Summer naturally finds us spending more time outdoors, which provides a multitude of opportunities to observe the diversity of plant and animal species that inhabit Iowa. Unless you are already a professional naturalist, you may occasionally wonder about the identity of some species you encounter. If you’d like to satisfy that curiosity without lugging around a bulky field guide, consider checking out one of the many Bur Oak Guides available at the Sciences Library.
Most Bur Oak Guides are easy to carry laminated foldout guides (roughly the size of a folded roadmap) published by the University of Iowa Press. They offer a handy way to identify the most likely species of plant or animal you will encounter in a variety of Iowa habitats. There are guides for birds, butterflies, fish, frogs, grasses, mushrooms, orchids, and trees, to mention just a few.
Unlike the laminated foldout guides mentioned above, there are some titles in this series published as full-length reference books that offer more detailed treatment of their subjects. Among them is a trio of beautifully illustrated books co-authored by Sylvan Runkel that describe the wildflowers and plants of Iowa’s wetlands, woodlands, and tallgrass prairie.
Since the month of July finds so many wildflower species of the tallgrass prairie in bloom, I would be remiss if I did not mention An Illustrated Guide to Iowa Prairie Plants by Paul Christiansen and Mark Müller, which was published in the Bur Oak Books series, a companion series to Bur Oak Guides.
Whereas Runkel’s books on Iowa’s wildflowers offer full color close-up views of each species with narrative that includes brief natural history, this black-and-white illustrated guide places greater emphasis on plant morphology and provides detailed line drawings that provide a fuller picture of various plant parts critical to properly identify particular species. This title has the added benefit of being available in a free online version created through a partnership between the University of Iowa Press and the UI Libraries.
Full descriptions of individual titles in both series can be found at Bur Oak Guides and Bur Oak Books at the University of Iowa Press website.
UI corresponding authors can now publish their journal articles Open Access and free of cost to them in any American Chemical Society (ACS) journal. The University of Iowa Libraries has entered into an agreement with ACS to bundle the cost of journal subscriptions and Open Access (OA) publishing. Under this three-year contract, UI authors can publish a significant number of articles OA with ACS. These articles can then be immediately read by anyone, anywhere, without the paywalls that traditionally accompany academic journals. For more information, contact Conrad Bendixen, or Leo Clougherty from the Sciences Library.
This arrangement is part of a larger effort by UI Libraries to reduce the cost of OA for individual researchers. Unfortunately, publishers often charge authors directly to pay for the cost of publishing OA journal articles. (For instance, ACS normally charges authors $4,500 per article for OA.) For faculty who don’t have grant or departmental funding, this can be prohibitively expensive. These costs have soared in recent years and are a significant barrier to making research open and freely accessible.
Are you looking for a quiet place to study on the north side of campus? The Sciences Library is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5 PM, and we have study booths, study carrels, and large tables that you can use for group or individual study. We have Legos, K’NEX, and coloring on hand for you in case you find that you need a study break. We have streaming music and feature films if you would like a different kind of escape. You can also check out our Finals Week Stress Relief Guide to find web comics, animal live cams, virtual nature tours, online puzzles, and more!
Join Iowa birder Linda Rudolph to learn how to get started with birding on campus and beyond! This is a free online program that will be held on Thursday, April 8, 2021, 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM CDT. All are welcome! To attend, go to https://tinyurl.com/IAbirds or https://uiowa.zoom.us/j/99752137081
Linda Rudolph is a Coralville resident. She is a transplanted New Yorker, who retired from the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics as an inpatient clinical pharmacist. Since retirement she has become an active local birder. Linda currently serves in the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union as the Iowa Birds List Serve Co-Administrator. When she isn’t hiking local areas, she enjoys international travel for birdwatching. Linda has currently seen over 3,400 bird species.
Find the Sciences Library’s Kent Ornithology Collection, Birds of the World, Sibley Field Guides, and more birding books and resources on our birding guide.
Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa–sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Laurie Neuerburg at 319-467-0216 or laurie-neuerburg@uiowa.edu.
