Just in time... for you to have no time.

Recognizing that the first day of exams is not when most people will look at the new books shelf (more's the pity), I will highlight just two:

Pictured rocks of the Upper Peninsula is purely a personal choice, as a Michigander and someone who loves the northern parts of the state.  Spend just a few minutes with this book and you will feel refreshed and ready for the next exam:
Geology and landscape of Michigan's Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore and vicinity / William L. Blewett.
The world of trees  is my second choice.  The trees around Oberlin this spring are amazing! - in fact, anything that uses carbon dioxide for growth (anything plant-like, that is) is growing by leaps and bounds.  It's a bit alarming, to be honest.

Happy Buddha? Mycobacterial infection following tattoo

Annika Sullivan '12 is a co-author on a paper originating from the Oregon Health & Science University, Portland:

Happy Buddha? Kevin L. Winthrop; Cara D. Varley; Annika Sullivan; Robert S. Hopkins.  2012.  Clinical Infectious Diseases  54: 1670-1671.

Oberlin does not subscribe to this journal, but the publisher provided this link for limited number of free access views of the html version. The tattoo identified in the article as the origin of a mycobacterial infection depicts a joyful buddha in a standing pose, completed using a grey ink. The dye was created by mixing black tattoo ink with tap water, a common source of Mycobacterium chelonae.

The authors observed "Outbreaks associated with [Myccobacterium organisms] may occur when contaminated tap water is inappropriately used in surgical, cosmetic, or other procedures. Symptoms typically develop 2–3 weeks after exposure."

Today's lesson: when getting a tattoo, insist that purified water be used throughout the procedure.

University of Minnesota compiles database of peer-reviewed, open-source textbooks | Inside Higher Ed

This is an exciting development, and could dramatically change the learning process in undergraduate courses.  Reliable participation by faculty in many colleges and universities would be useful, to extend peer-review to a wider audience.
University of Minnesota compiles database of peer-reviewed, open-source textbooks | Inside Higher Ed

Something fishy online

We now have access to Elsevier's Encyclopedia of Fish Physiology online, at sciencedirect.com.  If you are asked to identify your institutional affiliation before gaining access, be sure to select the Oberlin College option (not Oberlin College/OhioLINK, which gives access to the journals archive only).

Here's a snippet to pique your interest:

"At a conservative estimate at least 40% of the world's vertebrates are fish. On the one hand they are united by their adaptations to an aquatic environment and on the other they show a variety of adaptations to differing environmental conditions - often to extremes of temperature, salinity, oxygen level and water chemistry."  One chapter begins with this truism:  "All fish are united by the requirement to obtain food, while (at least during some phase of their life) avoiding being food." It's a challenging life, beneath the water's surface.  Take the plunge and learn more.

New articles by faculty and students

Oberlin-authored articles published in April 2012 included the following:

From Emeritus professor of chemistry Norm Craig with Oberlin student Hengfeng Tian -
Craig N. C., H. Tian, and T. A. Blake. 2012. Analysis of the Rotational Structure in the High-Resolution Infrared Spectrum of trans-Hexatriene-1-C-13(1): A Semiexperimental Equilibrium Structure for the C-6 Backbone of trans-Hexatriene. Journal of Physical Chemistry A 116:3148-3155. [access at ACS]

From Neuroscience professor Jan Thornton with Oberlin students Sarah McConnell, Juliet Alla, and Elizabeth Wheat -
McConnell S. E. A., J. Alla, E. Wheat, R. D. Romeo, B. McEwen, and J. E. Thornton. 2012. The role of testicular hormones and luteinizing hormone in spatial memory in adult male rats. Hormones and behavior 61:479-486. [access at OhioLINK EJC or sciencedirect.com]
Curious about those hormones and spatial memory?  Here's the summary statement from the abstract:
"[The] data indicate that testicular androgens are important for maximal levels of spatial working memory in male rats, that testosterone may be converted to estradiol and/or dihydrotestosterone to exert its effects, and that some of the effects of these steroid hormones may occur via negative feedback effects on luteinizing hormone."  No indication is given on any possible linkage between testosterone and human male behavior vis-à-vis seeking directions while traveling through unfamiliar territory.  Sorry, couldn't resist.

