In June, current and former Braun lab members attended the Evolution conference in Providence, RI, ate seafood, and talked about science.
Current PhD student Kevin Bennett presented work pioneered by former postdoc H.C. Lim and continued by H.C., Mike, and Kevin on the genetic basis of sexual traits that differ between Golden-collared and White-collared Manakins in Panama. Take a look at this paper and this paper for some background on the study system.
The work of lab alumna Noor White continues to contribute to the rapidly advancing field of phylogenomics. She and Mike Braun were coauthors on an avian supertree analysis that was featured on the cover of the journal Diversity in July 2019.
The paper can be found here.
Last night was the Smithsonian’s Congressional Night, which rotates between museums each year. This year, NMNH hosted senators, representatives, families, and staff from Capitol Hill to visit the museum and learn about the science we do here.
The event was well-timed with the recent opening of the new Deep Time exhibit, so members of Congress got to see the museum’s newly unveiled fossils as well as information on the history of the planet and how humans are changing it. More on Deep Time here: https://wapo.st/2Qo1pjI
The Braun Lab was represented at the event, as well. Mike was in the fossil hall telling visitors about the dinosaurs still alive today — birds!
