Happy New Year

Dear NICE Group, Happy New year to a fantastic group! 2022 was a tough year for our little lab, but one also filled with many joys from the amazing humans who make up the NICE Lab. You are all my family, and I am so blessed every day to have such strong, resilient, and kind colleagues to explore this universe…

A new study on an evolving system…

Host adaptation plays a large role in establishing our Earth’s biodiversity. In insects, adaption to new host plants often requires synchronization of growth and development during larval and pupal stages to the new host and adult preference for that host after metamorphosis. In insects, metamorphosis brings profound transformation of the nervous system. Here, we identified differences in the timing of…

Congratulations Dr. Kaushik!

The NICE Lab is pleased to announce the successful defense of Pavan Kumar Kaushik. Pavan’s thesis was titled “Prakruti māyé : Using Virtual Reality to deconstruct insect ecology” Pavan will continue his career as a postdoctoral scholar at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Konstanz, Germany. He will be working in the Department of Collective Behavior with Prof.…

A Dedication to Remarkable Humans

By Shannon – Science is often considered a profession where we attempt to suppress our humanity for the sake of objectivity. Yet it is our very humanity that makes science possible. Science is a reflection of our curiosity, our passion, and our drive for exploration. These traits can only be built from a foundation of hope fostered by kindness and…

Edward O Wilson 1929-2021

by Shannon – This morning I woke up to the news that we had lost one of the greatest Naturalists of our generation, and the inspiration to so many. In 2000, I walked in to my PhD advisor’s office at Cornell. Tom Eisner, my advisor, was there meeting with one of his very good friends. They had known each other…

News from the field!

Gauri Gharpure is currently in North Sikkim with Geetha GT and a team of intrepid young scientists. You might have heard of “field to lab” research, but this is lab IN field research! Performing insect physiological recordings in the back of a field vehicle at 3500m above sea level in the Himalayas is quite the task. But like all NICE…

Summertime at a water hole

by Aditi Prasad – The ultimate summer parties happen at water holes in Indian jungles. Summers in India are infamous for high temperatures and sweltering heat. Water bodies in forests dry out causing animals to congregate at a few large water holes. Finding water in such conditions is similar to hitting a jackpot! One can find several different species of…