Petersen article in Marine Ecological Processes

A recent publication from John Petersen, Associate Professor/Director of the Environmental Studies Program, was selected for inclusion in the treatise Marine Ecological Processes (2010), edited by J.H. Steele [borrow through OhioLINK]. Petersen's article first appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences, 2nd ed., which subscribers can access on sciencedirect.com.

Petersen, John E. & W.M. Kemp. 2008. Mesocosms: enclosed experimental ecosystems in ocean science. Encyclopedia of Ocean Sciences.  Elsevier, New York, pp 732–747.

New publications from faculty & students

Five recent publications by science faculty, some co-authored with current students or recent alumni, are higlighted here.  Oberlin affiliated authors are noted with bold text:

Craig, Norman C., Clay C. Easterday, Deacon J. Nemchick, Drew F.K. Williamson, Robert L. Sams  2012. Rotational analysis of bands in the high-resolution infrared spectra of cis,cis- and trans,trans-1,4-difluorobutadiene-2-d(1). Journal of Molecular Spectroscopy 272(1):2-10.

De Smet I., P. J. White, A. G. Bengough, L. Dupuy, B. Parizot, I. Casimiro, R. Heidstra, Marta Laskowski, M. Lepetit, F. Hochholdinger, X. Draye, H. Zhang, M. R. Broadley, B. Peret, J. P. Hammond, H. Fukaki, S. Mooney, J. P. Lynch, P. Nacry, U. Schurr, L. Laplaze, P. Benfey, T. Beeckman, and M. Bennett. 2012. Analyzing lateral root development: how to move forward. Plant Cell 24(1):15-20.

Glass B. P., Bruce M. Simonson. 2012. Distal impact ejecta layers: spherules and more. Elements 8(1):43-48.

Moran Sean D., A. M. Woys, L. E. Buchanan, Eli Bixby, Sean M. Decatur, and M. T. Zanni. 2012. Two-dimensional IR spectroscopy and segmental C-13 labeling reveals the domain structure of human gamma D-crystallin amyloid fibrils. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(9):3329-3334.

Schmidt, Amanda H., A. S. T. Robbins, J. K. Combs, A. Freeburg, R. G. Jesperson, H. S. Rogers, K. S. Sheldon, and E. Wheat. 2012. A new model for training graduate students to conduct interdisciplinary, interorganizational, and international research. Bioscience 62(3):296-304.

Contentious Bird Flu Research Will Be Published

From the NPR health blog on March 30, 2012:
by Nell Greenfieldboyce

The National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity "has reconsidered its advice to keep certain details of bird flu experiments secret. Revised versions of manuscripts that describe two recent studies can be openly published, the committee now says. The decision could help end a contentious debate that has raged within the scientific community for months."

Nature and Science are the two journals in the process of publishing the reports.  Nature's blog, in a post by Ed Yong, featured this headline last week: "Mutations behind flu spread revealed.  Details of one of two controversial mutant flu papers discussed in London."

Yoshihiro Kawaoka, of the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, revealed that an altered form of the H5N1 virus was able to reproduce in a ferret's airways, and that spontaneous mutations of that form of the virus resulted in three new mutations (not represented in any virus database) which allowed the virus to go airborne between infected and healthy ferrets.       

Read more about the research and the controversy surrounding it in Nature‘s mutant flu special and in news analysis dated April 6 from Science, by Jon Cohen and David Malakoff.

Open Access from Nature Climate Change

This comes from The Nature Publishing Group at Nature.com, in an email dated April 4, 2012:

"Nature Climate Change is one! To celebrate, the editors have pulled together a collection of highlights from the journal over the last year – free to view until the end of April 2012."

See the First anniversary highlights 

"Launched in April 2011, Nature Climate Change is a monthly journal dedicated to publishing the most significant and cutting-edge research on the impacts of global climate change and its implications for the economy, policy and the world at large. The journal is interdisciplnary and strives to forge and synthesize ideas across the physical and social sciences." 
While at Nature.com, read the news note "How carbon dioxide melted the world," summarizing research findings published yesterday: Shakun, J. D. et al. Nature 484, 49–54 (2012). NPR adds insight with a story from Christopher Joyce this morning: Shake it off: earth's wobble may have ended ice age.

