Waaah. I just have the closing banquet tonight, and then tomorrow is a long travel day home. So what did I learn?
- Spiders are cool, but I guess I already knew that.
- Spiders are a jillion times more complicated than I thought, and I’ve got a lot to learn.
- Spider meetings are small and cozy and nice.
- I’ve made a list of a dozen experiments that I think are doable by undergrads, and will provide interesting information.
- I need to get home to start putting these ideas to work.
I guess that’s a pretty good outcome for a meeting, to end it inspired and better informed than I was at the beginning.
Next year AAS2020 will be held in Davis, California. I’m hoping I can fit it into my budget.
If you do come to Davis, I’d love to share a meal with you. Davis is a nice short Amtrak ride from my home, and I can take my bike!
You should also have a good chance to do some field collection in the farm country surrounding Davis; the Latrodectus are plentiful. A great opportunity to start your breeding colony.
This is an interesting opportunity you’ve been able to grab, PZ. In some ways, you’re almost starting a new career, but with more surety about the non-scientific aspects of your job (i.e., you still get paid!) And you’ve even inspired me (a certified(TM) arachnophobe) to get a book about the critters and see what I can identify in my own yard.
You should be aware that Davis is very hot in the summer. Not as humid as the midwest, but with an average high temperature of 89°F in June (which means some days much hotter).
@bugfolder: How will he get them home? Whenever I try to take large quantities of spiders onto an airplane in my carryon luggage, the TSA confiscates them. Damn fascists.
They don’t scan your luggage for spiders. They just look like a couple of empty vials or tupperware containers to the doohickeys they use, and nope, they don’t smell like explosives. There are almost certainly already spiders living in the cargo bays of passenger planes.
Although, there is precedent for people getting a wee bit fussy about spiders on a plane.
It’s a good meeting when you want to rush home specifically to put new knowledge to work.
Yeah, I just emailed my research student to schedule a meeting to implement new plans.