Craig is temporarily a post-doctoral fellow at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute who is looking for a permanent position. He spends most of his time balancing his overwhelming geekdom with normalcy so he can function in the real world. Luckily his wife likes his geekiness.
Peter Etnoyer is a Graduate Research Associate at the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. He studies deep corals and ocean fronts, and he loves to be on the water.
Kevin Zelnio is a Graduate Student Researcher at Penn State studying the ecology of hydrothermal vent and methane seep communities. He raises awareness of the plight of the spineless through folk music.
Perhaps unsurprisingly DSN's pick for Science Bracket Smackdown, Team Invertebrate demolished 9th seeded Surgeons with a final score of 158-37. Through an amazing dorsal heart defense initiated by the arthropods the Invertebrates quickly took an early lead. The open circulatory offense also proved difficult to stop. Ronald Plasty for the Surgeons stated after the game, "What can I say we were expecting a closed system and ultimately that beat us." The colossal squid did not return for the second round game. In the lockeroom DSN learned that a tentacle strain in the fourth quarter was still being iced today. Unfortunately too much ice was used and team doctors are experiencing problems dethawing the behemoth. It is unlikely the star post for the Invertebrate squad will return to the tournament. Unfortunately for the underdog Surgeons, the mollusks show considerable depth and the lamellibranchia attack overwhelmed the podiatric specialists. Plasty also commented, "I just couldn't score on Lumbricus its like he/she was on a personal vendetta." Indeed he and she was!
The Invertebrates match up against 4 seeded Photosynthesis in the Sweet 16. Controversy is also likely to surround this game as rumors are emerging that Invertebrates have been digesting members of the Photosynthesis team. It is likely Invertebrates may rely on several chemosynthetic players for this unqiue match up.
Comments
I'm not sure the chemoautotrophic endosymbionts will be eligible to play for the inverts. But that's bad news about the colossal squid -- any word on whether the humbolt or giant squid will suit up?
Posted by: RPM | March 21, 2007 6:59 PM