Neurobiology books on exhibit, coincides with presentation by Jeffrey Burgdorf

From the book display
in the Science Library

First In Family Speaker Series features Jeffrey Burgdorf on Wednesday, April 4. Dr. Burgdorf will present "The Neurobiology of Positive Emotions: from laughing rats to a novel antidepressant in clinical trials for depression."  Stop in the science library to peruse a selection of books from our neurobiology section, on exhibit in conjunction with Burgdorf's talk.

Copies of recent papers by Burgdorf and collaborators are also on display, including "Frequency modulated 50 kHz ultrasonic vocalizations reflect a positive emotional state in the rat : neural substrates and therapeutic implications" by Jeffrey Burgdorf and Joseph R. Moskal in Handbook of behavioral neuroscience, v. 19.

From the OC Events calendar:
First In Family Speaker Series
WHEN: 4:30pm - 6:00pm
WHERE: Science Center, Norman C. Craig ’53 Lecture Hall @ 119 Woodland Street, Oberlin, OH 44074

Dr. Burgdorf earned a doctorate in 2005 at Bowling Green State University, where he validated that rat ultrasonic vocalizations reflect distinct positive and negative emotional states relevant to depression, and further explored the neuronal basis of these vocalizations. 

Poetry in Science

April is National Poetry Month; while the science library is full of instructive, enlightening and absorbing prose, poetry is harder to find in our stacks.  But poems with scientific imagery are not hard to find!  Try this book, as a starting place: Curve away from stillness : science poems / John Allman ; afterword by Peter S. Coleman. New York : New Directions, c1989.
Available in the OhioLINK ebook center or from the Main library.  There are enough poems in this little book to read one a day during the entire month (one per day for each workday, that is).

If you loved every minute of CHEM254 or BIO213 you are sure to appreciate the Biochemists' Songbook (complete with selected scores and detailed biochemical pathways).  It is in the Science library and also online.

Glorious Magnolias

This was a spectacular day last week - in the midst of midterms, the warming sun and sweet fragrance under the magnolias improved outdoor studying immeasurably.

The blossoms fell fast in the days following, and now litter the pavement in front of the Science Center.  The fragrance lingers, however, to lessen disappointment on this overcast, chilly day.  Such is spring break in Oberlin.

Sounds of the natural world = sounds of the divine

Living on Earth featured a marvelous conversation this week with Bernie Klaus, trained musician who is now an "acoustic adventurer."  Listen to the miraculous sounds he has recorded, including a haunting symphony by two packs of wolves, the scraping of insects' wings and sap moving inside trees.  Remarkable!

We will order Great Animal Orchestra: Finding the Origins of Music in the World's Wild Places, by Klaus, just published this year.   Listen to other sounds from nature in the Borror Laboratory of Bioacoustics archive in the OhioLINK DMC. The Birds of North America also offers audio files, as does Grzimek's Animal Life.

Klaus remarked, toward the end of the Living on Earth segment, that "the sounds of the natural world are the sounds of the divine."  You may share that conviction after listening to his recordings.

Sherwood Rowland, CFCs, ozone depletion and the public role of scientists

Sherwood Rowland, CFCs, ozone depletion and the public role of scientists
RealClimate has posted a fine tribute to Nobel Prize Winner F. Sherwood Rowland, who died on March 10 at the age of 84 (obituary in Nature).  This observation of Dr. Rowland, following a lecture that prompted questions from an audience member with slight understanding of atmospheric science, is particularly telling:

"While everyone else was enjoying a beverage, cookies, and conversation, Sherry had been off in the corner for about 30 minutes talking with the questioner, explaining basic principles of atmospheric science, how the greenhouse effect works, etc. It didn’t matter that one of the two of them had a Nobel Prize while the other may not have had any formal education. What mattered to Sherry is that he had an opportunity to educate someone about this important issue, and that mattered more than anything."

