Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Free Event on Mosquitoes, Ticks, Infectious Diseases

BIODIVERSITY BITES BACK

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History in partnership with the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation will present an interactive educational event to spread the word about the cause and prevention of infectious diseases.
Called "Biodiversity Bites Back," the program will take place from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. April 21 and feature activities for the whole family, according to a statement.
Of special interest will be presentations from visiting organizations, the statement said. 
 Scientists from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station will have live colonies of mosquito larvae that visitors can examine under high-powered microscopes and technicians from the New Haven Central Veterinary Hospital will present information on how to protect pets from tick borne diseases such as Lyme disease, the statement said. 
Staff from the New Haven Department of Health will have an information table and the Museum's Peabody Fellows professional development program for teachers will demonstrate how humans are changing environments in ways that bring people into closer contact with organisms (arthropod vectors such as ticks and mosquitoes) that transmit disease from one species to another, the statement said. 
A traveling exhibit on Lyme disease and West Nile virus will be manned by experts who will make predictions for this year's outbreaks. 
Researchers from the Yale Medical School studying the effects of environment and genetics on childhood diseases will be on site to explain research studies and sign up visitors to participate in clinical research trials on a  a variety of health issues ranging from childhood diabetes to obesity, dyslexia and other learning disabilities, the statement said.
 Activities for young children will include a Roxi Fox puppet show, tick bean bag toss, making a tick hat and building a mosquito model.
 Biodiversity Bites Back is sponsored by the Yale Center for Clinical Investigation at the Yale School of Medicine through an American Recovery and Reinvestment Act supplement award and by the Yale Peabody Museum through a Science Education Partnership Award from the National Institutes of Health.

The Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History is located at 170 Whitney Avenue.
  
All information in this post was contributed by the Peabody.

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