Science Journalist in Residence meets UW’s creatures

Spiders and skeletons and squid, oh my! Last week, in addition to visiting students in classrooms and sharing their passion for writing about creatures in a public panel, science journalist Sabrina Imbler visited several labs across UW–Madison to meet researchers and critters alike. Imbler is a staff writer at Defector, an employee-owned sports and culture website, where they cover the creature beat. They visited campus from March 29-31, 2023 as the spring Science Journalist in Residence.

1 Imbler views a variety of preserved animal specimens in the UW Zoological Museum in the Lowell E. Noland Zoology Building. Photo by: Bryce Richter

2 Monahan shows Imbler a preserved animal specimen in the UW Zoological Museum in the Lowell E. Noland Zoology Building. Photo by: Bryce Richter

3 Monahan explains how a colony of dermestid beetles cleans animal skeletal specimens inside of large stainless steel tanks in the Dermesterium, a facility run by the UW Zoological Museum. Also pictured are Mahon; Chris Barncard (center left), University Communications science writer; and Imbler (right). Photo by: Bryce Richter

4 Imbler views a colony of dermestid beetles cleaning animal skeleton specimens inside of large stainless steel tanks in the Dermesterium. Photo by: Bryce Richter

5 Imbler views bobtail squid specimens in the Mandel Lab in the Microbial Sciences Building. Photo by: Bryce Richter

6 Imbler takes a closer look at infant snail specimens with PhD student Kaitlyn Abshire (right). Photo by: Bryce Richter

7 Imbler looks at a whip scorpion (Uropygi) with PhD student Benjamin Klementz (right) in the lab of Prashant Sharma, associate professor in Department of Integrative Biology housed in Birge Hall. Photo by: Bryce Richter

8 Imbler watches as a whip scorpion (Uropygi) crawls on their hands. Photo by: Bryce Richter

9 Imbler interacts with a tarantula (Araneae: Mygalomorphae) crawling on their hands as NSF graduate research fellow Emily Setton (left) and Director of Media Relations in University Communications Kelly Tyrrell (center) watch. Photo by: Bryce Richter

10 Imbler takes a closer look at a sea spider specimen with Prashant Sharma (right), associate professor in Department of Integrative Biology in his lab housed in Birge Hall. Photo by: Bryce Richter

Tags: Integrative biology, journalism, recent sightings, research