Jonathan Wilker: Nature's Glue
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Jonathan Wilker seeks to understand how nature makes materials such as the glues produced in the seas by mussels, oysters and barnacles. His research examines how these biological materials function, and then works to design synthetic mimics with a wide range of applications.
Wilker’s work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research. There are currently no adhesives available that are simultaneously wet setting, strong bonding, and non-toxic; yet marine biology may have already solved this problem, and Wilker is seeking to understand exactly how.
more at: Wilker Research Group
Peter Kareiva: Reframe & Rethink
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Peter Kareiva is the chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy. A member of the National Academy of Sciences, Kareiva is often noted for his emphasis on nature’s resiliency, rather than its impending doom. “Totally unnecessarily we get into a conversation where it is farmers versus conservation, where it is loggers versus conservation, where it is fishermen versus conservation.”
Alan Rabinowitz on saving Big Cats
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Alan Rabinowitz overcame a debilitating stutter to speak on behalf of big cats. After creating the world’s first jaguar sanctuary and world’s largest tiger reserve, the wildlife biologist says we need new models of conservation, like wildlife corridors, which allow humans and animals to coexist more peacefully.
