007 - NatSci News Rewind January 2020 Transcript

You're listening to NatSci News Rewind a podcast that looks back at the monthly news headlines in the world of NatSci. Let's take a look back at the news for the month of January, 2020.

The birds and the trees: Scientists use remote sensing data to help explain patterns of life
Like watching a familiar play, but this time from the balcony and with a new set of binoculars, satellite remote sensing technology is giving Michigan State University researchers a powerful lens to view landscapes that set the stage for earth’s biodiversity.

MSU chemists charged up to make the future of energy renewable, profitable and CO2 free
Imagine meeting the world’s energy needs without drilling, fracking or burning, but simply by making it out of thin air. Tom Hamann, the James L. Dye Endowed Chair in materials chemistry, and Milton (Mitch) Smith, chemistry professor, are investigating how to do just that with a process known as ammonia electrocatalysis.

Insect bites and warmer climate means double-trouble for plants
Recent models are telling us that, as our climate warms up, herbivores and pests will cause increased damage to agricultural crops. Michigan State University scientists think that these models are incomplete and that we may be underestimating the losses. In a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, their research shows that infested tomato plants, in their efforts to fight off caterpillars, don’t adapt well to rising temperatures. This double-edged sword worsens their productivity.

Long-term mapping key to effective management of irrigated areas
Spanning eight states from Texas to South Dakota, the Ogallala Aquifer is one of the largest and most stressed aquifer systems in the world. Underlying some of the most dynamic irrigated area in the country, it supports a $20 billion agricultural economy, but groundwater use is unsustainable over much of the aquifer. Thanks to an MSU-led team of scientists, a new map dataset made from 34 years of satellite imagery is now available to farmers, managers and researchers to inform policies and management decisions.

Gary Starkweather: Perseverance, 'laser' vision lead to printer innovation
MSU physics alum Gary Starkweather, engineer and inventor who designed the first laser printer, bringing the power of the printing press to almost anyone, died on Dec. 26 at a hospital in Orlando, Fla. He was 81.

Creating wonder: Book offers new vision for learning science
Students in the United States and Finland participating in a new project-based learning model are not only learning more, but becoming more engaged in class, research from the MSU-led study shows. The findings are captured in a new book for educators, policymakers and researchers – “Learning Science: The Value of Crafting Engagement in Science Environments."

Trying to improve bioenergy crops with 'big picture' math models
MSU plant biologist Berkley Walker will use a grant from the U.S. Department of Energy Joint Genome Institute Office of Science User Facility, to study how high temperatures impact plant enzymes that support photosynthesis. The big picture push behind Walker’s proposal is to understand and quantify photorespiration to improve crop efficiency, with a focus on enhancing bioenergy crops.

Former College of Natural Science Dean R. James Kirkpatrick passes away
R. James Kirkpatrick, former Michigan State University College of Natural Science (NatSci) dean (2007-2017) and MSU Foundation Professor in the Departments of Chemistry and Earth and Environmental Sciences, died on January 7. He was 73 years old.

Scientists improve yield predictions based on seedling data
Michigan State University plant biologist Shinhan Shiu has shown that farmers and scientists can improve adult crop trait predictions with accuracy that rivals current approaches using DNA by using plant RNA data from 2-week-old corn seedlings. The results were recently published in the journal The Plant Cell.

Going with the flow: Trinidad's guppy-filled streams provide natural lab for genetic rescue research
Trinidadian Guppies, ubiquitous in freshwater aquariums around the world, are no bigger than your thumb. But for MSU integrative biologist Sarah Fitzpatrick, these small fish came up big as the rock stars of Fitzpatrick’s paper on the feasibility of genetic rescue, “Genomic and Fitness Consequences of Genetic Rescue in Wild Populations,” recently published in Current Biology.

And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of January, 2020. 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 @msu_natsci, on Facebook @MSUCNS, and on Instagram @msunatsci. Thanks for tuning in and be sure to check us out next month.