In the Spring of 2018, I was in the audience of a public Town Hall in the FL Keys discussing the use of innovative mosquito control technologies. I was representing MosquitoMate with their patented Wolbachia male mosquito release technology. Wolbachia utilizes a mechanism known as cytoplasmic incompatibility that can reduce insect populations, in our case…
Category: Environment
Kill or Be Killed: Mosquito Edition
Mosquitoes have existed on planet earth for nearly 100 million years, and they have tremendously impacted the world’s development throughout time. Everyone remembers the iconic Richard Attenborough playing John Hammond in Jurassic Park, with his signature cane holding on to a mosquito immortalized in amber from the Jurassic era. Now, in the movie, researchers were…
The unprecedented rate of melting ice in Greenland
Greta Thunberg Photographer: Pablo Blazquez Dominguez/Getty Images A study published in Nature reported that the Greenland Ice Sheet has melted ~4 trillion tons of ice into the surrounding oceans, and septupled (7 times!) its annual rate in total ice loss over the last 25 years. Since 1992, the ice sheet was losing 33 billion tons per…
How do monarch butterflies know where and when to migrate south for winter?
Monarch butterflies might be the coolest Lepidopteran (moths and butterflies) species for several reasons: First, they are poisonous to eat as caterpillars and butterflies because of the toxins they develop from feeding on their food source, milkweed. Second, other Lepidopterans want to be them and mimic their look, like the Viceroy. Lastly, they can fly…
ASTMH Day 2
Speaker: Dr. Maria Luise Simoes Title: CTL-4 gene knockout to block Plasmodium infection in mosquitoes BACKGROUND: When the Anopheles mosquito becomes infected with malaria parasites, it attempts to use its innate immune response via a process known as melanization to kill the parasites. The process of melanization in a mosquito is regulated by what are…
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygeine (ASMTH) Day 1:
This week I am attending the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygeine (ASTMH) conference in National Harbor, MD. The conference features many of the most recognized scientists in infectious disease, and offers an opportunity to present novel data, establish scientific collaborations, and networking opportunities with exhibitions. I will be giving a presentation about my…
The bird you never knew you loved: The American Woodcock
If someone asked you what a Timberdoodle looks like, would you know? What about a Whipperwon’t? Prairie Turtel? Brush Snipe? All of these are known aliases and colloquial names of the common American Woodcock (Scolopax Minor), but for some reason, you have never seen or heard of it. These cute little plump, long-beaked birds are…
Carbon Capture! What it is? How does it impact climate change?
September 26th, 2019 Climate change has really taken the world by storm. Lead by the amazing climate activist Miss Greta Thunberg who has inspired millions of people (particularly young people <25 years old aka Gen Z) to join her ‘School Strike for Climate Action’ protests around the world, the media has covered climate change more…
Greta Thunberg’s global climate strike.
September 20th, 2019 The 16-year-old Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has taken the global community by storm. Ever since her school strike protest demanding more climate action began in August 2018, she has inspired millions across the world to join the fight. Here in Washington, D.C., she recently marched and lead demonstrators in a protest…