Professor of Biology Aaron Goldman, as cited in Web of Science:

https://link.springer.com/journal/11084

"Reactivity of Metabolic Intermediates and Cofactor Stability under Model Early Earth Conditions."
Authors: Maltais, TR; VanderVelde, D; LaRowe, DE; Goldman, AD; Barge, LM.
Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres access via SpringerLink for subscribers
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11084-019-09590-9.  Published online: 25 JAN 2020

From the conclusion: This research suggests "that perhaps early Earth’s oxygen-free atmosphere and ocean would be a critical factor for stabilizing some of these metabolic intermediates long enough (and suppressing side reactions) for proto-metabolic reactions to occur. Further investigations of cofactors with minerals could assist to overcome the competing chemistries, and further define the capabilities of cofactor chemistry in the early Earth environment."