Ball State research: Do aquatic embryos communicate?
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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowA Ball State University biology professor has been awarded a nearly half-million-dollar grant from the National Science Foundation to examine aquatic animal embryos and their learning process before hatching. Dr. Jessica Ward, an associate professor of biology, will research the mechanisms to determine when learned behaviors are first expressed in embryos.
Ball State says the results will also provide insight into how animals perceive and transmit information among siblings in the nest prior to hatching.
Ward says while the research insights will not be particularly applicable to humans, it will speak to some larger general questions about how embryonic experience shapes behavior later in life.
The $487,000 grant will fund research expenses, stipends and tuition for two Ph.D. students, as well as paid summer research opportunities for multiple undergraduate students each year.