Research experiences near and far help beat the heat

Thursday, August 8, 2024

Summer of ’24 has already broken heat records here in New England, but some in our Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø community are staying cool. Here are five ways our ’Cats are beating the dog days of summer.

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Three researchers from Ò×ʤ²©¹Ù꿉۪s world-renowned Center for Coastal and Ocean Mapping — director Larry Mayer, associate director Brian Calder, and affiliate assistant research professor Liz Weidner ’23G — . They’re mapping the seafloor of this unexplored region, contributing to our understanding of the melting Greenland Ice Sheet and its impact on sea level rise.

Icebreaker in a sea of ice

Chilling above the Arctic Circle.

At Sweden’s Abisko Research Station, professor of Earth sciences Ruth Varner and a team of researchers, including Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø students, sample permafrost to learn how its thawing is affecting Arctic lakes and streams. Also in Sweden, Ò×ʤ²©¹ÙÍø researchers and students chase a retreating glacier at the Tarfala Research Station to understand how glacially ground-up rock transforms into soils and ecosystems.

Two women row a wooden boat beneath snow-capped mountains.

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To learn more about the origins of the universe, assistant professor of physics Fabian Kislat uses special gamma ray detectors , the temperature of space and the lowest temperature that can theoretically be reached.

Gold-colored scientific apparatus stacked in a dilution refrigerator

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To investigate whether and potentially help decrease obesity rates, kinesiology major Jack Souza ’25 recruits research subjects to ride an indoor bicycle at room temperature and at a brisk 39 degrees.

Researcher looks at a computer while a subject rides an exercise bicycle behind glass

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, a remote field station on Appledore Island in the Gulf of Maine, catches cool breezes that elude the mainland. And Shoals, a leader in undergraduate marine education, abounds with opportunities for students to get their feet — and more — wet.

Snorkelers in a cove, shot from behind at a distance