Investigating Dairy DNA To Ensure Gold-Medal Milkers

Like athletes training for the Olympics, dairy cows face the challenge of eating enough to fuel their energy expenditures. Cows devote so much energy to milk production that they can\u27t consume enough feed to meet their other needs. That results in negative energy balance, says animal scientist Diane Spurlock. She is studying how negative energy balance might contribute to fertility problems and affect other fitness traits that influence cows\u27 well-being

Tiny Turtles, Big Learning At Turtle Camp

For such a long-lived animal, turtles in the wild face many challenges — so many that most species are considered endangered. Fred Janzen has been studying turtles for more than 20 years and conservation has increasingly become the focus of his work. The professor of ecology, evolution and organismal biology created a “Turtle Camp” in 1995, the year after he joined Iowa State, that gives students the chance to “get out and do science.

Partners Work For Rural Development In Uganda

It doesn\u27t take long during a visit with a Ugandan family for Dorothy Masinde to tell if the Center for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods (CSRL) is having an impact. We are very generous in Africa, she explains. When you come to my house, the first thing I do is offer you food. So if I go to a home and nothing is offered to me, I know there\u27s trouble here. If I come back and we\u27re offered food, we\u27ve made a difference- that to me is the joy of my job. Masinde is the center;s associate director for field operations, working full-time in Uganda. She started six years ago when the Iowa State University center was beginning its development programs

New Diets Reduce Ammonia, Improve Air Quality

Iowa leads the nation in egg production and processing with close to 60 million laying hens at 65 locations around the state. That many chickens produce a lot of ammonia-rich manure, which needs to be managed to protect air and environmental quality. A demonstration project that wrapped up field monitoring this spring shows promise in reducing the ammonia coming from those operations. Hongwei Xin, agricultural and biosystems engineering professor who directs the Egg Industry Center, leads a research team that has been testing how two alternative diets affect ammonia output

Preparing Future Scientists

The management and care of research animals is a necessary, behind-the-scenes aspect of scientific study that animal scientist Matthew Ellinwood has made a learning experience for undergraduates. We take seriously the role these dogs and cats play in addressing new treatments or possibly cures for conditions that have a big, negative impact on people, especially children, he says. After earning his doctoral and veterinary degrees, Ellinwood became a researcher at the University of Pennsylvania. Part of his duties was the management of dogs and cats used to research human genetic diseases-most of them fatal pediatric diseases. Graduate students did a lot of the work, offering valuable hands-on experience. Ellinwood brought this model of students caring for animals to Iowa when he started at ISU about seven years ago