biology

The Case Western Reserve University Department of Biology and the Cleveland Museum of Natural History will host a public talk on Batesian mimicry Wednesday, March 16, at 7 p.m. in the museum’s Murch Auditorium. David Pfennig, professor of biology at the University of North Carolina, will present a…

Exercised or not, providing options lowers animals' stress and improves behaviors Give animals in captivity choices in food, whether to spend time inside or out, to be with others or alone, and their general welfare improves—even if they don’t choose new options—a PhD student at Case Western…

The cricket frog. Photo by Tim Krynak. Man-made changes to the environment may be damaging the immune systems of a species of frog whose populations have drastically declined since the 1970s, according to a new study by researchers at Case Western Reserve University and the Holden…

Halteres, essential for flight in all flies, are needed by some to climb walls Research from Case Western Reserve University indicates sensory organs on the backs of flies not only provide information crucial to body rotation and flight maneuvers, but are essential to some species when…

Sensorimotor neurons in central complex encode for movements Researchers at Case Western Reserve University have identified neurons in a cockroach’s brain that control whether the insect walks slow or fast, turns right or left or downshifts to climb. By selectively stimulating these same neurons,…

Valerie Haywood, senior instructor in the Department of Biology, recently joined the governing board of the Ohio-Project Kaleidoscope (PKAL), a region network of the national organization. Haywood will be part of the Ohio-PKAL mission to promote and enhance learner-centered STEM (science,…

Hillel Chiel with one of the slugs used in the study. Photo by Mike Sands. We can quickly tell from the way someone walks whether that person is young or old, male or female, healthy or sick, because patterns of movement vary from one person to the next. In fact, we often can recognize a friend…

Arnold I. Caplan, professor of biology and director of the Skeletal Research Center at Case Western Reserve University, received the MSC Lifetime Achievement Award in August. He was honored at the National Center for Regenerative Medicine’s Mesenchymal Stem Cell conference. Caplan is the founding…

A Case Western Reserve University graduate student turned a research paper into a field test that quickly determines whether an Asian carp invading Lake Erie is sterile or can reproduce. If proven successful, the technique could save money and time in the effort to keep the carp out of the Great…

Tadpole size increases but juvenile survival drops Millions of tons of road salt are applied to streets and highways across the United States each winter to melt ice and snow and make travel safer, but the effects of salt on wildlife are poorly understood. A new study by biologists from Case…