Maine marine scientist elected to America's oldest honorary society
May 19—A University of Maine marine scientist has earned a place among the likes of George Washington, Albert Einstein, Duke Ellington and Madeleine Albright as members of the nation's oldest honorary society.
Bob Steneck is one of nearly 250 members elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences this year. His four decades of research at UMaine has impacted how lobster fisheries research is conducted — and, in working closely with fishermen, focused on research to support the industry and its harvesters.
He's the first University of Maine faculty researcher to be named to the society.
Steneck said in a statement that he was shocked he had been elected. And he's excited to collaborate with members of America's art and scientific fields.
"I didn't see this coming," he said. "We all live on the same planet; we see similar things but integrate our experiences in new ways that sometimes shines a new light where it belongs or opens someone's mind to something new."
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences was founded in 1780, in part by John Adams, John Hancock and James Bowdoin — the namesake of Bowdoin College. It's an honorary society and independent research center that "recognizes excellence" and gathers interdisciplinary researchers together "to advance the interest, honor, dignity, and happiness of a free, independent and virtuous people."
Candidates are first nominated by two people who are already members. They then go through multiple rounds of review, which includes a vote by all society members. The academy does not disclose which member make nominations.
The 2025 cohort also includes CNN reporter Anderson Cooper, filmmaker Ava DuVernay and activist Gloria Steinem.
Steneck retired in 2023 and is a professor emeritus of oceanography, marine biology and marine policy. He's also continued his research at UMaine's Darling Marine Center in Walpole.
UMaine President Joan Ferrini-Mundy said Steneck's election was "well-earned," a sign of his "transformative impact."
"The honor is a testament to the lasting benefits of Bob's legacy, she said, "which include changing our understanding of Maine's most lucrative fishery, establishing a multidecadal relationship with our fishermen and coastal communities and helping preserve vital ecosystems across the Western hemisphere."
Many of Steneck's former students have grown into leaders within the marine research and fisheries communities. That includes Carl Wilson, the commissioner of the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Wilson has committed to collaborating with fishermen to best oversee the future of Maine's fisheries, a principle he said he learned from Steneck.
"Bob has been one of the most influential people in my career. He instilled in me the importance of being curious, of questioning, and being open to new ideas," Wilson said in an email. "That perspective is why I will continue to work to ensure that fishermen have a place at the table."
Copy the Story Link
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
New York Post
19 hours ago
- New York Post
Failing on every front, is higher education still sustainable today?
A professor specializing in honesty, Francesca Gino — fired for dishonesty. This latest headline from trouble-plagued Harvard puts higher education's problems in a nutshell. Not only do many Americans believe higher education is elitist, but increasingly they're concluding it's also not very good at its job, or even harmful. Advertisement And with reason. Gino, a Harvard Business School behavioral scientist who studied (of all things) honesty, was stripped of tenure and fired because of academic dishonesty, the first Harvard professor so treated since the 1940s. Investigators found problems with several of her more famous studies were the result of research misconduct. Advertisement Nor is she Harvard's only problem child: Claudine Gay had to step down as the school's president amid her own plagiarism scandal. And these problems are rife throughout the academy. A Smith College commencement speaker this year even had to surrender her honorary degree when it turned out her speech had been stolen. It's not just about copying. There's also a widely acknowledged 'replication crisis': Scientists publish papers reporting results, but it's increasingly impossible for others to reproduce those results, leading to what some have called an existential crisis for research. Advertisement We're told cuts to federal spending on higher education will imperil research, but such claims would be more troubling if the 'research' were of more reliably high quality. It's an open secret that the pressure to produce a constant flood of papers that are publishable and, better yet, interesting enough to spark headlines leads to corner-cutting, 'data torture' and overclaiming — or, sometimes, outright fraud. The result is an expensive self-licking ice cream cone of grant applications and publications, but the actual contribution to human knowledge is often lacking. Of course, research isn't the only justification for higher education; we had colleges and universities long before professors saw academic publication as the major goal of their jobs. Advertisement Higher education was long justified as a way to promote our society's values and instill knowledge. College grads were supposed to understand philosophy, government, literature and human nature in ways that people without such a higher education couldn't. They were supposed to gain a deeper appreciation of our society's roots and purposes, and an ability to think critically, and to re-examine their views in the face of new evidence. This is one reason for the requirement that military officers have college degrees — a requirement that probably should be rethought: Does anyone seriously believe this is what colleges and universities teach now? An overriding theme at elite colleges — and by no means limited to them — is that Western culture is uniquely evil, white people are uniquely awful, and pretty much any crime is justifiable so long as the hands committing it are suitably brown and 'oppressed.' Meanwhile, numerous universities face federal civil-rights investigations for allowing and in some cases promoting antisemitism and violence against Jewish students. We've seen riots, violence, Jewish students surrounded and attacked on campus or forced to hide out in attics as mobs rampage through buildings. The notion that our colleges and universities are encouraging students to follow their better instincts seems unsustainable. Advertisement And how are schools doing at inculcating actual, you know, knowledge? Not so well. In a recent study, Richard Arum and Josipa Aroksa found there's not a lot of learning going on: 45% of students 'did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning' over the first two years of college; 36% failed to show any improvement over four years. The reason: Courses aren't very rigorous, and not much is required of students. Then we see things like UCLA Medical School's notorious dumbing down of admissions in the name of 'diversity.' Advertisement Though racial preferences are outlawed in California, UCLA has made its minimum requirements much less demanding in order to promote minority admissions. The result: Up to half of UCLA medical students fail basic tests of competence. The public has noticed, which is why higher education, whose position seemed unassailable not long ago, is facing successful assaults from both the Trump administration and the market. Advertisement As one wag put it on X: 'Harvard is quickly realizing that nobody outside of Harvard cares about Harvard.' Or, if they do care, they want to see it turned upside down and shaken hard. As evolutionary biologist Thomas Ray observed, 'Every successful system accumulates parasites.' American higher ed has been extraordinarily successful, and it has been parasitized by grifters, political hacks and outright terrorist sympathizers. Advertisement Now that it's lost public sympathy, it can expect a stiff dose of the salts. Good. Glenn Harlan Reynolds is a professor of law at the University of Tennessee and founder of the blog.
