To Knoxville and back

Hi reader(s),
  Sorry about the lack of posts during the past week. I was at the Wildlife Disease Association Conference in Knoxville, TN. The meeting was rather small this year, but each day was filled with several amazing talks. I'll write more about the meeting and Knoxville in a later post. today, I'm again playing catch up: cleaning my apartment; organizing my inbox; and saying goodbye to two sets of friends who are moving out of town. While I hope to get back to my posts asap, here are two blogs that I follow that have amazing posts today. One is a science blog that focuses on viruses http://www.virology.ws while the other is a travel blog co-written by one of my favorite foodbloggers http://welltraveledcouple.com/france-paris/

Life of an academe and pictures of mushrooms

Tomorrow I head out to another conference. This one is the annual Wildlife Disease Association Meeting. Last year it was in Lyon, France. This year it is in .....Knoxville, TN. Seems like a jump, but maybe people in France would consider Knoxville to be the equivalent of Lyon. Then again, maybe not. 

The picture above is from last nights dinner. A couple of friends are moving away and we went out to our favorite place. I, for some reason, ordered the pickle platter. That's the life of academia: all your friends move away. 

Indigo milkcap

The conference should be great because I'll see friends who have moved away. 

Before I go, I'm making my usual lists. And I'm also scrambling to generate some new data. I'm sure most students are as well. Conferences sometimes provide an impetus for long-put-off nights in the lab. 

"Puff" mushrooms

I'll be in Knoxville for a week. There will be some days and nights where I explore the city. I also hope to live-tweet some of the symposia. 

It should be a fun week of learning and adventure!

On the edge

Sometimes in science you feel like you're on the edge. On the edge of discovery. On the edge of sanity. On the edge of summer. 

Today has felt like all of the above. Working on a PhD is one of the most masochistic ventures a person can do. It can be incredibly rewarding: an idea develops; you learn constanty. It can also be frustratingly menial. 

The personalities in science often have a chip on their shoulders. Underlings often suffer. 

In my case, the personal and professional overlap in big ways. Few of my friends in my phd town are non-science. After several years, all the social circles have collided. 

A professor in undergrad once told me that once you get to the edge of what's known, that's when science happens. 

Most of the time, I feel like a drone in my work and a loser in my personal life. 

On the upside, I am generating some great data. I am on the edge of science. 

Florida panthers!

Here is a link to a a four-part series focusing on Florida panthers in the wild: Florida panthers

The Florida panther is an endangered population of Puma concolor residing in southern Florida. Most people in the US know Puma concolor as mountain lions or cougars, although there are many common names.

Although they were almost extirpated from the everglades due to anthropogenic forces and inbreeding depression, they are one of the US's wildlife conservation genetics success stories. The population rebounded from less than 30 in the 1980s to over 150 panthers.

More on Florida panthers can be found here: http://www.floridapanthernet.org/


The pictures below are from some of my field research in the Florida everglades:

Barred Owl

New Favorite Website!

Quick post today while I work up my hiking trip.

I just found this amazing new website that allows you to view wildlife in real time streaming videos. My favorite so far is the puffin nest. 

Top 5 reasons WV is the best place on Earth

Long-in-the making post from a month ago: 

This past weekend, I endured 20 hours of driving (roundtrip) to visit my family in West Virginia. As a graduate student trying to finish dissertation research, even taking a few days off to see your parents feels like an imposition. That statement makes me feel incredibly guilty, but it's true. A few days away from summer students and research and all the annoyances that come with science may seem like a vacation, but four days off equals eight days behind. Part of that is because my PI is out of town and half the summer students depend on me to keep their projects going. Ah well, that's what I get for being an overachiever and/or too nice.

All the photos below are from the eastern region of the state. 

While driving, I contemplated why WV should count as a travel destination. I'm a big fan of lists (Buzzfeed is a guilty pleasure of mine) so I thought I'd list 5 reasons why WV is the best place on Earth. 

1. Gorgeous scenery: from the Appalachian Mountains, to the Ohio River Valley, WV chock-full of beautiful vistas. 

View from Dolly Sods across Canaan Valley, WV

2. Moonshine: celestial and otherwise. West Virginia is actually one of the best star-watching places east of the Mississippi River in the United States. And the state has a long history of 'shining. 

 3. Interesting Flora: The photo above is some mountain laurel.  Mountain laurel and rhododendron are such a integral part of my WV memories. People had rhododendron and azaleas in their yards. We took Easter photos in front of the giant round bushes. Mountain laurel hints at the untamed areas of WV. I remember hiking up creek beds in the eastern part of the state and only seeing mountain laurel on both sides. 

 4.Wild and Wonderful: the state's motto. Eloquent and succinct. 

5. It's a quiet life. Time seems to be captured in the hills. Generations pass. Traditions are handed down. Although the advent of urbanization and suburbanization never stops,  it seems to be slowed by a decade or two in West Virginia...

A teaser photo from my hiking trip

Dolly Sods, WV: a place rich in history and natural curiousities.