In order to succeed in kindergarten and beyond, children must develop language skills within their home reading environment. This environment is often influenced by the reading ability of a child’s caregivers. In this Share Your Research talk, Dr. Paige Greenwood describes her doctoral research on the association between maternal reading ability and the development of the language brain network in children. Her work showed that lower maternal reading fluency is associated with higher language...

Chronic liver diseases affect millions of people worldwide. By understanding how liver disease progresses, we may be able to identify new therapies that can protect the liver. Dr. Chrystelle Vilfranc studied the role of BRUCE, a protein that is known to be important in several cellular processes in our bodies, in liver disease. She found that the absence of BRUCE in mouse livers led to accelerated liver disease and higher rates of liver cancer when combined with a liver damaging compound....

Is it possible to define life using math? Dr. Alyssa Adams’s research seeks to answer precisely this question. In their Share Your Research talk, Dr. Adams introduces the concept of open-ended evolution, and describes how they have developed mathematical models to help us understand how biological systems can innovate within a changing environment. These studies could help us to identify living systems beyond our planet that may be vastly different from those we recognize on Earth!

What does a redwood forest look like, and sound like, in the wake of a devastating fire? See a forest in a new way in this new cinematic short from the Science Communication Lab. Walk through a fire-ravaged redwood forest with experts Beatrix Jiménez, a Land Stewardship Associate at the Sempervirens Fund, Ian Bornarth, a Bay Area-based photographer documenting post-fire recovery, and Alex Jones, the UC Santa Cruz Campus Natural Reserve Manager. Their observations make visible the forces of...

Bat species are numerous and diverse, and are found in nearly every corner of the globe. Therefore, they serve as a valuable system to study the evolution of mammalian traits. Dr. Alexa Sadier collected field and museum samples from over 50 species of bats to ask how color vision evolved in this unique group of mammals. By looking at gene expression at multiple levels - DNA, RNA, and protein - Sadier determined that different bat species have color vision capabilities adapted to their diets,...

Dr. Alex Moore provides an introduction to coastal wetlands, including the functional role they play in our world, as well as the many ways that these ecosystems are used for economic and recreational activities. Dr. Moore discusses the traditional approach to restoring coastal wetlands, and the ways that these efforts can fall short of restoring functional capacity in coastal salt marshes. Incorporating consumer interactions into restoration efforts may provide an opportunity to further...

Trees are magnificent organisms that have evolved very slowly over millions of years, making it hard for them to adapt to rapid changes in the environment. With climate change imminent, scientists estimate up to 25% of US forests will decline over the next three decades. In this film, four researchers ponder the question ”What can we do to help forests adapt to our changing planet?” The answer is, of course, not so straightforward, and leaves us thinking more deeply about the future of forest...

Nayak describes research she has done on methanogenic archaea – microorganisms that produce the potent greenhouse gas methane. One species of methanogens, Methanosarcina acetivorans, has unique chemical modifications on the enzyme it uses to produce methane. Dr. Nayak describes how she used CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to determine that these modifications are used to protect M. acetivorans from environmental stress to ensure that the organism can support its metabolic needs in a changing...

Educational science videos are commonly used in undergraduate biology instruction, but what do we know about the student perspective on them? In this paper discussion and live Q&A, Dr. Laci Gerhart-Barley and Dr. Brittany Anderton present findings from their open-access paper “Engaging students through online video homework assignments: A case study in a large-enrollment ecology and evolution course.” Undergraduate biology educators will find a wealth of useful information on how to...

Synthetic cells can be used to teach us about the basic principles of life and evolution, and they hold promise for a range of applications including biomaterials and drug development. Dr. Kate Adamala narrates an introduction to this exciting field.

How do you go about forming a Peer Mentoring Group? In her second video, Kamens explains the logistics of forming a Peer Mentoring Group. First, you need to find 5-6 peers that share a similar problem. As you prepare to meet, you need to set the ground rules and provide structure to your meetings (e.g., provide agenda, assign a leader per meeting, decide on topics of interest, and provide curricula).

As Kamens explains, the commitment of the members is crucial for the success of the Peer Mentoring Group. In her third talk, Kamens overviews what are mentorship best practices while running a Peer Mentorship Group. From setting concrete content and activities to set up goals, these best practices will allow you to create an environment that will help you get feedback and find opportunities to grow.

Think-Pair-Share is an active learning technique that can be used in small or large enrollment courses to engage students and encourage them to practice scientific thinking skills. In think-pair-share, students think about their answer to a question, pair with a partner to debate their choice, and then share their answers with the class. In this video showing examples of think-pair-share in action, Kimberly Tanner (San Francisco State University) shares her experience using this method in...

Clickers are Audience Response Systems that enable instructors to ask a multiple-choice question, poll students for an answer, and display the aggregated results to the class. In this video showing examples of active learning classroom models, Bill Wood (University of Colorado Boulder) describes how clickers can be used effectively to engage students.

How can one shift from a teacher-centered to a student-centered classroom model? What are the benefits of active learning for students and instructors?

What are the issues with traditional undergraduate biology education? What is the role of an educator in a 21st century college classroom? What is missing in the way we currently teach science in college?

We have an online Q&A (hosted on January 6th, 2021) discussing the benefits and limitations of preprints from the perspective of early-career scientists. Panelists included Jessica Polka, Elizabeth Silva (Associate Dean of Graduate Programs at UCSF and former editor at PLoS), and Kate Carbone (an industry postdoc).