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The Wrack

The Wrack is the Wells Reserve blog, our collective logbook on the web.

Posts tagged science

  • Settling into a New Home

    | March 16, 2021 | Filed under: News

    The Coastal Ecology Center's exhibits find a new home in NH.

  • Finding Fish with eDNA

    | October 20, 2020 | Filed under: Observations

    eDNA methods and traditional plankton-net surveys are complementary ways to investigate estuarine fish assemblages. Which methods to use depend on what question we ask.

  • Meet the Summer 2020 Interns

    | August 26, 2020 | Filed under: Culture

    Four determined and ambitious emerging scientists—Phoebe Oehmig, Amanda Giacchetti, Christopher Ring, and Katrina Zarrella Smith—spent their summers contributing to research at the reserve.

  • Summer Camp Builds Enthusiasm for Science

    Sophia Troeh
    | August 21, 2019 | Filed under: Program Activities

    How does a week of summer day camp at the Wells Reserve change kids' understanding and attitudes toward science?

  • Keeping Up with SWMP

    | August 8, 2018 | Filed under: Program Activities

    At a 4-day technician training in South Carolina, I gained a new appreciation for all the effort needed to collect consistent water quality and meteorological data across the country.

  • New Research Director at Wells Reserve

    | July 20, 2016 | Filed under: News

    Dr. Jason Goldstein will oversee the Wells Reserves fish studies, salt marsh restoration activities, and long-term environmental monitoring program. He will expand the reserves shellfish program, currently focused on green crab research, into lobster and Jonah crab ecology.

  • A Rare Bird

    | February 26, 2016

    The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 2/28/2016.

    Deer June

    Today, I feel like a chimney swift, because Im looking for a mate!

    We had been asked, at the start of the meeting, to reveal the animal we most felt like. At 89 years old, June Ficker had the best answer. Of course it was a bird, because she was the Wells Reserve at Laudholms most committed and knowledgeable master bird bander. But the uproarious looking for a mate part was so June. She had that spark, that consistent ability to deny the age society said she should act.

  • The Peculiar Creature Darwin

    | February 7, 2016

    Uncle Chuck

    Shhh... don't tell anyone about my grand idea...

    ?

    The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco Journal Tribune Sunday edition of 2/7/16 and Making It At Home Thursday?edition, 2/11/2016.

    ?

    On February 12, 1809, two boys were born, one in England, one in Kentucky. Though separated by an ocean they were, by the end of their lives, united in genius, vision, and courage.

  • What An Atheist Believes In This Christmas

    | December 20, 2015

    mythic

    Santa visited the Wells Reserve at Laudholm this summer. One of these statements is false.

    The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 12/20/2015.

    [Trigger warning: the following paragraph may contain troubling information for preteens]

    Like many parents, my wife and I get a real kick out of the Santa thing. Theres something delicious about a full month of lying, straight-faced, to our eight-year-old and five-year-old. Usually were trying to dispel myths, convey science, explain the world, and correct pronunciation. Come Christmas season, we just start making @#$# up. The holidays are a wonderful vacation from reality, arent they?

  • On the Road

    | October 3, 2015

    oh, the shame

    The following was published in the Biddeford-Saco?Journal Tribune Sunday edition, 10/4/2015.

    Just about every two weeks, for the past three years, Ive gassed up my car. On the printed receipt from the pump, I write down the mileage from the trip odometer before I reset it. Every few months, I take all the receipts out of the Altoids tin I keep them in and enter them into a spreadsheet  gallons, price per gallon, location of fill-up, miles driven  and use it to calculate my average miles per gallon, and where the reliably cheapest gas is. Embarrassingly, Ive even graphed the ebbs and flows of my refueling fun.

    What can I say? I like math; I like numbers.