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On March 31, EXTINCTION – THE FACTS, Sir David Attenborough’s documentary exploring the extinction crisis and its consequences, premieres on PBS. The program features interviews with Bard College Biology Professor Felicia Keesing and other leading scientists discussing the extinction crisis, and its grave consequences for us all—threatening food and water security, reducing our ability to control our climate, and putting us at greater risk of deadly pandemic diseases, including COVID-19.

“We have a moment when we can change our world and make it better,” says Keesing in the documentary. “Often the best reservoirs for the pathogens that can jump to humans are smaller-bodied species, like rats and mice and certain kinds of bats. When we have intact natural systems with high biodiversity, these species are kept in check, but when humans destroy habitat, the large predators and herbivores disappear first. Which means the smaller-bodied species are the big winners. They proliferate wildly, they live at super high density and are the ones far more likely to make us sick.”

EXTINCTION – THE FACTS reveals what is happening to the natural world, how human activity drives extinction, and why we haven’t acted sooner to stem these losses. With the world at a critical turning point, the documentary asks what governments, industries, and individuals can do now to change our course. EXTINCTION – THE FACTS premieres Wednesday, March 31, from 8:00-9:00 p.m. ET. For more information or to view the documentary, please visit pbs.org/show/extinction-facts.

Felicia Keesing, David and Rosalie Rose Distinguished Professor of Science, Mathematics, and Computing, has been on the Bard faculty since 2000. She has a B.S. from Stanford University and a Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Since 1995, she has studied how African savannas function when the large, charismatic animals like elephants, buffaloes, zebras, and giraffes disappear. She also studies how interactions among species influence the probability that humans will be exposed to infectious diseases. Keesing also studies Lyme disease, another tick-borne disease. She is particularly interested in how species diversity affects disease transmission. More recently, she has focused on science literacy for college students, and she led the re-design of Bard College’s Citizen Science program. Keesing has received research grants from the National Science Foundation, National Geographic Society, National Institutes of Health, Environmental Protection Agency, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, among others. She has been awarded the United States Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (2000). She is the coeditor of Infectious Disease Ecology: Effects of Ecosystems on Disease and of Disease on Ecosystems (2008) and has contributed to such publications as Nature, Science, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Ecology Letters, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Proceedings of the Royal Society, Ecology, BioScience, Conservation Biology, and Trends in Ecology & Evolution, among others.(3.29.21)
 

“You and your students should continue to wear masks and socially distance in the classroom,” Morrison, a professor at the University of California Riverside, writes in response to a vaccinated teacher asking about classroom precautions. “Since your students are not vaccinated, they can get infected with the virus, get sick and also spread it to others. Based on what we know so far, there is a possibility that you could get infected and transmit it to the unvaccinated persons that you interact with inside and outside of the classroom.”

The APS Rising Star designation recognizes outstanding psychological scientists in the earliest stages of their post-PhD research careers. “As an APS Rising Star, you are among the brightest minds in our field,” said APS in its announcement. At Bard since 2019, Lopez earned his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College. He is the recipient of the National Research Service Award to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from the National Institutes of Health, as well as multiple teaching awards.

Richard Lopez earned his PhD in cognitive neuroscience at Dartmouth College and subsequently served as a postdoctoral fellow in the Translational Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab at Rice University. He has taught psychology and neuroscience courses at Dartmouth College and the University of Houston. He is the recipient of the National Research Service Award to Promote Diversity in Health-Related Research from the National Institutes of Health (National Cancer Institute), as well as multiple teaching awards including the Outstanding Undergraduate Teaching Award from the Dartmouth Center for the Advancement of Learning. His work has appeared in journals such as Psychological Science; Neuroscience & Biobehavioral Reviews; Cerebral Cortex; Social, Cognitive, and Affective Neuroscience; and other outlets. His recent published work has examined important individual difference factors implicated in successful regulation of cravings and emotions in daily life. BA, Princeton University; PhD., Dartmouth College; Postdoctoral Fellow, Rice University. At Bard since 2019.
 

The Biden administration is making good on its pledge to increase vaccine supply, says Akpan. “Last week, New York State received just over one million doses for people to take their first shots of the vaccine. That’s almost as many as what the state received in all of February. We’re seeing similar trends in the City’s supply too. Also, these vaccine campaigns are three months old, and health authorities are already seeing signs that they’re paying off—even against the variants.”

Bard alumna Catherine Dickert ’94 oversees the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) Division of Mineral Resources (DMR), where as director she manages day-to-day operations of a statewide program charged with the regulation of oil, gas, and solution salt mining wells, geothermal and stratigraphic wells deeper than 500 feet. She also represents New York State on the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission. Dickert is involved in reshaping DMR policies to meet the goals of Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act through the development of emerging technologies that can help more efficiently detect potential pollution sources. Catherine hails from Saratoga Springs and holds a BA in Biology from Bard College and an MS in Wildlife and Fisheries Biology from the University of Vermont. She has been with DEC for five years.