Faculty at Home Webinar with Greg Pask

Social Sniffers: Decoding smell in ants and unlighted fireflies

Smell is the most important sense in the life of an insect. It drives critical behaviors such as foraging for food, finding a mate, and locating an egg-laying site. But ants living in a colony also need to communicate with their sisters! And some fireflies have gone to the “dark side” and no longer produce dazzling courtship displays at night. Our current research fueled by Middlebury students aims to understand how these powerful sensory systems evolved.

Gregory Pask (BS, Muhlenberg College; PhD, Vanderbilt university), assistant professor of biology, is an insect neurobiologist in his second year at the College. You can find him in Middlebury adventuring in nature with his family, playing pickup basketball, raving about Marvel comics, or enjoying a maple creemee.