As in previous years, we can report some fantastic publications by our MSc students: 11 papers in the leading international research journals. Full details are listed here.
The papers are based on the research projects students complete as part of the work for the MSc, and so represent 6-9 months of work. One paper, in leading US journal Science Advances, combines the work of three MSc students, Emily Carlisle, Melina Jobbins, and Vanisa Pankhania, in their study ‘Experimental taphonomy of organelles and the fossil record of early eukaryote evolution’. Each student carried out experiments on exceptional preservation of cellular components, and related this to what we see of some of the earliest fossils.
Other papers include Natasha Howell’s project on aposematism in mammals, published in Evolution, Giacinto de Vivo’s study of function in the anomalocarids, giant Cambrian predators, and Karina Vanadzina’s study of developmental change in planktic foraminifera during a speciation event.
The image (right) shows Giacinto De Vivo’s models of the feeding appendage of a giant anomalocarid, and a reconstructed Cambrian foodweb.