An article by Prof. Visscher and colleagues was recently published in Nature Geosciences.  The group assessed the chemistry and nature of cell-like globules found in 2.72-billion-year-old fossil stromatolites from Western Australia.   The globules were composed of organic carbon and arsenic and their investigation suggests that life existed as a result of arsenic cycling before the Earth’s atmosphere and ocean were oxygenated.   Details about this important finding can be found at:

http://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v7/n11/full/ngeo2276.html

University of Connecticut graduate student Zair Burris won the NEERS Dean Award for Best Graduate Student Poster, with her presentation, SPERMATOPHORE PRODUCTION RATES AS A FUNCTION OF FOOD AVAILABILITY IN THE MARINE COPEPOD ACARTIA HUDSONICA, at the meeting of the North Eastern Estuarine Research Federation held at UConn, Oct. 16-17.