The National Science Foundation awarded Dominic Winski $137,419 to reconstruct 1,500 years of summer climate and wildfire history in Alaska, western Canada and Siberia using an ice core from Denali National Park. Studies that combine past records of summer climate and wildfire are critically needed, says Winski. “Right now, the climate and landscape are changing. […]
Read more
Karl Kreutz and colleagues previously discovered from ice cores from Alaska’s Mount Hunter that a doubling of snow accumulation and 60-fold increase in summer melt since the 1850s — the industrial era — is linked to warming in the Tropical Pacific Ocean. The movement of heat from the Pacific, through Alaska, and into the Arctic […]
Read more
Disease-transmitting blacklegged ticks invading new areas are a threat to the health of people and animals and are a burden on the economy. Allison Gardner will seek to isolate ecosystem factors — including temperature and snow pack — that inhibit their geographic spread and that lead to methods to control them during vulnerable life stages […]
Read more
The Sustainable Ecological Aquaculture Network (SEANET) was officially completed in January 2020. Since August 2014, the program developed new aquaculture siting tools, discovered new information pertaining to emerging aquaculture sectors, provided suggestions regarding food safety, and continued providing information on aquaculture research outcomes to state officials, stakeholders and community members. SEANET, funded by the National […]
Read more
The UMaine Arctic Initiative, in collaboration with the Office of Research Development, will hold a workshop titled “Strengthening the impact of your Arctic research,” from noon to 1:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 28, in the Bangor Room of Memorial Union. Panelists Laura Millay, research and evaluation coordinator at the Maine Center for Research in STEM Education; […]
Read more
Three Maine Science Festival Pop-Up Events are planned for January, ahead of the full festival March 18–22. Science on Tap Hits the Road: Fermentation Edition, 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 23, Orchard Girls Cidery, 375 Main St., Kingfield. Jennifer Perry, University of Maine assistant professor of food microbiology, will give an overview of fermentation, and Orchard […]
Read more
The Advertiser Democrat reported University of Maine Cooperative Extension in Oxford County has recently hired two new staff members. Emma Fournier joined the organization in July as a horticulture community education assistant, focusing on residential/consumer programs through outreach and by request. “I help homeowners with their questions, providing publications and helping identify plants and insects,” […]
Read more
Expanding Your Horizons is an annual conference at the University of Maine dedicated to inspiring girls to recognize their potential and pursue opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math. This year, more than 300 middle school girls will come to UMaine on Tuesday, Oct. 15 for presentations, workshops and other hands-on STEM activities with scientists […]
Read more
The Associated Press announced that University of Illinois and University of Maine researchers are working on a project to use the video game Minecraft to get students interested in science and space. University of Illinois educational psychology professor H. Chad Lane leads the project and UMaine astrophysicist Neil F. Comins is a collaborator. The team […]
Read more
A research team led by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and in collaboration with University of Maine astrophysicist Neil F. Comins will use the video game Minecraft to motivate interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) topics. Using the Minecraft platform, children can ask space-related what if questions to explore hypothetical exoplanets and […]
Read more