Research projects by Arkhat Abzhanov and James Hanken featured in the PBS NOVA program, What Darwin Never Knew. 

Prof. Edward O. Wilson received an award from the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation in October for his work and contributions protecting the world’s biodiversity, including his efforts to develop the Encyclopedia of Life. The award honors a commitment to conserve and preserve the world’s natural environment and resources by supporting sustainable and ethical projects.

The infamous Jackalopus karelliemi, a.k.a. ”Liem’s Jackalope,” made an unexpected appearance at the opening of the newly renovated Great Mammal Hall in the Harvard Museum of Natural History on October 16, 2009. The perpetrator remains unidentified and at large. The prank honors the memory of Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology Karel Liem, who was a master practical joker.

Cassandra Extavour's video "Why Cells Cooperate" on the evolution and development of multicellular organisms and germ cells is featured on NPR's Science Friday.

Postdoc, Yael Aminetzach's (Hoekstra lab), newest study in Current Biology shows that venomous shrews and lizards evolved toxic proteins in the same way. Full Story.

L. Mahadevan awarded MacArthur Foundation 'genius' grant for his work on the science behind familiar objects and everyday events. Full Story.

Farish A. Jenkins, Jr. awarded the prestigious Romer-Simpson Medal at the September meeting of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology in Bristol, UK. The society's highest award honors sustained and outstanding scholarly excellence in the discipline of vertebrate paleontology.

Pardis Sabeti awarded an NIH Director's 2009 New Innovator Award for research in host and pathogen evolution in Lassa fever. The award addresses two important goals: stimulating highly innovative research and supporting promising new investigators. NIH Roadmap for Medical Research.

Gonzalo Giribet is part of an international research team using scalable phylogenomic methods to place the Acoelomorph flatworms as a sister clade to other bilaterally symmetric animals. The results appear in the Proceedings of the Royal Society B.

Kirsten Bomblies examines plant immune responses for clues to divergence. Full Story.

Postdoctoral Fellow, Chris Organ and Research Associate, Dan Janes show that transition from egg laying to live birth in a species depends on the prior evolution of genetic sex determination. Full Story.

Professor Karel F. Liem, Henry Bryant Bigelow Professor of Ichthyology, Curator of Ichthyology in the Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Honorary Associate and Former Master of Dunster House, died on September 3, 2009. Full Story.

James McCarthy shared his research on climate change with elementary and secondary school teachers from around the Northeast during a weeklong Harvard workshop “Oil and the Contemporary Globe.” Full Story.

OEB faculty participated in the 2009 Harvard Life Sciences/Howard Hughes Medical Institute sponsored summer outreach programs for high school biology teachers and students. Read more about the MCB-hosted program. Visit the ...

Hopi Hoekstra, postdoc, Catherine Linnen and PhD student, Evan Kingsley's article, published in the journal Science, shows mice living in Sand Hills quickly evolved lighter coloration. Full Story.