018 - NatSci News Rewind December 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 December 2020. MSU Foundation Professor selected as Science Defender by Union of Concerned Scientists Michigan State University’s Beronda Montgomery, an MSU Foundation Professor, was one of five individuals nominated by the Union of Concerned Scientists as a 2020 Science Defender. Montgomery was cited for her "incredibly important work to ensure that science benefits the common good.” Earth sciences professor receives Presidential Citation from American Geophysical Union Julie Libarkin, professor of Earth sciences and director of the Geocognition Research Laboratory at Michigan State University, is part of a team that received an American Geophysical Union Presidential Citation for their creation of the Call for a Robust Anti-Racism Plan for the Geosciences. Bringing genomics into the fold--the protein fold Every fungus, plant and animal on earth is dependent on their cells’ endoplasmic reticulum. Federica Brandizzi, MSU Foundation Professor in the MSU-DOE Plant Research Lab, is using powerful genomics tools and a $1.95 million NIH grant to understand how it works with the aim of treating diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer’s and cancer more effectively. MSU research advances ultrafast microscopy Using the new possibilities enabled by the terahertz scanning tunneling microscope to explore ultrafast dynamics, MSU experimental condensed matter physicist Tyler Cocker won the Infrared, Millimeter and Terahertz Wave Society's 2021 Young Scientist Award (YSA). Cocker was recognized for his innovative contributions and discoveries in the field of infrared, millimeter and Terahertz waves. Diet and sunscreen: a potentially cancerous combination Research led by Michigan State University researcher Richard Schwartz is the first of its kind to show that the common sunscreen ingredient oxybenzone or BP-3, can play a role in the development of mammary gland tumors. Defying gravity: A new spin on intro physics for life sciences A new curriculum developed and tested at Michigan State University puts the focus on the physics that life scientists need. MSU Professor Lisa Lapidus has been developing and piloting a new yearlong curriculum that bucks traditional physics pedagogy. Instead of following convention, the new program provides students who are pursuing careers in the life sciences — about half of the students who take introductory physics — with physics content tailored to their needs. Student awarded prestigious Marshall Scholarship Brent Strong, an Honors College senior majoring in physiology in the Michigan State University College of Natural Science (NatSci) and a NatSci Dean’s Research Scholar, has been named a Marshall Scholar—MSU’s 20th. Strong has also been nominated for a U.S. Rhodes Scholarship. NatSci faculty recognized among the world's most highly cited researchers Four MSU College of Natural Science researchers are among nine MSU faculty members recognized in the 2020 Highly Cited Researchers List, an annual compilation of the global leaders in scientific influence by Clarivate Analytics. The art of laboratory science Laboratory science and art go hand-in-hand according to Meredith Herman, MSU Biomedical Laboratory Diagnostics class of 2017. Herman is currently a post-sophomore pathology fellow at the University of Toledo Medical Center and medical student in MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine. MSU's Sophia Lunt receives prestigious young investigator award Sophia Lunt, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, received the highly competitive Metabolomics Association of North America (MANA) Young Investigator Award for 2020. Her research to understand the role of small molecules in supporting cancer proliferation, diversity and metastasis continues to push the boundaries of metabolomics research with the goal of designing more effective and targeted therapies for cancer. By design: Partnering to develop Midwest farming systems of the future At MSU’s W.K. Kellogg Biological Station (KBS), scientists are thinking about crop yields and other measures of farm success 30 years from now and the research needed to help farmers succeed. To help with this important research, KBS has been designated as a member of the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service Long-Term Agroecosystem Research Network, a partnership of 18 long-term research sites across the United States, charged with researching national strategies for the sustainable intensification of U.S. agriculture. Supernova surprise creates elemental mystery Michigan State University researchers at the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams, or FRIB, have discovered that one of the most important reactions in the universe can get a huge and unexpected boost inside exploding stars known as supernovae. The results, published online on Dec. 2 in the journal Nature, show that the innermost regions of supernovae can forge carbon atoms over 10 times faster than previously thought. And that will wrap up the rewind for the month of December 2020. To read more about these stories, head on over to our website at natsci.msu.edu/news. 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