So far I’ve told you about the phytoplankton we’re studying — the coccolithophores, how we figure out where they’re going to be, and how we collect them. But there’s a key element that’s missing in this description: the virus that infects them. And a lot of you wanted to know about it. What kind of [...]

By Daniel Barta The MSU students are back from China, where they explored the culture, look for fossils, and study dinosaur eggs in the laboratory. Selected college students from across Montana travel to the Zhejiang Province of China on a National Science Fund program from May 17 – June 19, 2012. The students were exposed [...]

“Camp is like the seven plagues of Moses. We get here in May and there’s cold and snow, which turns to rain and wind by the end of the month, in June clouds of blood sucking mosquitoes come out, and in July the wind and dust comes back.” Jon Hawking It had been a very [...]

June 19th, 2012 We stopped at one of our target points — a place where the scientists thought there would be lots of phytoplankton — a few days ago. The weather is nice, and the ocean is surprisingly calm (knock on wood). I’m hoping it stays like this for the rest of the trip. Everyone [...]

Planning for this year’s Guam and Palau course stated about two weeks after we got back from last year’s course. Halfway through our stay in Palau this year, my co-instructor Dave Ginsburg and I were being interviewed on Oceana Television Network when the anchor asked if we were doing the course next year. I demurred [...]

There’s a lot of science lingo I don’t know. There’s also a lot of nautical lingo I don’t know. Combined, I often have no clue what some of the people on the boat are talking about. One term that comes up a lot from the science team is something called the “CTD.” As a reader [...]

On a recent collecting excursion in Palau, I repeated the mantra “Think Like a Brittle Star” over and over as my colleague Jim Haw and I searched for a specimen (Ophiotylos leucus) that was last seen 76 years ago by Japanese scientists (cf. Murakami 1943). With the help of Pat and Lori Colin from the [...]

June 16th, 2012 We’ve set sail! Here’s proof: You can also tell by this graph of the ship’s speed over the last few days. The few hours before we set off were full of tying down all the science equipment and negotiating with customs officials to get a piece of equipment that had been shipped. [...]

The MSU students are back in China, where they explore the culture, look for fossils, and study dinosaur eggs in the laboratory. Selected college students from across Montana travel to the Zhejiang Province of China on a National Science Fund program from May 17 – June 19, 2012. The students will be exposed to the [...]

I’m in Ponta Delgada!  Here’s proof: It’s beautiful here.  If you ever have the chance to visit the Azores, do it. The boat — the R/V Knorr — is here too, and it’s bigger than I expected.  Here’s my bunk: I’ve already gotten lost a bunch.  All the hallways on the Knorr are narrow and [...]