Nipissing University Research Talk Series featuring Dr. Raymer

Dr. Graydon Raymer will give a presentation titled, What really happens in the portable (and maybe some interesting things you didn't know about groundhogs and bears), as part of the Nipissing University Research Talk series on Friday, March 16, from 2 – 3 p.m. in room A224.Here’s an abstract on the presentation:
The Port-A-Room structure situated on the small grassy knoll adjacent to Parking Lot 2 is home to many strange creatures, not the least among them a family of marmota monax (i.e. the common groundhog or woodchuck). In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years, with two or three being the average lifespan. More interestingly, the lifespan of one Nipissing University faculty member has spanned a three-year epoch of symbiosis with these large ground squirrels, and he has now reached some fascinating conclusions about what makes them 'tick'. More specifically, this modern-day Farley Mowat thinks he's figured out what makes these land-beavers’' 'tickers' tick. This intrepid researcher believes he may know the secret to bear and human tickers too. Such revelations have not come without expletives or perspiration; many test-subjects have been subjected to cruel (albeit REB-approved) methods of physical stress using horrific contrivances known as "velotrons", "spectrometers", "oximeters" and "wavelets", all in the name of science. All creatures, great and small, are invited to attend and learn more about what really happens in the portable (and maybe some interesting things you didn't know about groundhogs and bears). Although groundhogs are the most solitary of the marmots, there is at least one calendar day every year devoted to celebrating this reticent creature, with the next occasion scheduled for March 16, 2012, at 2 p.m. EST.
Refreshments will be available.