Ó³»­´«Ã½

January is , so it’s a nice time to reflect on our mentoring experiences. Many in the Ó³»­´«Ã½ community have at one time served as a mentor, a mentee, or both. Mentors at the Ó³»­´«Ã½ can be found at all levels, from research technicians up to core faculty members. The mentoring relationship is an essential one on the path to becoming a scientist, as many who enter the field are first inspired by a scientist or teacher they view as a role model.

I saw a mention today that the purported oldest elephant in North America died yesterday at the age of 71. Taj, who resided at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, was an Asian elephant - a smaller elephant compared with the African savannah elephant, Loxodonta africana. Aside from being long-lived, Taj also appears to have had an creating paintings sold for charity.

This weekend, several Ó³»­´«Ã½ researchers will be in sunny San Diego (those of us in snowy Cambridge are a bit jealous…) presenting at the annual Plant and Animal Genome Conference. I caught up with a few researchers before they left to find out more about what they’ll be presenting.