We have updated the lists of publications for Jesse Ausubel. The chronological list includes only scientific and scholarly works, which begin in 1978. The topical list allocates these papers to areas such as marine science, forests and energy, and also spans selected reports stemming from Jesse’s work with NAE, NRC, and the Carnegie Commission as well as informal works (including tributes, humor, poems, drama).
Blog
National Forum on Ocean Exploration
On 20-21 October, our Rockefeller-Monmouth Ocean Science & Policy Initiative will host the 2016 US National Forum on Ocean Exploration. For more information, click HERE. Attendance is by invitation only.
Real Food, Fake Food
Mark Stoeckle is interviewed about fish substitution and his daughter Kate’s high school “Sushi-gate” project in an engaging new book “Real Food, Fake Food” by Larry Olmsted. The author also quotes Mark about what he describes as the “poster child” for fish substitution, namely, red snapper, in a Wall Street Journal article.
Mark worked with Lyubov Soboleva, a rising high school senior in the RU Summer Student Research Program (SSRP), on expanding the eDNA reference library for NYC/NJ fish species. Using specimens contributed by Keith Dunton, Monmouth University, as well as Melissa Cohen, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, and others purchased in local bait shops and fish stores, she generated 60 new DNA sequences from 18 species which have already been uploaded to GenBank. Nice work Lyubov!
East River eDNA
Mark Stoeckle’s work using environmental DNA (eDNA) to detect fish in and around New York City is featured on NYU’s ScienceLine. By analyzing the tiny bits of DNA fish and other animals leave behind in the water, the eDNA approach gives a new way to monitor the fish and aquatic mammals including whales and dolphins in our local waters.
A poem about fruits
To celebrate friends who share Jesse’s interest in growing fruit, Jesse penned the poem “It was fruit” about growing fruits and berries on the island of Martha’s Vineyard.
Lux interview with Jesse Ausubel
Paul Kedrosky and Sam Arbesman of venture capital firm Lux posted a podcast in their Intersections series of an interview with Jesse Ausubel about energy and resources, transportation and food.
Rare minerals
Hard copy version of our paper applying concepts of rarity in biology to rarity in geology published: American Mineralogist, June 2016; 101 (6) Invited Centennial Article
On the nature and significance of rarity in mineralogy
Robert M. Hazen, Jesse H. Ausubel
American Mineralogist, v. 101, i. 6, p. 1245-1251, Published on June 2016, First Published on June 02, 2016, doi:10.2138/am-2016-5601CCBY
Biological Sampling in the Deep Sea
Biological Sampling in the Deep Sea edited by Malcolm Clark, Mireille Consalvey, and Ashley Rowden presents a large fraction of what we know about this subject in 19 chapters and 472 pages. Published in April 2016 by Wiley-Blackwell (ISBN-10: 0470656743), the book emerged from the dozens of field projects in the deep sea organized under the flag of the Census of Marine Life. The editors led the seamounts project of the Census and for this book attracted experts also on abyssal plains, vent & seep communities, and the continental margins and all the challenges involved.
Initial chapters cover habitats and fauna, survey and sampling design, and mapping. The heart of the book describes and analyses a panoply of approaches spanning trawls, longlines, epibenthic sledges, corers and grabs, landers (including baited cameras and traps), towed cameras, submersibles and remotely operated vehicles, and even seafloor observatories. Later chapters address sorting, recording, preservation and storage, information management strategies, and data analysis. Concluding chapters ponder application of studies to governance and management and the future of biological sampling in the deep sea. The 50+ authors are a who’s who of deep sea biology and technology.
The book, carefully edited and attractively produced, is the first comprehensive compilation of deep sea sampling methods for the full range of habitats. It is hard to imagine writing a sound and successful research proposal in deep sea biology without making use of its breadth and depth. All the authors and especially the editors and their host institution, New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research (NIWA), merit thanks for a volume that advances our chances to excel individually and collectively. Jesse Ausubel wrote the Foreword for the volume.
Leonardo DNA project
Team members of the project “Using New Anthropological and Biological Tools to Learn about Leonardo da Vinci” with seed money from the Richard Lounsbery Foundation met 2-3 May in Florence, Italy, and have issued a press release about the publication of a set of papers from the project in Human Evolution. Jesse Ausubel mediated the opening seminar on 2 May sponsored by Eugenio Giani, President of the Regional Council of Tuscany. Jesse’s introductory essay is here. The press release earned wide attention, for example,
BBC radio:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p03tb7ht
Gizmodo, USA
The Brilliantly Insane Plan to Reconstruct Leonardo da Vinci’s Genome
https://gizmodo.com/the-brilliantly-insane-plan-to-reconstruct-leonardo-da-1774873148
Daily Telegraph, UK
Leonardo da Vinci paintings analysed for DNA to solve grave mystery
La Repubblica –
Leonardo, alla ricerca del Dna per ricostruire il profilo genetico: prelievi su tombe e dipinti
Jesse Ausubel, vice presidente della Fondazione Richard Lounsbery, che sta finanziando parte del progetto, spiega che dopo aver ricostruito la sequenza del Dna si proverà a ottenere “tracce biologiche che potrebbero essere rimaste nelle pitture o nelle …
Agencia EFE, Spain (Spanish)
INVESTIGADORES QUIEREN EL ADN DE LEONARDO DA VINCI PARA RECONSTRUIR AL GENIO (RESEARCHERS WANT THE DNA OF LEONARDO DA VINCI TO REBUILD THE GENIUS)
Nuclear Density
We post “Power Density and the Nuclear Opportunity” by Jesse H. Ausubel. The talk is adapted from the keynote address to the Nuclear Power Council, Electric Power Research Institute, Atlanta, Georgia, 3 September 2015. Thanks to EPRI’s Neil Wilmshurst for the opportunity to develop and present the talk.