Our close colleague David Thaler serves as a topic editor for Frontiers in Evolution and Ecology on DNA Barcodes.  Please consider a submission. Have a look at: DNA Barcodes: Controversies, Mechanisms and Future Applications.

Science magazine runs a helpful story by Alex Fox on the final report from our 29-30 November 2018 National Conference on Marine eDNA:

The ocean is full of drifting DNA. The United States needs to collect it, researchers say

Also, a good new Japanese research paper is published on eDNA:

Effect of water temperature and fish biomass on environmental DNA shedding, degradation, and size distribution

In December 2018 Jesse Ausubel had the privilege and fun of inclusion in the delegation to Stockholm of William Nordhaus for his receipt of a Nobel prize.  The occasion stimulated Jesse’s recollection, “Getting to know Bill Nordhaus and Climate: On the occasion of his receipt of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics for the study of the economics of climate change.“

Jesse Ausubel, Mark Stoeckle, and Paul Gaffney have completed the Summary Report of the 29-30 November 2018 National Conference on Marine eDNA .  A press release also briefly summarizes the report.

Galatee Productions, the company of French producer-director-actor Jacques Perrin, the genius of Winged Migations, Oceans, Microcosmos, The Seasons, and other films, has advanced toward making a film about the American West, The Photographer.  Producer Antoine de Cazotte (Oscar for The Artist) is leading the project development.  The concept of the film is described in a 13 December 2018 article in France-Amerique.  Jesse Ausubel as well as environmental scientist Mark Schaefer have been assisting the effort.

2019 begins with newspaper of coverage of

–the Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project in Vienna’s Kurier; and

–the Deep Life work of the Deep Carbon Observatory in hard copy of the New York Times (posted 19 Dec online).

The essay Cars and Civilization by Jesse Ausubel has been translated into German by Thilo Spahl and appears (with fewer illustrations) in Thilo’s 2018 book Around the World in 80 Minutes (In 80 Minuten um Die Welt) as “Die Geschwindigkeit zaehlt” (Speed pays), pp. 30-49.

Thanks to Marian Tupy for republishing Jesse Ausubel’s short essay, We Must Make Nature Worthless, in Human Progress.

Last year, the Lotos Club invited Jesse Ausubel to give a short dinner address at their celebration of Earth.  The little essay, Why are flowers beautiful?, draws on ideas about truth and beauty (and mathematics) of mentor Cesare Marchetti.

The Leonardo Da Vinci DNA Project opened our eyes to the possibilities (inevitability!) of exciting new discoveries by integrating new tools of genetics, molecular biology, and microbiology into studies of art history and practices in conservation of cultural heritage.  We were able to help arrange support for a joint project of the NYU Institute of Fine Arts and the research lab of the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

ART BIO MATTERS 2018 aims to assemble, for the first time, scientists, curators/art historians, and conservators for a stimulating forum to explore new directions in the study of biological materials in works of art. Through guided and balanced discussions, participants will identify connections between advanced DNA, mass-spectrometric, and antibody-based approaches and their own research questions, thereby, facilitating focused and mutually beneficial collaborations.

By many accounts, the conference 8-10 November 2018 was thrilling.  The website has lots of great materials and leads.  Congratulations to Julie Arslanoglu, Peggy Ellis, Matthew Teasdale, and the emerging community at the interface of biology and art!