News from the Media

BOSTON — A University of Massachusetts laboratory that tests ticks that people find on themselves or their pets for diseases that could possibly be passed on is stepping up its efforts as tick season kicks into high gear.

The Laboratory of Medical Zoology in Amherst is partnering with about two dozen towns in the state to offer discounted tick testing that lab director Steve Rich said can help treatment of Lyme and other tick-borne diseases.  (Globe 5/22/16, Herald 5/22/16,  Republican, Recorder 5/22/16, Berkshire Eagle 5/22/16, CBS Boston, WFXT-TV (Fox 25) Boston 5/22/16)

 "We haven't seen any blossoms yet, but I think a lot of our peach blossoms are dead... It doesn't look like we'll have much of a crop this year," said Peter Morton, manager of Autumn Hill Orchards in Groton. Because there are many farms that grow peaches in Massachusetts, the extent of the loss is hard to track, but for Jon Clements, a tree fruit specialist working for UMass Amherst's Extension Fruit Program, the damage could affect the entire state, as well as Connecticut and Rhode Island. (Nashoba Valley Voice 5/16/16)

The Keystone Project holds an annual training for volunteer champions for conservation in their communities, held in April at the Harvard Forest in Petersham. It is sponsored by UMass Extension and the UMass Department of Environmental Conservation. Plymouth Wicked Local, 5/2/16

A winter of extreme warmth and cold, combined with recent roller-coaster conditions, could reduce this year’s apple crop, and will more than likely result in a much smaller peach crop, according to fruit growers looking out this week on snow-covered orchards. UMass tree fruit experts offer observations. Worcester Telegram and Gazette, 4/5/2016, WFCR/NEPR,  4/5/2016

HOLYOKE — Researchers from the University of Massachusetts Amherst (professor Prashant Shenoy, College of Information and Computer Sciences) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology are developing battery technology at the Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center that could make the hydropowered city even more carbon neutral. (Data Center Knowledge 2/29/16;  masslive 2/26/16)

AMHERST, Mass. – As maple sugaring season approaches, plant ecologist Kristina Stinson, assistant professor of environmental conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, recently received a two-year, $149,800 grant to study the impact of climate change on the quantity and quality of sugar maple sap, including its chemical composition, and of sap from red maples, a species less sensitive to climate change. (Red Lake Nation News, 2/11/16; Phys.org, Recorder, Republican, 2/10/16; News Office release, 2/10/16)

Carolyn J. Demoranville, director of the Cranberry Experiment Station in Wareham, talks about how cranberry farmers are adjusting to the warm winter this year. She says growers traditionally flood their bogs in winter to protect the plants from damage. (Wicked Local Kingston, 2/1/16)

Two teams of international researchers led by Om Parkash, agriculture biotechnologist at the Stockbridge School of Agriculture, and Richard Peltier, environmental health sciences, have been awarded funding from the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) to initiate global projects designed to ultimately impact millions of people in the developing world. (12/22/15 UMass News Office)

Ezra Markowitz, assistant professor, Department of Environmental Conservation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and co-author, Lisa Zava, Columbia University, research American attitudes about climate change and what can make a difference. Spoiler alert: Their legacy. (1/5/16 Washington Post)