Discovering Development at All Stages

In Peter Kimmel's Developmental Biology class students are discovering development from the very first stages of life.

"We incubate chicken eggs and open some of them to observe development," Kimmel said.

The very fragile process of slicing open an egg shell without harming the egg inside, then placing a clear protective layer over the opening before placing it inside of an incubator was recently completed, and students are currently watching the process unfold.

"The ducks and geese we just incubate for fun," Kimmel added. "My hope is that the class will actually be able to watch the birds hatch."

The students have "adopted" the birds (in the sense of giving them names) and all are encouraged to come visit them in the Jeffords Science Center, Room 225.

Below is a live look in at "Duck Cam," a 24-hour camera that watches the life of young "Palmer" play out before the students' eyes. The video is best viewed by using Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome browsers.