From mosquitos to medical school, WCU alumnus shares his story

Joe Davis, a double alumnus of Western Carolina University with a bachelor’s in emergency medical care and a master’s in biology, has had a unique higher education journey. 

Highlands lecture on rare bird, habitat

The Highlands Biological Foundation (HBF) invites the community to the next installment of its Zahner Conservation Lecture series at 6 p.m. on Thursday, July 18. 

Word from the Smokies: DNA study yields new estimate of Smoky Mountain elk population

Over the decades since 52 elk were reintroduced to Great Smoky Mountains National Park’s Cataloochee Valley in 2001 and 2002, wildlife biologists have longed for a statistically accurate count of the population in Western North Carolina. 

‘Darwin and the Art of Botany’

Local author Jim Costa will present his new book, “Darwin and the Art of Botany: Observations on the Curious World of Plants,” at 3 p.m. Saturday, June 8, at City Lights Bookstore in Sylva. 

Good medicine and Mother’s Day — a book, a poem

All of us, to one extent or another, make our way through a world of unexamined phenomena. 

It’s a complex world, and we generally glide through it without thinking too much of its parts and machinery. We all carry mini-computers in our pockets, but ask us to explain how we can look at the screen of our phone and read a newspaper from New Delhi, and the best most of us can do is shrug.

Celebrate biodiversity

Delve into the amazing biodiversity of the Southern Appalachians with a program offered at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 3, at the University of North Carolina Asheville’s Reuter Center in Asheville or via Zoom. 

Explore the soundscape of nature

Author and biologist David George Haskell will delve into the captivating world of sonic communication and its profound impact on the planet’s evolution and cultural tapestry during a lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday, July 27, at the Highlands Nature Center in Highlands.

Highlands Biological invests in undergrad field work program

Since 2021, the Highlands Biological Foundation has invested $300,000 in its University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Highlands Field Site Program.

Telling the biters apart: WCU lab helps researcher with mosquito project

Don’t swat at that mosquito. 

Swedish entomologist Anders Lindström is sitting in a Western Carolina University lab, patiently waiting for the insect to stay put on a leaf cutting long enough to take its photo. When the mosquito takes flight, Lindström captures it in a vial and puts it back on the leaf.

Cataloguing biodiversity: WCU lands grant for biological collections

A collection of 47,000 plants and animals currently tucked away in various rooms of Western Carolina University’s Stillwell building will soon have a new home thanks to a $517,000 grant from the National Science Foundation. 

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