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It's challenging to try and photograph the aftereffects of freezing rain through the windows.
This is the last Tuesday I'll be able to work from home until the end of May, so I am taking advantage of it.
I still have one more course syllabus and schedule to finalize, and it's the most challenging one, for Animal Physiology. This morning I got the course structure and schedule organized for my freshman honors seminar course, which is always fun to teach. This spring we are going to read papers related to evolutionary endocrinology. I was having a hard time fully grasping what evolutionary endocrinology is, so that made it seem like a worthwhile topic to focus on. It might sound strange to you that I wouldn't be able to grasp what evolutionary endocrinology is, but the number and types of hormones in different kinds of organisms is a little overwhelming to me still. I grew up learning about the classic mammalian ones, like so many of us did, but we've discovered so many other new signaling molecules and pathways in the last 2 decades that I still don't feel like I have a good grasp of even the mammalian ones. And that's not to mention the different suites of hormones found in other organisms like insects. I do have a slightly better sense of the field now and I think the students will enjoy the topic. We'll read papers about a wide range of organisms, using a range of different experimental and descriptive approaches. Good stuff.
Apparently the sinus headache is deciding to show up after the stormy weather this time.
The weather situation in Texas and beyond makes me really sad, because I've seen enough of what life is like for the people who live there with only small means. Extreme cold brings a lot of suffering with it.
This is the last Tuesday I'll be able to work from home until the end of May, so I am taking advantage of it.
I still have one more course syllabus and schedule to finalize, and it's the most challenging one, for Animal Physiology. This morning I got the course structure and schedule organized for my freshman honors seminar course, which is always fun to teach. This spring we are going to read papers related to evolutionary endocrinology. I was having a hard time fully grasping what evolutionary endocrinology is, so that made it seem like a worthwhile topic to focus on. It might sound strange to you that I wouldn't be able to grasp what evolutionary endocrinology is, but the number and types of hormones in different kinds of organisms is a little overwhelming to me still. I grew up learning about the classic mammalian ones, like so many of us did, but we've discovered so many other new signaling molecules and pathways in the last 2 decades that I still don't feel like I have a good grasp of even the mammalian ones. And that's not to mention the different suites of hormones found in other organisms like insects. I do have a slightly better sense of the field now and I think the students will enjoy the topic. We'll read papers about a wide range of organisms, using a range of different experimental and descriptive approaches. Good stuff.
Apparently the sinus headache is deciding to show up after the stormy weather this time.
The weather situation in Texas and beyond makes me really sad, because I've seen enough of what life is like for the people who live there with only small means. Extreme cold brings a lot of suffering with it.
