044 - NatSci News Rewind February 2023 Transcript

You're listening to NatSci News Rewind a podcast that counts down the monthly news headlines in the world of NatSci. Let's take a look back at the news for February 2023.

Number 5:
Kicking off our news this month - MSU helps resolve a 50-year-old fish controversy
An international consortium that includes Michigan State University researchers has solved an evolutionary quandary that’s been the subject of debate for five decades. Publishing its results earlier this month in the journal Science, the team’s genomic analyses conclusively resolve which modern fish lineage branched off earliest within the tree of life. The findings shed new light on the evolutionary history of fishes and the understanding of evolutionary processes.

Number 4: 
MSU a top producer of Fulbright Scholars
Two College of Natural Science faculty members – Gregg Howe and Janette Boughman – were among nine Michigan State University faculty receiving Fulbright awards for international academic exchange in 2022-23. With nine scholars, MSU is among the top five-highest-producing institutions this year, and the only research institution in the nation to achieve this status for the past nine consecutive years.

Number 3:
Coming in at number 3 - NIH grant seeks to tap fish's regenerative might 
MSU integrative biologist Julia Ganz will use a two-year, $439,408 grant from the National Institutes of Health to explore the zebrafish’s unique superpower to gain insights that could someday lead to discoveries benefitting people suffering from neurological diseases of the digestive system.

Number 2: 
MSU chemist receives $1.9 million NIH grant for antifungal research
Michigan State University chemist Tuo Wang was recently awarded a 4-year, $1.9 million National Institutes of Health R01 grant. The funds will support the development of solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance technology that allows enhanced understanding of the nanoscale structure of the fungal cell wall to promote development of antifungal therapeutics.
 
Number 1:  
And our top news story for the month - MSU, University Wisconsin-Madison show straightforward step can help restore biodiversity hotspot 
New research from Michigan State University and the University of Wisconsin-Madison shows that, for all the complexities and challenges of ecosystem restoration, simple first steps can still go a long way. The team showed that degraded savanna ecosystems scarred by decades or centuries of human activity can reap lasting benefits from a single seeding of native understory plants. Their research was recently published in the journal Proceedings in the National Academy of the Sciences.

And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of February 2023. To read more about these stories, head on over to our website at natsci.msu.edu/news. You can also stay up to date by following us on social. You can find us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @msunatsci. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check us out next month.