Articles by Vanessa Schipani

By Vanessa Schipani Character Flaws? The West African forest gecko, which Fujita and Leaché determined to be at least four distinct species Piotr Naskrecki / Minden pictures Imposing distinct separations on the fluid process of evolution inevitably breeds disagreement on what exactly constitutes a species. On Christmas Eve, 1856, Charles Darwin wrote in a letter to Joseph Dalton Hooker, botanist and friend: “It is really laughable to see what differe

Two lizard taxonomists champion the use of Bayesian species delimitation to settle taxonomic debates.

The debate over genetically engineered crops rages on, but other technologies offer new hope for sustainable farming.

By Vanessa Schipani Alternative Agriculture The debate over genetically engineered crops rages on, but other technologies offer new hope for sustainable farming. Genetically modified soybean plants in a petri dish Bayer Cropscience AG In November 2010 a federal judge in California ordered that 256 acres of genetically engineered (GE) sugar beet seedlings be ripped from the ground. The first court-ordered destruction of GE crops in the United States, the ru

A round up of recent discoveries in behavior research

Researchers find that the paternal alleles of an unusual imprinted gene regulate social behavior, while the maternal alleles affect fetal growth

An atypical form of contagious canine cancer may steal its host's mitochondria when its own succumb to DNA damage

Do our genes influence who we choose as comrades?

Can ecologists help immunologists understand how immune responses vary in the wild?

What can music theory do for the study of bird song?

Researchers discover how cancer can develop overnight

A round up of recent discoveries in behavior research

By Vanessa Schipani Labcations Getting to know your colleagues outside the lab makes for better science. Stowe Mountain Resort, Vermont PHOTO courtesy of Stowe Mountain Resort Every winter, throngs of sleds carry children of all ages down Marshall Hill in Stowe, Vermont. Hands down, it’s “the world’s best tobogganing and inner tube hill,” sending fearless young sledders down its slope at “a million miles an hour,” says Wi

By Vanessa Schipani The Mindless Machine, circa 1664 Though many of René Descartes’ anatomical and physiological assumptions were vastly off target, he was the first to make a convincing case for a purely physical, nonspiritual view of life. Instead of seeing the mind and body as intimately intertwined, Descartes viewed them as interacting but separate entities. Animals, he reasoned, did not have minds, but were still capable of functioning, much like machin