American Scientist the Magazine of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society

A reprint from American Scientist the magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society

This reprint is provided for personal and noncommercial use. For any other use, please send a request to Permissions, American Scientist, P.O. Box 13975, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, U.S.A., or by electronic mail to [email protected]. ©Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society and other rightsholders Sightings

Serious Science, Comic-Book Style

More than 300 live harvester ants, Pogonomyrmex occidentalis, are on display in the ant farm that welcomes visitors to the The Field Museum temporary exhibit The Romance of Ants. Pho- tograph by Karen Bean.

he people who create museum exhibits strive to grab attention. That’s not so simple when budgets have slimmed, but visitors’ expectations have remained super-sized. At The Field Museum in Chicago, exhibition development director TMatt Matcuk and his team recently found one way. While assembling the temporary exhibit The Romance of Ants, they stuck to some fundamentals: the universal love of story and people’s inherent interest in others. They also made it fresh by mixing media, including a comic-book style narrative and museum-grade photographs by University of Illinois biologist Alex Wild. A passion for science is conveyed through the real-life journey of Corrie Moreau, an entomologist and a museum assistant curator. Alexandra Westrich, an artist and aspiring entomologist working in Moreau’s laboratory, created the art- work. The exhibit, including the edited portion shown here, will be on view in Chicago through 2011. Moreau and Westrich described their backgrounds and this nontraditional project to American Scientist associate editor Catherine Clabby.

CHAPTER ONE: CHILDHOOD SOMETIMES SHE WOULD DO EXPERIMENTS, LIKE DROPPING A CRUMB TO SEE HOW LONG IT TOOK THEM TO FIND IT, HOW MANY NEW ORLEANS IN THE 1980s . . . ANTS WERE NEEDED TO CARRY IT AWAY, OR WHICH DIRECTION THEY TOOK IT IN.

TOUGH GOING FOR A LITTLE GIRL INTERESTED IN NATURE AND ANIMALS. HER NAME WAS CORRIE.

DON'T LET ANYONE TELL YOU THAT A SIX-YEAR- OLD CAN'T BE A THERE WASN’T MUCH “WILDLIFE” SCIENTIST. FROM AROUND, AND PETS WEREN’T THE START, CORRIE ALLOWED IN HER BUILDING. WAS MAKING SCIENTIFIC OBSERVATIONS.

Almost every ant you ever see is female, like these Pseudomyrmex spinicola worker ants seen on the tip of an Acacia tree thorn. Pho- tograph by Alex Wild (www.alexanderwild.com).

The Scientist When I was first approached about the exhibit I was very interested in sharing my science. When I learned that the team planned to tell much of the story using a graphic novel format, I was caught a bit off guard. I am quite comfortable sharing my science, but initially felt a bit uncomfortable about the exhibit being about my journey. In the end it became as much about my journey as it was about highlighting the amazing insects I work on and my scientific research. Growing up in an urban environment meant that there were not a lot of wild creatures around, outside of ants and other insects. I think that is part of the reason I was so drawn to them. You can find ants and insects anywhere. This being said, it is not all that “cool” for a teenage girl to like bugs and science. So I gave in to peer IN JUNIOR HIGH, CORRIE STARTED FEELING THAT pressure and let those passions go underground (so to SOME OF THE THINGS speak) for a few years. SHE LIKED WEREN’T During my junior high and high school years I be- CONSIDERED COOL FOR GIRLS TO DO . . . came very interested in environmental issues and the idea of seeing new parts of the world. This led to me to move to California for college, where I chose San Fran- cisco State University because it had a biology major that focused in entomology. It was the perfect fit. One of the reasons I enjoy science is that each discovery can . . . SUCH AS STUDYING INSECTS. take you in a new direction. For my Ph.D., I wanted to ask new questions about ant evolution. This led me to work with Edward O. Wilson and Naomi Pierce at Har- vard University. The knowledge and inspiration I gained from them was amazing. It wasn’t until the exhibit had been open for a few weeks that I realized the power of using a cartoon narrative. I started to get emails from public visitors, children and adults. If the display inspires others to consider a career in science or teaches them that natural history museums are active research institutions, then the exhibit has been a success in my book. www.americanscientist.org © 2011 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Reproduction 2011 May–June 245 with permission only. Contact [email protected]. CORRIE’S INTEREST IN ANTS WENT . . . UNDERGROUND.

