Is it ethical to study dolphins in captivity?

iStockphoto.com

How smart are dolphins? Recent research suggests that some species of dolphins, particularly the bottlenose, may even be brighter than our closest living primate relative, the chimpanzee.

Does dolphin intelligence have ethical implications for how we interact with them?

You can join in a live "Science Now" discussion of the ethics of studying dolphins in captivity on Thursday, April 28, at 3 pm.

UPDATED, 4 pm on April 28: The full transcript of the dolphin debate is now available, click here.

Emory neuroscientist Lori Marino, who specializes in the neuroanatomy of dolphins, will be talking with Richard Conner, a biologist from the University of Massachusetts School of Marine Sciences who studies dolphin behavior.

Click here to join the live chat, hosted by Science, the journal of the American Society for the Advancement of Science.

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Should killer whales be captive?

If a tree falls, learn from it

By Kelly Gray

Emory is reusing its dead or fallen trees as wood supplies for new kiosks that will help guide visitors in the campus' Lullwater Preserve.

The kiosks will be part of "Emory as Place," an educational initiative about the breadth and diversity of life within the campus and bioregion. From each kiosk, visitors will be able to synch their smartphones to Emory's sustainability map and learn more about the history and ecology of Lullwater.

"Tours of Lullwater provide an introduction to the history, ecosystems and ethical responsibilities in Lullwater that support our institutional legacy. The reuse of these trees is another interesting component in that history," says Ciannat Howett, director of sustainability intitiatives.



Most trees that die in Lullwater are left standing to allow for natural decomposition and to provide habitat for wildlife. But a white oak and two red oaks were recently harvested because they were a potential hazard for pedestrians.

Typically most large commercial lumber yards will not accept urban trees, which often have hidden metal objects in their tree trunks that can damage commercial band saws and shut down production lines.

Mississippi Wood Trader, however, is a unique lumber mill in Atlanta that provides wood for institutional and private customers. The large trees the urban mill processes are typically 80-100 years old, and are used for flooring, beams, molding, table and bar tops.

Related:
Windstorm reshapes Atlanta forests

Research takes flight in digital age

Nancy Seideman, Emory’s executive director of media relations, writes in the Academic Exchange:

The decision to enter a scholarly manuscript into the public sphere used to be more of a deliberate one.

Today there is no choice to make. Boundaries between academia and broader society have blurred considerably. Within academia, the pace of dissemination of scholarly work has quickened with the proliferation of electronic and open-access publication, coupled with the tremendous growth of social media and Internet channels of dissemination and the transformation of the still influential and far-reaching mainstream media.

Photo credit: iStockphoto.com.

It’s the job of today’s scholars to take the time to master communications skills and media tools in order to fulfill their civic responsibility to help translate and make accessible research that means something to people. In doing so, we need to resist the frequent pressure from the media and the general public to make a leap from fundamental research to application or revelation.

"Meaning something,” after all, can take many forms: inviting people to share in the thrill of discovery, unearthing the brittle piece of paper in an archive that provides a clue in an historical mystery, uncovering a family ledger that reveals how a famous author developed his characters, identifying a molecule that just might have help in treatment of an intractable disease. People hunger for knowledge, for experiencing that sense of wonder and excitement of exploration that only the academic world can provide.

Read more.

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Dengue fever's growing range and virulence

Emory disease ecologist Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec writes about the growing threat of the dengue virus, for the journal Future Microbiology:

We are still losing our global battle against dengue virus (DENV). After half a century since the beginning of its rampant spread, and despite decades of continued vector control efforts, DENV has re-emerged to become the most important human mosquito-borne viral infection. Currently, approximately 70–100 million cases of classic DENV infection are reported every year (most of them in tropical and subtropical countries), with an estimated 2.1 million cases of life-threatening disease in the form of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever/Dengue Shock Syndrome. Over the last two decades, the number of dengue fever epidemics has increased exponentially, and the dramatic range expansion of the endemic and hyper-endemic areas is indisputable. Moreover, the global incidence of Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever and Dengue Shock Syndrome has increased 30-fold since the 1950s, and both severe manifestations are a leading cause of hospitalization in parts of Southeast Asia.

Increases in human population, rapid and unplanned urbanization, and human travel have contributed to the resurgence and spread of DENV infections. However, it is the inadequacy of our current tools to combat the virus carrying mosquito vectors and the virus itself, together with our limited understanding of the biological, social and behavioral dimensions of virus transmission that have contributed most to our inability to contain this dengue pandemic. New approaches, tools, and methods for dengue control and prevention are desperately needed.

Read the whole article in Future Microbiology.

Related:
Disease trackers take aim at dengue fever
Mosquito monitoring saves lives and money

Passionate ecologist seeks outdoorsy date

Emory biology student Tom Quigley wants a date, and he wants it bad. Can you recommend him?

He’s wooing the Sierra Club’s Best Internship on Earth. Quigley is among 25 semifinalists from across the country vying for $5,000 in gear and cash, and a summer job making videos of Sierra Club outings.

Check out his video application, above. (Don’t miss this bonus track of him playing acoustic guitar and singing "Little Lion Man.”)

If you think Quigley’s got what it takes to treat nature right, go to the Sierra Club site and leave a comment for him.