While there is no consensus among groundhogs this week about exactly when spring will arrive, there is the reminder that spring will come, and as Punxsutawney Phil would like us to know, “you’re looking forward to one of the most beautiful and brightest springs you’ve ever seen.” Check out the table below to see how groundhogs all over North America have faced (or not faced) their darkest shadows to bring us their prediction! Under the column “2021 Prediction,” you can find a link to an article or video of these famous whistle pigs and other prophetic creatures making their most recent forecast!
Iowa City Darwin Day celebrates the benefits of science for humanity, and all are invited to celebrate this year by attending virtual talks by prestigious scientists! All Iowa City Darwin Day events are free and open to the public.
Erich Jarvis’ talk “Evolution of Brain Pathways for Vocal Learning and Spoken Language” will be on Friday, February 12 at 12 PM CST. Erich Jarvis is a professor and head of the Laboratory of Neurogenetics of Language at the Rockefeller University. He uses song-learning birds and other species as models to study the molecular and genetic mechanisms that underlie vocal learning, including how humans learn spoken language. He chairs the international Vertebrate Genomes Project which studies how species are genetically related and how unique characteristics evolve. Jarvis also collaborates on a project to generate a new human pangenome reference that will represent over 90% of genetic diversity.
Dr. Jarvis is the 2002 recipient of the National Science Foundation Alan T. Waterman Award and was awarded the Director’s Pioneer Award by the National Institutes of Health in 2008. He received the NIH Director’s Transformative Research Award in 2019
Charmaine Royal’s talk “Race, Genetics, and Health” followed by a panel discussion will be on Friday, February 19 at 4 PM CST.
Charmaine Royal is a 2020 Ida Cordelia Beam Distinguished Visiting Professor. She is Associate Professor of African & African American Studies, Biology, Global Health, and Family Medicine & Community Health at Duke University. She is also core faculty in the Duke Initiative for Science & Society, senior fellow in Kenan Institute for Ethics, and faculty in the Social Science Research Institute where she directs the Center on Genomics, Race, Identity, Difference and the Center for Truth, Racial Healing & Transformation. Dr. Royal’s research, scholarship, and teaching focus on ethical, legal, and social issues in genetics and genomics, particularly the intersection of race and genetics and its policy implications and practical interventions.
Panelists:
UI Professor of History Mariola Espinosa
UI Visiting Professor of Law Phoebe Jean-Pierre
Dr. Brian Donovan , BSCS
Moderator: UI Associate Professor of Law Anya Prince
You are invited to the Sciences Library for a comfortable, quiet place to study! There are computer stations, study carrels, and booths with USB and outlets for phones and computers. If you have group work to do, there are tables and large mobile monitors to use for sharing your computer screen. The Sciences Library is located between Phillips Hall and the Biology Building on Iowa Ave. The building is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 AM to 5 PM for the Spring 2021 semester. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we have hygiene stations available with disinfectant wipes and hand sanitizer. A face covering is required, and yellow stickers mark off seats that are to remain unoccupied. The book stacks are open so feel free to peruse the shelves!
If you need help with your research, then you can meet with a librarian in a one-on-one research consultation to help you find books and articles that you need for a paper or project. You can search InfoHawk+ to find out what the UI Libraries has that you can use online or check out & take home, which includes print books, ebooks, newspapers, journals, and magazines (both print and online), DVDs and streaming videos. You can request that the library purchase something that we don’t have, or request to borrow something that we don’t have through Interlibrary Loan. You can access all of our ebooks, electronic journal articles, streaming videos, and online resources from off-campus by logging in with your HawkID.
You can ask librarians for help about research and using the library whenever you need it through chat, email, in-person, or by phone. Have a great semester! We’re glad to have you at the Sciences Library!
When you take a break from your studying, rest and recharge with online puzzles, science coloring sheets, wildlife live cams, and museum and nature virtual tours with the Sciences Library’s Finals Week Stress Relief Guide. You can put together a puzzle of the Andromeda galaxy, The Blue Marble view of Earth, a porcupine having a snack, or a peacock displaying its feathers. The science coloring sheets include Coloring Molecular Machinery: A Tour of the Protein Data Bank, Discovering Biology Through Crystallography, and images from the Biodiversity Library. Animal live cams from Explore.org, zoos, and aquariums can transport you to the sights and sounds of an African safari, a colorful, bustling coral reef, or a soothing waterfall. Immerse yourself virtually in the Badlands, the Grand Canyon, and other National Parks, or attend an online tour of the Field Museum, the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and the British Museum. If you need a laugh, you can find Bird and Moon, xkcd, and other science comics on the Stress Relief Guide!
