🕷️Meet Joe Arguelles, a comparative biology Ph.D. student in the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School. His research focuses on understanding the molecular drivers of the incredible mechanical properties of spider silks.
🕸️He also studies the evolution of “prey capture systems” (silk, venom, and vision) in active hunting spiders, and how these genes have changed in response to the loss of web-spinning behavior.
Life and work are so so busy but I wanted to give at least a bit of an update!!
This second rotation of my PhD programme is so, radically better! My supervisor is amazing and I'm loving the science very much, it's really exciting and the rhythm of the work suits me so well! It's changed my whole attitude towards my PhD which is a huge relief. Things feel brighter. Meanwhile I'm settling into my city and starting to build up a social life, which was hard at first! So I guess if you're having a hard time making a new start - new job, new city, new degree - you can take this as a sign to take heart, because this came around the corner and took my by surprise. ❤️📖🌸🔬
Research alert! Imagine putting flippers on a 24-foot Komodo dragon. That’s how Amelia Zietlow, a Ph.D. student at the Museum’s Richard Gilder Graduate School, describes Jormungandr walhallaensis, a newly identified species of mosasaur that was named in part after a sea serpent in Norse mythology.
Living some 80 million years ago during the Cretaceous, this mosasaur is thought to represent a transitional period between other well-known species. In addition to flippers and a stumpy, shark-like tail, Jormungandr had a bony ridge on its skull that would have given it the appearance of having “angry eyebrows.”
27.03.2024// busy busy week so far, but the easter break starts soon!! i've even managed to squeeze in some phd reading today which i'm so happy about :)