EVENTUALLY CORRIE WENT ON TO GET HER PH.D. IN EVOLUTIONARY BIOLOGY AT HARVARD UNIVERSITY . . .

CHAPTER THREE: COLLEGE…

SHE THOUGHT THAT SHE MIGHT BE A TEACHER, BUT THEN SHE DID SOMETHING THAT (THAT’S EDWARD OSBORNE CHANGED HER LIFE WILSON TO THOSE IN THE FOREVER . . . KNOW . . . )

The Artist I’ve been a committed enthusiast of both nature and art me a position as a collection assistant. My work includes since childhood. While a student at the School of the Art point mounting, documenting and imaging ants that she Institute of Chicago, I favored science electives such as collects in the Florida Keys as part of a long-term survey "The Insect World" and "Animal Behavior" over studio of the diversity of ant communities (both native and ex- classes. This was when I started to seriously consider ap- otic) unique to these islands. plying my artistic abilities to the sciences, first through For this project, Matt Matcuk conducted the initial in- very basic avenues such as scientific illustration, but terviews and wrote the actual narrative. Many of the gradually extending to alternative media (such as comics highlights of Corrie’s biography (particularly her forma- and “zines”) that could appeal to a wider audience. tive years in New Orleans) were new to me. I think some I first met Corrie in 2009, when I started volunteering of the most powerful events in the narrative happen in at The Field Museum. After a few months, Corrie offered the beginning, when Corrie’s fascination with the natural

© 2011 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Reproduction 246 American Scientist, Volume 99 with permission only. Contact [email protected]. world first takes shape. The younger visitors to take an interest in science. Corrie’s This Podomyrma adelai- evolution of her interest in story is enormously inspirational and, with any luck, will dae ant shadows a lycaenid science—from rapt observa- mobilize kids to join the profession. (Honestly, the world caterpillar, which secretes tions about ant behavior as can never have too many entomologists). a liquid useful to ants. In return, the ant protects the a little girl to award-winning A fuller look at The Romance of Ants and caterpillar from parasites. science projects—provides its graphic narrative is available here: http:// Photograph by Alex Wild inspiring insight into the en- romanceofants.com. (www.alexanderwild.com). durance of dreams and the small but purposeful steps that lead to their fulfillment. In Sightings, American Scientist publishes examples of innovative scien- I hope The Romance of Ants draws attention to the tific imaging from diverse research fields. research and curation efforts of individuals such as Corrie who make up The Field Museum’s sizeable (if largely un- seen) research and collections staff. I hope it also motivates

CHAPTER FOUR: PROFESSIONAL CAREER

IN ANOTHER PROJECT, SHE EXTRACTS BACTERIA FROM THE STOMACHS OF ANTS AND SEQUENCES THE DNA OF THE BACTERIA* FOUND THERE.

THEN SHE CAN STUDY HOW THE BACTERIA AND THE ANTS HAVE EVOLVED TOGETHER OVER TIME.

*THIS IS “GOOD” BACTERIA: IT HELPS THE ANTS GET PROTEIN OUT OF THEIR ALL-PLANT DIET.

WHAT’S NEXT FOR DR. CORRIE MOREAU? SEQUENCING THE DNA OF It doesn’t matter A CEPHALOTES VARIANS what’s next for me. SPECIMEN’S LUNCH? What matters is what’s RE-WRITING THE EVOLU- next for you. TIONARY HISTORY OF THE POLYRHACHIS GENUS?

Look closely: nature’s full of little surprises. Go discover some of your own.

The leafcutter ant Atta texana can lift up to 20 times its own weight. Photograph by Alex Wild (www.alexanderwild.com).