This Week, July 26 - 30, 2010
Bailey, Morris, Selected for Life Sciences Ed Fellowship, Institute
(l-r) Cheryl Bailey, Thomas "Jack" Morris
Two UNL faculty were appointed a National Academies Education Fellow in the Life Sciences for 2010-2011. Cheryl Bailey, assistant professor of biochemistry, and Thomas "Jack" Morris, distinguished professor of biological sciences, earned the designation by being selected to attend the 2010 National Academies Summer Institute on Undergraduate Education in Biology that occurred June 21-26 at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.
UNL was one of 18 participant teams in the summer institute - the goal of which is to transform biology education at research universities by improving classroom education and attracting more diverse students to research. The target group was comprised of both new and experienced instructors who teach courses that include introductory or survey biology, introductory molecular biology/genetics, and introductory ecology/evolution courses with high enrollments. more....
'Movies on the Green' Series Opens July 29
Featuring a series of comedies, the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center and the University Program Council will present the annual Jensen's Cinema 16 Collection Movies on the Green series on Thursdays from July 29 to Aug. 19. Films in the series will be shown at dusk (approximately 9 p.m.) on the lawn north of Kimball Hall. Screenings are free and open to the public. Popcorn and soda are available for purchase.
The series opens on Thursday, July 29 with Frank Capra's It Happened One Night, a screwball comedy starring Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert.
Jay Storz
Biologists Find That Red-Blooded Vertebrates Evolved Twice, Independently
Nature, in all its glory, is nothing if not thrifty. Through the process of natural selection, it finds new uses for existing features, often resulting in what is known as convergent evolution -- the development of similar biological traits in different orders of animals, such as powered flight in birds and bats.
Now, research by University of Nebraska-Lincoln biologists has found convergent evolution of a key physiological innovation that traces back through the two deepest branches of the vertebrate family tree.
A team led by Jay Storz (prounounced storts), assistant professor of biological sciences, analyzed the complete genome sequences of multiple vertebrate species and found that jawless fishes (e.g., lampreys and hagfish) and jawed vertebrates (pretty much everything else, including humans) independently invented different mechanisms of blood-oxygen transport to sustain aerobic metabolism. Specifically, comparative analysis of their gene repertoires revealed that the ancestors of jawed and jawless vertebrates co-opted completely different precursor proteins to serve as oxygen-transport hemoglobins, the respiratory proteins that give blood its red color. The jawed and jawless vertebrates separated about 500 million years ago, late in the Cambrian Period and about 30 million years after the first vertebrate precursors (the chordates) show up in the fossil record. more...
'Broad Appeal' closes out Fountain Frolics
The Fountain Frolics summer concert series concludes with Broad Appeal July 29 on the Nebraska Union Plaza. The trio plays hits from 1935 to 1959, mixing a cappella arrangements and recorded band accompaniments into performances.
The Fountain Frolics concert is from noon to 1 p.m. on July 29 under the north overhang of the Nebraska Union. UNL's University Program Council sponsors local musical entertainment and sells a picnic lunch of a hot dog, chips and a Pepsi product for $4.
MicMacs; Cyrus Play at the Ross
UNL's Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center presents Micmacs and Cyrus. Micmacs will screen through Aug. 5, while Cyrus will show through Aug. 12.
More information about each of the films and schedules, as well as online ticket purchasing, is available at the Ross website.
