Earth, Life, and Health Sciences

UMaine Researchers Look for Answers to Growing Fire Ant Populations

Editors’ note: fire ant infestations are being studied in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and on Mount Desert Island and Orono and Wayne in Maine Contacts: Ellie Groden, (207) 581-2984; Tamara Levitsky, (207) 581-2679 ORONO, Maine — Researchers from the University of Maine are working on solutions to the rapid population growth of invasive stinging fire […]

Read more

New Research Model Improves Lobster Population Forecasting

Contact: Andy Thomas, (207) 581-4335; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO, Maine — Managing the Gulf of Maine’s $300 million lobster industry has been a practice mostly reliant upon the physical size of adult stocks, a system called stock assessment and one that’s made policymaking largely reactive with little environmental input. Now, a research team from […]

Read more

UMaine Grad Student Wins Prestigious Research Award

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571 ORONO — University of Maine doctoral student Juan Luis Garcia has earned the Geological Society of America’s prestigious J. Hoover Mackin Student Research Award.  That society’s Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division provides the annual award. Garcia is a native of Chile studying in UMaine’s Dept. of Earth Sciences.  He […]

Read more

UMaine Students, Researchers Tackle Tough Questions in Biomedical Research

Contact: Carol Kim, (207) 581-2803 ORONO — Understanding how cancerous tumors grow. Learning why some people feel pain more acutely than others. Searching for ways to cure vascular diseases. In biomedicine, the focus is on the basic underlying processes — how our bodies work. Greater understanding of disease through biomedical sciences research holds the promise […]

Read more

Popular Course Explores the Fundamentals of Forensics

Contact: Irv Kornfield, 581-2548 ORONO — Decomposing carcasses. Sexual assault. Intoxication. The story lines sound like they’re straight out of a prime–time television crime drama, but for students in UMaine professor Irv Kornfield’s Introduction to Forensics course, they are the basis for scientific inquiry. Since its inception in fall 2003, Kornfield’s course has opened students’ […]

Read more

Researcher Confirms Blueberries Can Improve Cardiovascular Health

Contact: Dorothy Klimis-Zacas, (207) 581-3124; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO, Maine — Nutritionists have long known that one of Maine’s most prized and prolific natural resources, the wild blueberry, provides health benefits that we’re still just learning about. The Wild Blueberry Association of North America calls the Maine blueberry “nature’s antioxidant superfruit,” and cites its […]

Read more

Researcher Examines Metropolitan Co-Existence between Humans, Wildlife

Contact:  Catherine Burns, 581-2895 ORONO — With urbanization increasing worldwide, how do we better plan development to ensure that both humans and animals coexist in the best way possible? University of Maine Research Assistant Professor Catherine Burns is exploring the question in and around New York City, which is home to more than 250 bird […]

Read more

UMaine Weed Researchers Dig for Ways to Help Small-Scale Farmers

Contact: Eric Gallandt, 581-2933 ORONO — For home gardeners, weeds are a nuisance, but for small-scale growers, they can threaten crops and profitability by sucking up time, labor and money. Though the number of such farmers has grown nationwide, weed-management technology hasn’t kept up. UMaine associate professor of weed ecology and management Eric Gallandt and […]

Read more

College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture Announces Excellence Awards

Contact: Barbara Harrity, 581- 3211 ORONO – The University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture has made the following 2010 excellence awards to undergraduate, graduate and faculty members. Anjelica Hodgson, a scholar-athlete from Ontario, Canada, graduated with a degree in biochemistry, was named the Outstanding International Student. Robin Arnold of Orono, a […]

Read more

Scarborough Student Named Top Graduate in UMaine College

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571 ORONO — Laura Wood of Scarborough, Maine, has been named the Outstanding Graduating Student in the University of Maine College of Natural Sciences, Forestry, and Agriculture. She will graduate May 8 with honors and a bachelor’s degree in ecology and environmental sciences. She concentrated in natural resource management and […]

Read more