Press

ALBANY – A Canadian researcher, whose work has been featured on national news networks, will present a free evening lecture at the New York State Museum Thursday, April 17, in conjunction with the Northeast Natural History Conference X, sponsored by the New York State Biodiversity Research Institute.

Dr. Kenneth B. Storey, Canada research chair in molecular physiology and professor of biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Departments of Biology and Chemistry, Carleton University in Ontario, Canada, will speak from 8 to 9:30 p.m. in the Clark Auditorium.

Dr. Storey has been featured on CBS, The Discovery Channel, and in US News & World Report. He is an (Institute for Scientific Information) ISI Highly Cited Researcher, one of a select group of individuals that comprise less than one-half of one percent of all publishing researchers.

His presentation, “Life in the Cold: A Biochemist’s Perspective on Animals in Winter,” will address how animals adapt to cold survival. Animals either tolerate freezing or they avoid it. In Canada and the United States, many endotherms, or “warm-blooded” animals, such as chipmunks, hibernate. This “deep sleep” can save as much as 90 percent of their energy. Some ground squirrels and bats can have body temperatures that fall close to 0 °C. Many “cold-blooded” animals, or ectotherms, like frogs, tolerate the cold by becoming partly frozen. Certain parts of these “frogsicles” contain anti-freeze while the rest of their body becomes ice. Studies of these mechanisms can have key applications to medicine, cryogenics, and preservation of human tissues and organs for transplant.

The Northeast Natural History Conference updates scientists, educators and students on research in the northeastern United States and Canada. More information is available at: http://www.nysm.nysed.gov/nhc/program/keynote.html .

The New York State Legislature created the Biodiversity Research Institute in 1993 to help meet the challenges associated with preserving the state’s biodiversity. The BRI serves as a comprehensive source of information, which is used to advise both public and private agencies on matters relating to the status of New York’s biological resources. Housed within the New York State Museum, the BRI is funded through the Environmental Protection Fund. The BRI includes several collaborators, including the State Museum, New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, State University of New York, New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Audubon New York, the New York Natural Heritage Program, and The Nature Conservancy. Further information is available at: www.nysm.nysed.gov/bri or by calling (518) 474-6531.

The New York State Museum is a cultural program of the New York State Education Department. Founded in 1836, the Museum has the longest continuously operating state natural history research and collection survey in the U.S. Located on Madison Avenue in Albany, the Museum is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. except on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day. Admission is free. Further information can be obtained by calling (518) 474-5877 or visiting the museum website at www.nysm.nysed.gov.

# # #