science

Answering reporters’ coronavirus questions

CFAES’ Linda Saif, an international expert on coronaviruses and Distinguished University Professor, has been rightly extremely busy lately answering reporters’ questions, including “Can pigs catch COVID-19?” “Can pets get coronavirus from humans?” and “Can veterinarians prevent the next pandemic?”

You can learn more about Saif’s and her colleagues’ expertise on coronaviruses here, and if you’re a journalist and want to ask them questions, their contact information is there, too.

Saif gave a good backgrounder on coronavirus biology, genetics, and related matters in a recent webinar, which you can watch in the video above.

When might the drug-based cavalry be coming?

Toledo Blade journalist Tom Henry talked to CFAES scientist Linda Saif, among others, for a March 20 story titled “Cavalry isn’t here yet: Coronavirus-killing drugs are still being sought.”

Saif is a Distinguished University Professor with CFAES’ Food Animal Health Research Program, a member of Ohio State’s Infectious Diseases Institute, a co-director of the institute’s Viruses and Emerging Pathogens Program, and an international expert on several types of viruses including coronaviruses.

Read the story.

An evening supporting our Lake Erie programs

You’re invited to spend An Evening with Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory, partner Ohio State programs dedicated to studying, teaching about, and improving Lake Erie and water quality, from 6:30–9:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18, on Ohio State’s Columbus campus.

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Watch: For the health of the water

The Big Ten Network’s “Live B1G” series recently featured Ohio State’s Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. The lab—located on Gibraltar Island, which you can see in the bay from the Put-in-Bay docks or as you enter the bay by boat—conducts research on water quality and teaches students about the lake, its water, and the creatures that rely on it, people included. You can watch the video above.

Come help celebrate Humboldt

Activities set for Sept. 13–14 in CFAES’ Secrest Arboretum in Wooster will celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of Alexander von Humboldt—explorer, geographer, and visionary naturalist whose thinking influenced Darwin. Included will be the Ohio premiere of a play called “Humboldt Unbound.” It’s all free and open to the public. Explore more here and here. (Image: Alexander von Humboldt by Joseph Karl Stieler via Wikimedia Commons.)

Hear the latest in algal bloom science

The fourth annual Understanding Algal Blooms: State of the Science conference, featuring new findings on algal blooms and multiple speakers from CFAES, is set for Sept. 12 in Toledo.

Find full details and register. The deadline to register is Sept. 4. (Photo: Lake Erie algal bloom, Jeff Reutter, Ohio Sea Grant, via Flickr.)

Research ‘vital’ in algal bloom fight

This year’s extremely wet spring “has shed light on the movement of nutrients from the land into Lake Erie,” Chris Winslow, director of Ohio State’s Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory programs, said at yesterday’s announcement of the harmful algal bloom forecast for western Lake Erie. (You can watch the event here.)

“Despite the predicted size of this year’s bloom, portions of the lake will be algae-free during the bloom season, and the lake will remain a key asset for the state,” Winslow said. “Ongoing research continues to help us understand bloom movement and toxin production, and remains vital to providing our water treatment facilities with the tools, technology, and training they need to keep our drinking water safe.”

Read about CFAES’ ongoing efforts to help fight Lake Erie’s harmful algal blooms. (Photo: Marblehead lighthouse, Getty Images.)

Opinion: Science lacking in proposed waters of the U.S. rule

A new article led by Mažeika Sullivan, associate professor in CFAES’ School of Environment and Natural Resources (SENR), explains how the new proposed waters of the U.S. rule, which administers the Clean Water Act, fails to consider the best available science. If enacted, the rule could put millions of acres of wetlands and millions of miles of streams at risk, with severe consequences to environmental quality and human well-being. The article appeared recently in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Read the article.

Sullivan also serves as the director of SENR’s Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park.

Saturday: Go west for sustainability fest

Go west, everyone, to learn more about sustainability. Ohio State’s West Campus Science and Sustainability Festival—or WestFest for short—is set for Saturday, May 18, on the university’s West Campus Quad. Featured will be demonstrations and displays by more than 20 sustainability-related organizations from Ohio State and the Columbus community, including CFAES’ Wilma H. Schiermeier Olentangy River Wetland Research Park and Stone Laboratory on Lake Erie. Admission is free. Find out more.