Elaina Hancock


Author Archive

An experiment using artificial seeds, or 'cookies,' with peanuts hidden inside provided valuable information about how mammals make seed dispersal decisions based on certain seed traits. (Yesenia Carrero /UConn Illustration)

This Animal Bit onto ‘Science Cookies’ and Revealed Data

An experiment using artificial seeds, or 'cookies,' with peanuts hidden inside provided valuable information about how mammals make seed dispersal decisions based on certain seed traits.

Finches enjoying human junk food on the Galapagos Islands. A new UConn study found that finches drawn to junk food experience changes in their gut microbiota as compared to finches that don't encounter human food. (Kiyoko Gotanda, University of Cambridge)

Junk Food Irresistible, Even for Birds

A new UConn study found that finches drawn to junk food experience changes in their gut microbiota and body mass as compared to finches that don't encounter human food.

Elic Weitzel, examines some bones in the lab at Beach Hall. (Roxanne Lebenzon/UConn Photo)

Food for Thought: Why Did We Ever Start Farming?

Findings support the idea that domestication happened in times when there was less than an ideal amount of food, says Elic Weitzel, a Ph.D. student in anthropology.

This example of Aphanorrhegma serratum, a species endemic to eastern North America (and found on UConn's main campus) shows both stages of the moss life cycle, with the circular structures representing the reproductive stage along with the more familiar gametophyte stage. (Bernard Goffinet/UConn Photo)

New Evidence Shows the Evolving Nature of Moss

Using DNA-sequencing technology, a research team including UConn's Bernard Goffinet have reconstructed the family tree of mosses, which go back at least 400 million years.

Pharmaceutical sciences researcher Dennis Wright is developing new ways for antifolate medications to target the bacterium that causes TB. (Peter Morenus/UConn Photo)

Promising New Drugs for Old Pathogen TB

Pharmaceutical sciences researcher Dennis Wright is developing new ways for antifolate medications to target the bacterium that causes tuberculosis.

Math professor Damir Dzhafarov teaches a graduate class in logic in the Monteith Building. (Sean Flynn/UConn Photo)

Logic, a Common Thread at UConn

UConn has launched a new professional graduate certificate in logic, in which students from various disciplines hone the vital skills of logically and systematically analyzing information.

Connecticut Environmental Action Day flyer.

Planting the CEAD: Marketing Sustainability Efforts

In order to build awareness for UConn Extension within the university community, a team of marketing students will host Connecticut Environmental Action Day on March 29.

Erosion along the banks of Wamassee Creek on St. Catherines Island caused a tree to fall in 2013, exposing a burial ground from the period just before and just after European contact. Intensive excavations followed to recover and protect burials threatened by erosion. Following consultation with appropriate Indigenous representatives, the St. Catherines Island Foundation partnered with multiple research groups to explore the archaeology, bioarchaeology, ancient DNA, stable isotopes, geophysics, radiocarbon dating, geoarchaeology, and ancient proteomics at the Fallen Tree site. Photo by Caitria O’Shaughnessy.

Snapshot: Deborah Bolnick, St. Catherines Island

A glimpse into a UConn research project located off the coast of Georgia, on an island inhabited by Indigenous peoples for thousands of years.

Nearly a week after Hurricane Irene drenched New England with rainfall in late August 2011. The Connecticut River was spewing muddy sediment into Long Island Sound and wrecking the region’s farmland just before harvest. (NASA Earth Observatory image, using Landsat 5 data from the U.S. Geological Survey Global Visualization Viewer)

A Policy Proposal That Could Curb Remote Sensing Research

Zhe Zhu says a potential change in federal policy to begin charging again for Landsat satellite data would be hugely detrimental to scientific research.

Andrew Stillman uses radio-telemetry to track the movements of black-backed woodpeckers in post-fire areas. (Photo by Jean Hall)

The Birds Who Seek Out Goldilocks Fires

Black-backed woodpeckers prefer forests that are burned just right – not too hot, not too cold. But as wildfires become more intense, megafires are not creating a sufficient diversity of habitats.