Dr. Thomas H. Kent, professor emeritus of pathology at the University of Iowa, died November 21 as in-person classes at The University of Iowa came to a close for the fall 2020 term.
Dr. Kent was the youngest son of Frederick W. Kent, who played a key role in documenting life at the University of Iowa through his photography. Kent Park, the largest county park in Johnson County Iowa, was named after F.W. Kent
Dr. Kent was a man of many interests and talents. But to many in the state of Iowa and beyond he is arguably best known for his passion for birds and birding, an avocation he acquired with his father. Like his father, Dr. Kent began to wield a camera to photograph birds at a young age. Both Dr. Kent and his father had a penchant for documenting their encounters with birds in various locales as is described in the book they co-authored, Birding In Eastern Iowa : twenty-five years of observations from Iowa City (1949-1973).
Dr. Kent founded and served on the Records Committee of the Iowa Ornithologists’ Union for 26 years, including 17 years as committee chair. He served as editor of the I.O.U. journal Iowa Bird Life from 1986 to 1989. He co-authored Iowa Birds in 1984 and Birds in Iowa in 1996, both of which describe the distribution and frequency of wild birds in the state. He was sole author of Annotated references to Iowa birds prior to 1900 updated from Bartsch (1899), and wrote over 160 articles on Iowa birds.
In 2014 Dr. Kent received the American Birding Association’s Ludlow Griscom Award for Outstanding Contributions in Regional Ornithology. ABA Board Member Carl Bendorf, who nominated Dr. Kent for this honor, noted on Dr. Kent’s passing that, “Tom’s contributions to Iowa birding can’t be overstated and he had an enormous impact on ornithology in Iowa.”
In 2013 the Sciences Library was the grateful recipient of a substantial portion of Dr. Kent’s collection of books on birds, which became the Kent Ornithology Collection. The collection consists of over 250 titles on birds and ornithology. Many of these books are field guides to birds in nearly all 50 states, not to mention places like Antarctica and Peru, while other titles focus on specific bird families or species. This collection is a resource not only to the University of Iowa community, but is also available to borrowers throughout Iowa from the interlibrary loan services of local libraries.
The contributions from individuals with diverse talents and interests in the University of Iowa community, as well as the state at large, have helped to build the rich and strong collections of the University of Iowa Libraries. We are truly grateful to generous benefactors such as Thomas H. Kent.
Many thanks to Kai Weatherman for writing this post.
In 1918 and 1919, the Spanish flu pandemic swept through Iowa killing over 6,000 people and infecting more than 93,000. The archives of the Daily Iowan from this time period shed light onto what life was like during that time on campus and in the midst of World War I. While cootie garments are mentioned in the April 14, 1918 Daily Iowan, the cootie garments were not meant as protection against the pandemic; they were made by women for the military to keep the soldiers free from bugs and pests in the trenches.
Articles about the Spanish flu are sprinkled throughout the Daily Iowan in the fall of 1918 during the second wave of the pandemic. The Oct 3, 1918 Daily Iowan says: ‘A slogan suggested by Dr. Henry Albert, state bacteriologist, will do much to check the disease. ‘‘Handkerchief that cough and sneeze” is his advice.’
Another part of the same issue reads: ‘A new slogan, “Handkerchief that cough and sneeze,” needs no less attention because it is ungrammatical. It means public safety; it means saving of lives. With cases of the popularly termed Spanish influenza on the campus, an uncovered cough becomes an offense against public welfare.’ The article also lists ways to stay safe given by Dr. John H. Hamilton, the state epidemiologist:
“Avoid crowds or crowded places whenever possible.
Do not place your hands or objects in your mouth unless you know they are clean.
Keep in the best possible physical condition.
Eat plenty of wholesome, easily digested food at regular intervals.
Drink plenty of water—at least, eight or ten glasses a day.
Take moderate outdoor exercise.
Sleep in a well ventilated room.”
