Graduate student position available studying alternative reproductive tactics at BGSU

We seek a graduate student for a newly NSF-funded project examining the life history decisions made by male smallmouth bass. The student will begin in Spring 2019 (ideally), will be based at Bowling Green State University (working with Daniel Wiegmann), and will collaborate with faculty at Rice University (Scott Egan and Kelly Weinersmith) and Colorado...

Sep 2018

Part of that World

The other day I was singing “Part of your World” from The Little Mermaid, but was changing some of the words to match up with the biology equipment I was using and organisms I was studying. I didn’t get very far. My husband Zach thought we should run with this idea, and later in the day he sent me the below lyrics. He is truly the one for me. So with...

Jun 2018

Parasite manipulation of host behavior in pop culture

I’m going to be giving a talk at the sure-to-be-amazing Zombie Apocalypse Medicine Meeting. The meeting celebrates all things zombie-related, and includes 2 public lectures: one by Max Brooks (which focuses more on the fiction side of zombie stuff) and one by me, focusing on parasite manipulation of host behavior (the fact side of zombie stuff). This...

Jun 2018

Soonish giveaway on Goodreads!

Five copies of the advance reader version of Zach and my new book Soonish are up for grabs on Goodreads! Click here and scroll down to enter to win:   Also – If you’re interested in hearing more about the book and how it was made, check out The Weekly Weinersmith episode Zach and I recently recorded. 

Jun 2017

Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything

Zach and I wrote a book! Soonish: Ten Emerging Technologies That’ll Improve and/or Ruin Everything explores 10 emerging technologies, and discusses the roadblocks standing in the way of each technology, why it would be awesome if these technologies were part of our everyday lives, and ways in which things could go horribly wrong if these technologies...

Mar 2017

Tales from the Crypt: a parasitoid manipulates the behaviour of its parasite host

I have a new paper out with Dr. Scott Egan, Dr. Andrew Forbes, and Sean Liu! The paper is Open Access in Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Here is the abstract: There are many examples of apparent manipulation of host phenotype by parasites, yet few examples of hypermanipulation—where a phenotype-manipulating parasite is itself manipulated by a parasite....

Jan 2017

Postdoc with Dr. Ryan Hechinger (and me!)

We’re looking for a postdoc! See below! —————— Postdoctoral Opportunity with the Marine Biology Research Division at SIO Postdoctoral Scholar – Employee Academic Division: Scripps Institution of Oceanography Academic Department/Research Unit: Marine Biology Research Division Disciplinary Specialty of Research: parasitology, physiology,...

May 2016

Science…sort of Episode 240: Moon Rocks Don’t Glow

I co-hosted an episode of Science…sort of recently. I pasted the show notes below, but you’ll have to head over to the Science…sort of page if you want to listen to it! Show Notes 00:00:00 – Kelly is back and she’s got an update on some scientists that seem to have found a way to stem the spread of the chytrid fungus affecting all those poor froggies....

May 2016

Books on parasites

I’m often asked by students to suggest books they can read about parasites. Below is a list of books that I’ve read and enjoyed. The list will be updated over time. Please feel free to suggest books that I should add to the list in the comments. Textbooks or textbook-like books Parasitism: The Ecology and Evolution of Intimate Interactions by Claude...

Feb 2016

Great Adaptations – A kid’s book about evolution

Zach Weinersmith and I contributed to Tiffany Taylor’s children’s book about evolution. Tiffany worked with scientists to create Seuss-style stories about evolutionary adaptations, and various artists created illustrations to go along with each story. Zach and I worked with Tiffany to share the story of how Euhaplorchis californiensis manipulates the...

Aug 2015