STILLPOINT Archive: last updated 04/07/2009

ARTICLE | The Lobster Whisperers

A few years ago there was a major movie, The Horse Whisperer, and now there is a TV show, The Dog Whisperer. I hold that we who have moved from Emery into the new science building could be considered lobster whisperers. What we experienced in May and June as we frantically packed and extricated ourselves, our books and equipment from the nooks and crannies of Emery and moved over to here with all of this space, gives us insight into the experience of a lobster as they molt.

Lobsters grow until they are tight, and then they split right up the back and pull their paired, jointed legs right out. They pull themselves out through the split and puff up, hide out and grow a new, much larger shell. Finally they grow the muscles to move that new shell around.

That’s pretty much us, folks.

This new space is phenomenal. I am extremely grateful for the lab space for storage after whacking my head on beams every time I had to go into the little attic where we stored equipment. No more running into equipment in the halls. Now we can breathe. We have room to walk and work. The difference is unbelievable.

Dorothy Boorse, biology