Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology

The National Academy of Sciences presents awards annually that honor outstanding achievement in science. Two OEB faculty members are among the honorees for 2012. Andrew Knoll is the recipient of the Mary Clark Thompson Medal. Jonathan Losos is the recipient of the Daniel Giraud Elliot Medal. Read more about OEB's NAS award recipients. Also read article about 2012 awards in Harvard Gazette, Dec. 1, 2011.

Ned Friedman's freshman seminar students re-created 10 of Darwin's experiments over the semester, including one that showed that worms do not hear music or anything else. Article in Harvard Gazette, Dec. 1, 2011.

Andrew Biewener and colleagues at the Concord Field Station published research in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences showing that the common city pigeon, Columba livia, uses a technique similar to a helicopter's to negotiate low-speed tight aerial turns.

A.W. (Fuzz) Crompton, OEB Professor Emeritus, was awarded the 2011 Romer-Simpson Medal of the Society of Vertebrate Paleontology. The society's highest award honors sustained and outstanding scholarly excellence in the discipline of vertebrate paleontology. SVP Announcement

Research by Elena Kramer finds that columbine flowers adapt their shape to match pollinators' tongues, causing dramatic diversity. Article in Harvard Gazette, Nov. 17, 2011.