In the Oct 6, 1918 Daily Iowan, President Jessup issued regulations for the campus community to follow:
“1. All members of the University unit,—students, instructors and helpers, will be subjected to periodical health examinations.
2. Students will be directed to cover their mouths and noses with clean handkerchiefs or clean gauze when they sneeze or cough.
3. Instructors will report to the main office, University Hospital, telephone 70, the name of any student who neglects to so cover his mouth and nose when he coughs or sneezes.
4. Instructors will report to the main office of the University hospital, telephone 70, the name of any student whom they believe to be suffering from influenza, a cold, or any other disease.
5. The matrons of dormitories, sorority houses and rooming houses will report to the main office, University Hospital, telephone 70, the names of students who, on account of sickness, are unable to attend classes.”
The headline of the Oct 6 issue was “Iowa Defeats the Cornhuskers 12 to 0.” It was the first time the Hawkeyes had won a football game against Nebraska in 19 years.
On Oct 10, 1918: ‘“Everyone should avoid getting the feet wet during the rainy weather,” Dr. Henry Albert, state bacteriologist declares. Dampness causes the heat of the body to be lost readily and thus lowers the resistance. This not only favors the development of influenza, but tends to make the cases more severe and complicated, he states.”’
Another article in the Oct. 10th issue lamented the changes for students on campus due to the pandemic: ‘”The last leaf upon the tree,” shivered the senior girl as she hunted for her “pass” and covered a sneeze. “Why couldn’t I have graduated in the good old times, before we turned into West Point II and insolent little men in uniform sent dignified seniors trotting around for passes?”‘
Also, in the Oct. 10th issue, an article stated that nasal sprays were harmful “and may result in very serious operative cases” attributed in part to Dr. H. J. Prentiss, head of the anatomy department. However, this was recanted in the Oct. 13th issue: “The Iowan was mistaken Thursday in quoting Dr. H. J. Prentiss to the effect that the use of atomizers and especially nasal sprays drives influenza germs into the sinuses and may result in serious operative cases.”
One article in the Oct 13, 1918 issue of the Daily Iowan titled “Mental Influenza” proclaimed: “Worry is a waste, a disease. Some people worry over money and some people worry over the weather. Worry over influenza may be in the same class, that is, worry without any aim in view.”
A few days later, the Oct 15, 1918 an article in the Daily Iowan stated “Nurses at the University hospital are all working overtime and many are not taking their regular hours off duty. The day nurses begin duty at 7 a. m. and the night nurses at [illegible] p. m. Out of 135 nurses, 66 are ill and there are 22 probationers too ill for duty. All the probationers are helping and also the junior and senior medical students, dental students and S. A. T. C. men.” (S.A.T.C. stands for Student Army Training Corps; you can read about the history of the S.A.T.C. in an article that our University Archivist has written called “Old Gold: US and SUI enter World War I.”)
World War I ended on November 11, 1918, and the headline in the Daily Iowan on Nov. 12, 1918 was “University Celebrates Peace Holiday.”
The Dec. 3, 1918 Daily Iowan explains that after the university found 16 new cases of the flu, students were told to wear gauze masks and were not allowed to leave the city for around a week to 10 days in order to bring the pandemic under control. All campus activities were canceled, and the high school and elementary schools in Iowa City closed. Classes continued at the university and it was planned that the students would be able to go home for Christmas break. At that point, nearly 1200 students had been infected and were thought to be immune. Dec. 3rd is the final issue of the Daily Iowan for 1918 in the online archive.
In 2005, the Spanish flu was sequenced from the frozen remnants of a person who had died of it in 1918. The person’s remains were found in 1997 in Brevig Mission, Alaska (formerly called Teller Mission). The eight segments of the sequence can be viewed in GenBank. It was called the Spanish flu because it was first reported upon in a newspaper from Spain, but the origins of the Spanish flu remain unknown. The 1918 pandemic resulted in the death of 7 student nurses and thirty-one students at the University of Iowa. The complications of the Spanish flu, known now to be H1N1, were fluid-filled lungs and pneumonia. These severe health effects are thought to be due to the HA gene of the 1918 virus. When the HA gene was replaced with a different strain, lab mice lived rather than died when infected with the reconstituted 1918 H1N1 virus in a 2005 study by Tumpey et al.