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Daily DigestYuck!
 There's a winter storm warning in effect until 7 a.m. on Thursday with 2 to 4 inches of snow expected. Be prepared for a messy morning commute as freezing rain and sleet move through the region. The morning commute will be slippery — drive careful!
Some New York schools, including Hoosick Falls Central School and St. Mary's Academy in Hoosick Falls have already canceled classes.
All North County schools are closed; Pittsfield, Lanesborough, Berkshire Hills, Southern Berkshire and Central Berkshire school districts are closed. |
Duff'em If You've Got'em
 North Adams Regional Hospital went smoke-free Monday — so did all its sister sites, from Sweet Brook to Northern Berkshire Family Practice to the Women's Exchange. No ashtrays, no smoking: No butts about it. |
Wanted: Eagle Eyes
MassWildlife's annual eagle count runs Dec. 31 to Jan. 14. Anyone sighting one of the regal birds in Massachusetts is asked to participate.
Send date, time, location and town of eagle sightings, number of birds, whether juvenile or adult and observer's contact information to Mass.wildlife@state.ma.us. |
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Like to Write?
 iBerkshires accepts submissions about local events, news and opinion pieces. There are openings for freelance work, too, for qualified candidates. E-mail tdaniels@iberkshires.com to find out more. |
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Other StuffMars Rovers Mark 5 Years
 Spirit and Opportunity have been trekking the red planet for half a decade. Spirit hit the 5-year mark on Sunday; Opportunity will on Jan. 24. |
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National Science Foundation Awards Williams College Funding - December 11, 2007
The National Science Foundation has awarded Joan Edwards, the Washington Gladden 1859 Professor of Biology, and Dwight Whitaker, assistant professor of physics at Pomona College, a grant in the amount of $105,110. The grant is in support of a high-speed imaging facility at Williams College for the study of ultra fast biological movements and other applications in the sciences.
The project builds on research transforming our understanding of rapid events.
"The [high-speed imaging facility and] camera expands our ability to view directly the natural worlds – things that occur in the blink of an eye can be slowed so that we can visualize what is actually happening," explained Edwards. "It opens up exciting new venues of discovery through the analysis videos, which are often stunning in their beauty."
"The fastest plants (and fungi) move on a timescale shorter than any animal movements," Whitaker said. "With an understanding of the relevant physical parameters it is easier to identify what traits are co-opted from similar species to produce the rapid motion."
Edwards points to a number of examples of the subjects of high-speed imaging: the strike of a mantis shrimp, the sprint of greyhound dogs, and their own study of ultra-rapid movements in plants such as the pollen catapult of bunchberry dogwood and the explosive propulsion of spores by Sphagnum moss.
The videos captured by the high-speed imaging facility will be integrated into Williams' biology and physics teaching curricula. The high-speed cameras, which film up to 100,000 fps, will also be used by faculty and students in labs and in the field where plants and animals can be filmed in their natural environment.
Through a Williams College Howard Hughes Medical Institute grant, the results of the research outlined by the two in their NSF proposal also will be integrated into the curricula of local elementary and secondary schools, underlying the broad appeal of the type of visual imagery the facility will produce.
The facility will support the college's ongoing mission to engage students at all levels in science education and include students from underrepresented groups in science research.
Edwards came to Williams College in 1979. She has served as director of research at the Hopkins Memorial Forest, and as dean of the college from 1992 to 1995. She has also taught at the University of New York at Buffalo, the University of Michigan Biological Station and was a visiting scholar at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. She received her B.A. in 1971, her M.S. in 1972, and her Ph.D. in 1978, all from the University of Michigan.
Whitaker, who was formerly on the Williams faculty, has done extensive research in the field of low temperature physics including studies of Bose-Einstein condensates and superfluid hydrodynamics. He received his B.S. in 1992 from the University of Connecticut and his Ph.D. in 1999 from Brown University. |
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