The recent discovery by biological sciences professor Barry Wicklow grew out of his study on the turtles' habitat and range. The students had captured specimens in the Piscataquog River to change the transmitters attached to their shells. After hearing one make a high pitched whistling sound in the lab, Wicklow carried it into a quiet room for his students to listen to. Reports of turtle vocalization appeared in the 1930s, but were discredited. "It was out of this world," says Amanda DesRoberts. "I had no idea turtles could vocalize. It sounded like a tea kettle whistling."

To determine whether the sounds are a form of communication, students recorded the vocalizations and created an electronic turtle to play back the sounds in the field. Turtles detected and responded to the sounds, which may be part of the turtles' courtship behavior or an alarm signal. Students analyzed the frequency, duration and pattern of the vocalizations as part of their work in a two-semester independent research course under Wicklow's supervision. Current efforts are directed at determining the mechanism of sound production and testing theories about the social and adaptive function of the vocalizations. Their findings will hopefully find their way into a scientific publication.

Now graduates, some of the young researchers refuse to hang up their waders. Though they no longer live nearby, the '02s and '03s still hear the turtles calling. Last summer, they spent several Sundays collecting data in the wetlands near Saint Anselm.

Directed Research: Immunohistochemical Analysis of Breast Tumors
Jessica Rocheleau '03 (Biochemistry) Chances are, Jess Rocheleau will know someone who has breast cancer. That's the bad news. The good news is, she may have a part in its successful diagnosis and treatment. As a senior, she spent several hundred hours in Goulet Science Center's faculty lab investigating the role of Src, an intracellular signaling protein, in the development of breast tumors.

"We're looking for a link between two proteins that are involved in breast cancer," she says.

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