I greatly appreciate this quote from Dr. Rowland, spoken during this Nobel Prize acceptance speech:

“What’s the use of having developed a science well enough to make predictions if, in the end, all we’re willing to do is stand around and wait for them to come true?”

Chemistry books top the new books list

The preponderance of new books in our last shipment are chemistry related, from Philosophy of Chemistry and The Chemical Element to Chemical Crystallography.  The last title includes highly specialized chapters by different contributors (e.g., "Construction and structure of metal-organic frameworks with specific ion-exchange property," by Man-Sheng Chen), while the first two are aimed at a broader audience.  The Chemical Element was published in conjunction with the International Year of Chemistry (2011) and relates directly to the UN Millennium Development Goals.  It demonstrates how the science of chemistry is essential for solving the most critical goals related to energy, climate, food, water, poverty, education and health.  It is accessible, important reading for anyone concerned about achieving a sustainable future for 10 billion or more people.  More new books.

Caterpillars: beautiful, mundane, beneficial and destructive

Now on the new book shelf:
Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America, by  David L. Wagner, Dale F. Schweitzer, J. Bolling Sullivan & Richard C. Reardon.  Princeton Univ Press.

This arrived on approval from our book vendor, YBP (Yankee Book Peddler, a division of Baker & Taylor), and I was entranced.  The publisher's description speaks for itself, and the thousands of color photographs are indeed impressive.  This is more than a guide to identifying species; the accompanying text tells the important story of the essential roles caterpillars have in varying ecosystems.  Gain a new appreciation of such humble seeming invertebrates by spending a bit of time perusing this volume.

Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography online

From Gale/Cengage

We have owned the print format of the Dictionary of Scientific Biography for many years, and can access it in the OhioLINK Electronic Books Center.  We now subscribe to the online version at the publisher's website (Gale/Cengage), part of the Gale Virtual Reference Library, where searching and browsing functions are very nicely supported.  Link to it from the OBIS catalog record.  Composed of 18 large print volumes, the title "Dictionary" does not do justice to this comprehensive encyclopedic work.  Take time to browse the index volume and jump from one entry to another, and you will gain a new understanding of the development of science and the people who advanced that knowledge throughout centuries.  Simply browsing the list of illustrations indicates the wide breadth of scientific information represented in the work.  Go discover!

In Memoriam: Sonali Seth, '02

We were so sorry to learn of the passing of Sonali Seth, '02 who was a bright, engaging and lively member of our student staff for two years.  Sonali's welcome to all who entered in the library was warm and genuine, and she was a wonderful reference assistant in the period of transition between the old and new library.  As a senior science major, Sonali was truly helpful to everyone getting their bearings in the new science center.  A 2005 graduated of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health as a new MPH, Sonali had a passion for humanitarian assistance and health & human rights.  Her good works will be remembered by the hundreds of people whose lives she touched.  This photo was taken when Sonali first began work with us, in the fall of 2000, in the last year of operation of the library in Kettering Hall.

Energy Matters: Oberlin Project Blog is launched

Head over to Cindy Frantz's first post on the new Oberlin Project blog, where you can respond with your own thoughts on what is important about Oberlin and sign up for the project's e-newsletter.  Associate Professor of Psychology Frantz is also the Co-Chair of the Energy Planning Committee of the Oberlin Project.  Today's blog post appears in this week's Oberlin News Tribune, with the promise of future columns on "energy matters" in Oberlin and the immediate environs.  Frantz concludes her first column with these remarks:  "Energy matters in Oberlin because we care about each other, our community, and our planet.  We all want Oberlin to be healthy and prosperous.  By thinking carefully about our energy, we pave the way for a future we can all get excited about."  These are sentiments we can support throughout the community.  I encourage all residents - college and town - to learn more and be engaged in the Oberlin Project.

Spring Carrel Sign-Up Starts Today

Welcome to Spring Semester!  All carrels were cleared at the end of fall semester, and new carrel assignments for spring semester will be posted on Friday, February 10.
Carrel applications are on the circulation desk -- open to all students; preference is given to science majors, based on seniority.  Carrel regulations and an application form are also online, here.