New York Post
2 days ago
- New York Post
Phew — this much simpler habit is better at fixing your gut health than a poop transplant, say scientists
Turns out that fecal transplants are No. 2. It's hard to imagine, but these transplants are really hot right now. Clinical trials have shown promising results for treating cancer, reversing the effects of aging and healing the gut. Luckily, a new study suggests there's a much simpler and more appetizing way to optimize gut health. Advertisement 3 A new study suggests there's a much simpler and more appetizing way to optimize gut health than fecal transplants. Vadym – The research — recently published in the journal Nature — found that a healthy diet does a better job of restoring gut health than transferring someone else's poop into your body. 'There's a big emphasis on treating a depleted microbiome with things like fecal transplants right now, but our study shows that this will not be successful without a healthy diet, and in fact, a healthy diet alone still outperforms it,' Joy Bergelson, executive vice president of the Simons Foundation's Life Sciences division, said in a statement. Advertisement An international team of researchers set out to investigate how diet influences gut recovery after a round of antibiotics, which often nuke the good bacteria along with the bad. They hopped up some mice on a model of the Western diet — which tends to be high in fat and low in fiber — while the rest of the mice were bequeathed the joys of clean eating. The results were stark. 3 Eating a diet rich in fiber is better for your gut health than a poop transplant, according to science. aamulya – Advertisement 'In the mice that were on the healthy diet, within a week after antibiotic treatment, they recovered to almost their normal state,' said study co-author Megan Kennedy of the University of Chicago. 'By comparison, the microbiomes of the mice on the Western diet remained completely obliterated. They only had one type of bacteria left, and it dominated for weeks. They never really got back to the place they began.' Attempts to fix things with fecal microbiota transplants (FMTs) didn't help much unless the recipient mice were already eating well. 3 Meanwhile, ultra-processed food is likely to wreck your gut microbiome. Drobot Dean – Advertisement 'The idea of an FMT is that you can take the good microbes from somebody who is healthy, plop them in, and that will fix them,' said Kennedy. 'It has gotten a lot of enthusiasm, but we weren't sure how it would interact with a Western-style diet.' Turns out — not great. Without the right fuel — like dietary fiber — good bacteria simply couldn't flourish. 'It totally doesn't stick,' Kennedy said. 'On a healthy diet, the transplant works, but on the unhealthy one, the mice show basically no signs of recovery.' The researchers believe their discovery could shed some light on why some fecal transplants work better than others. And, for the rest of us, it's a good reminder that eating foods rich in fiber — such as berries, beans, nuts, seeds, oatmeal, lentils and avocado — will keep your gut happy.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Yahoo
Experts Say Doing This 1 Thing Can Lower Your Risk Of Colon Cancer — And It's Easier Than You Think
Dense bean salads, which use beans as a salad base instead of lettuce, are all the rage on social media for good reason. The beans, along with the fresh veggies in the dish, help you reach your daily fiber goal, a number that experts say most Americans don't hit, which isn't good. Eating enough fiber is a crucial way to reduce your risk of colon cancer, a type of cancer that's on the rise in people 50 and younger in the US. (It's recommended that women eat roughly 25 grams of fiber each day while men consume about 38 grams, but most adults eat roughly 10 grams of fiber each day.) Decades ago, researchers found that people in Uganda had very low rates of colon cancer when compared to Americans because of their diet, which was high in fiber — veggies, fruits and grains — and low in meat, said Dr. Ron Quinton, the medical director of the Goldring Center for Culinary Medicine at Tulane University in New Orleans. Specifically, colon cancer occurred at a rate of 3.5 out of 100,000 in men in Uganda compared to 51.8 out of 100,000 in men in Connecticut. 'And I think that's the first time that it was really noticed that this was a prevention for colon cancer,' noted Quinton. Meaning, it's really important to prioritize your fiber consumption. There are multiple ways that fiber benefits colon health and even more ways to reach the daily recommended amount. Here's what experts say: 'Fiber plays an important role in the health of the colon, and when the colon gets unhealthy, then we're set up for development of cancer and other inflammatory diseases,' said Quinton. Overall, fiber adds bulk to the stool, which helps with proper colon function. '[Fiber] makes the stools more easy to move along, so the time that the stool spends in the colon is lessened, so less chance for constipation, more normal stools,' explained Quinton. This is also good for the removal of toxins: 'If there are any toxins in the stool that lead to cancer, they spend less time in the colon, and therefore lessen the chances of cancer exposure or other diseases,' he said. Fiber is also important for the microbiome, which has been the main focus of research in the past decade, said Mary Ellen Camire, a professor of food science and human nutrition at the University of Maine. Fiber is often prebiotic, meaning it's food for probiotic bacteria, Camire added. And probiotics help rebuild and balance your microbiome. 