I have broad interests in evolutionary ecology, including paleoecology, botany, symbiosis and demography. However, I intend to be myopic about the questions that I settle on (in a matter of weeks),,, at which time I will consider all other aspects of evolution a distraction.

At the University of Chicago, I intend to leverage techniques in evolutionary genomics to investigate the history of ecologically relevant genes. The University of Chicago allows me the unique opportunity to pursue this research, with splendid faculty and resources. Wish me luck.

mhorton(hat)uchicago

One of the reasons I choose not to study humans is evident in this photo. Look at our protagonist. Granted, he has no idea how to hold this baby sloth whose arm is broken (e.g. take the pain and let it fall asleep on his leg). Our question is why is he engaging in altruism in the first place? This murky arena confuses me. Behavioral anthropologists would assert convincingly that this svelte, albeit dirty young man, is trying to show his worth to his partner. For the record, my partner was 2000 miles away and though I've shown her the photos constantly since my return, she simply isn't impressed. In fact, while watching the March of the Penguins tonight she tried to size me up on the "2 month sans food, keep my feet together quotient". I tried to remind her about the sloth episode, but apparently I'll have to convey my merit repeatedly for the next 10 years just for us to decide against children anyway. Hmmm... perhaps I could use this photo in male male competition?