(This article was originally published January 22, 2018 and has been updated with photos from January 2022) by Adam Hinterthuer – Two weeks ago, I walked down the hill from my house to do something I’d never done before. On the shoreline of Lake Monona, in the time it took my wife to get herself …
by Jake Walsh There is a fortunate silver-lining to those of us prone to making mistakes – they can be a powerful teaching tool. At a minimum, our mistakes teach us things we shouldn’t be doing. In the best cases, they help us better understand ourselves and how we work. Scientists are no strangers to …
Welcome back to our blog! We’ve got big plans in store for 2018, but first wanted to touch base on something that happened way back in 2017 – December 27th, to be exact. If you were in the Madison area and ventured out along the shoreline of our beautiful lakes, you would’ve seen that Lake …
Last Friday, my phone started “blowing up” with text messages about some sort of invasion at Hasler Lab and where, exactly, our new Go Pro camera could be found. Perhaps because I’ve recently binged-watched both seasons of Stranger Things, I pictured CFL staff and students jumping on their bikes and racing to the lab with …
by Luke Loken Autumn is typically associated with fall colors, pumpkin spice lattes, and cool temperatures. However this year, much of the Midwest has been stuck in summer-like conditions. And these record temperatures come with unexpected consequences. Usually, as the air cools in autumn so do the surfaces of our lakes. When a lake’s surface …
by Mike Spear In September 2015, a single zebra mussel about the size of a fingernail sent alarm through the Center for Limnology. (CFL). It signaled the arrival of one of the world’s most notorious invasive species in our own Lake Mendota, and it was big news. Today, zebra mussels carpet the rocky bottom of …
Happy Day-After-Independence Day! Over the weekend (July 1st to be exact), we celebrated the 35th Birthday of the Center for Limnology. Yes, we’ve been studying our lakes since 1895 and, yes, Trout Lake Station was built in the early 1900’s and, yes, Hasler Lab on Lake Mendota dates back to the Sixties, BUT the “Center …
Somewhere along the way, someone lost a pair of Oakley sunglasses. Maybe they were blown off on a full-throttle boat ride. Or slipped from a shirt pocket while wrestling a fish on board. Whatever the cause, the sleek, black glasses with the reflective lenses sank eight meters (about 24 feet) and settled on top of …
As I jumped on my bike and left the Lowell Elementary playground after dropping my kids off yesterday morning, I overheard a conversation between two parents that I hear pretty consistently this time of year. It went something like this: Parent 1: “Ugh, can you believe these swarms of bugs?” Parent 2: “Yeah, those are …
Mayfly. Bladderwort. Freshwater Drum. No, these aren’t names of some obscure band headed to town, they’re the names of some of the many plants, animals and insects that call Madison’s lakes home. And, on Friday, June 23rd – from 2 to 6pm – you’re invited to come down to Hasler Lab to meet them! That’s …