Prof. L. Mahadevan collaborated with the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) to discover what controls the size of an embryo. The study published in Nature found that embryos maintain an average size in early development through simple hydraulic pressure. During early stages of embryonic development, a fluid-filled cavity grows and expands. Using mouse embryos, researchers observed that the cavity repeated the process...

L. Mahadevan's latest study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences offers insight into treatments for diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other diseases in which protein aggregation (misfolded proteins clump together) is implicated. While the role of protein aggregation is not fully understood, many current treatments target the aggregation process. However, finding the right treatment protocols for these drugs is challenging....

Why do clever New Caledonian crows use tools? PhD student Cody McCoy's latest study in Current Biology suggest that it might be partially for the same reasons we play chess and solve crosswords: it's fun! To improve the emotional states of captive animals, we should give them complex, species-specific enrichment....

Congratulations to Hopi Hoekstra recipient of the 2019 C. Hart Merriam Award from the American Society of Mammalogists! The award, established in 1974 to honor outstanding research contributions to mammalogy, is the highest research award presented by the American Society of Mammalogists.