'When the bacteria get a nice fiber meal, they are very active, and they make compounds that help protect the colon' against colon cancer, along with other kinds of cancers, she explained. More, the cells that line the colon, which are called colonocytes, get their energy from the microbiome, added Quinton. 'And when the colonocytes are healthy, then they form an intact barrier along the colon, so that substances that may cause disease or cancer can't cross that barrier,' Quinton said. 'It also helps the colon produce mucus [and] thick mucus lining also protects the colon, so without enough fiber, our microbiome gets diseased and they don't produce the energy or nutrients that our colon needs to stay healthy,' he noted. 'Fiber is a really critical part of our overall diet, and the typical American only gets 5 or 10% of the recommended amount of fiber in their diet on any given day,' said Quinton. As mentioned above, women need about 25 grams of fiber each day and men need about 38 grams, he said. Beans and legumes are very high in fiber and certain fruits and veggies are, too. Lentils have 18 grams of fiber per cup, black beans have about 15 grams in 1 can, chia seeds have 10 grams in 2 tablespoons, barley has 6 grams in 1 cup, raspberries have 8 grams in 1 cup and a pear has 6 grams, according to the Cleveland Clinic. This summer, you could make a bean and whole wheat pasta salad to up your fiber intake, or make some cold barley salads, said Camire. You can also lean into seasonal produce, she said. Camire added that it's important to spread your fiber intake out across the day and to consume different kinds of foods for fiber. 'The mistake a lot of people make when they decide 'I'm going to make fiber a priority' is they don't give their system time to adjust. If you're used to eating 15 grams of fiber a day, and you start eating 30 grams a day, the bacteria think they're having a party and so you may have some gas and cramping,' Camire said. You should start out gradually and slowly build up, she noted. 'Once you find the foods that you tolerate well and that you like, getting enough fiber won't be difficult or expensive,' Camire added. It's tempting to turn to fiber supplements as a quick and easy way to reach your fiber goal, but experts say you shouldn't. 'None of the supplements ... are an adequate replacement for natural fiber,' Quinton said. Also, since you need so much fiber, fiber supplements end up being just a drop in the bucket, Camire added. While some of the supplements can increase your stool bulk and help constipation, 'they don't necessarily have the soluble fiber elements that feed the microbiome and keep it healthy, which keeps your gut healthy,' said Quinton. 'I don't think you can just replace the fiber with supplements. You need to be eating whole food,' Quinton added. It's important to also take other preventative steps to lower your risk of developing colon cancer. These include monitoring yourself for concerning symptoms such as ongoing stomach pain, blood in your stool or a change in your bowel movements. If you notice these symptoms, talk to your doctor. It's also important to let your doctor know if colon cancer runs in your family as you may be eligible for an early colonoscopy screening. Colonoscopy screenings start at 45 for those with no family history and without the symptoms mentioned above, but no matter when you're eligible, colonoscopies are the best way to screen for colon cancer and remove potentially precancerous polyps. 'During a colonoscopy, if we see a polyp, and we believe it to be the precancerous kind, which the vast majority are, we will remove those polyps at the colonoscopy,' Dr. Jeffrey Dueker, a gastroenterologist at UPMC and an associate professor of gastroenterology at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, previously told HuffPost. 'And in doing so, we are reducing the colorectal cancer risk going forward,' Dueker added. With rising colon cancer rates in the U.S., it's important to do what you can to lessen your risk, which includes eating a high-fiber diet, going to necessary doctor's appointments and monitoring yourself for symptoms. You're Probably Not Eating Enough Fiber. Here's How To Tell, Including... You Know. I'm A Colorectal Cancer Doctor. Here Are 5 Things I'd Never Do. The 1 Unexpected Sign Of Colon Cancer, According To Doctors
