Category: Uncategorized
-
NEW PAPER! Headbutting history
A new paper is out from the CVN lab! Published in The Anatomical Record as part of our thematic issue “TBI, not just for humans”. Here is the press release: A newly accepted paper by Dr. Nicole Ackermans of The University of Alabama is poised to reshape scientific understanding of brain injury in animals. Titled…
-
Robots bring fossils to life
Genetic engineering is not the only way to bring an extinct animal back to life. A very Philip K. Dick-like method being investigated… Robots! A team of researchers from EPFL and Humboldt University paired up to recreate the gait of an extinct animal based on 300 million year old footprints. It was published in Nature…
-
A new addition to the CVN lab!
Although I’m a little late to announce it, please welcome the latest additions to the CVN lab, Dr. Ananth Srinivas and his faithful companion Dr. Thea! Dr. Srinivas joined the lab in January of 2025 as a postdoctoral researcher, with the goal to focus on the biomechanics of headbutting bovids (and woodpeckers, if I can…
-
SNSF Postdoc mobility grant applications open!
The Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) offers postdoctoral fellowships to graduate students having completed their PhD at a Swiss institution and who wish to perform their postdoc abroad. I (Dr. A) was a recipient of this fellowship from 2020-2023 and it was an amazing opportunity that allowed me to propel my career to the next…
-
Comic art collaboration
The CVN lab’s research is featured in an all new format, a comic! Our headbutting research was selected for a collaboration with students from the Massachusetts College of Art and Design (or MassArt) and their Integrative Sciences and Biological Arts Department. This collaboration is the brain child of Dr. Caroline Hu, an Assistant professor at…
-
The Tanglewood woodpecker project has begun!
Back in April, the CVN lab was approved to begin a project at the Tanglewood Research Station. Tanglewood, also known as the J. Nicholene Bishop Biological Station, is a 570-acre nature reserve and research facility that is a part of the University of Alabama. We are very excited to take advantage of this wonderful research…
-
Goat pilot experiment is a wrap!
The CVN lab has been working on a pilot experiment for the last six months. As of this April we have successfully completed all sample collection for the goat pilot. This project involves using goats as a model for Alzheimer’s disease, specifically because they self-inflict brain injury by headbutting. We collaborated with Mississippi State University…
-
New paper on dinosaur headbutting!
A new review is out in The Anatomical Record, entitled “Headbutting through time: A review of this hypothesized behavior in “dome-headed” fossil taxa“. Co authored by Cary Woodruff and Nicole Ackermans.This paper is part of a special issue for The Anatomical Record, organized and guest-edited by Nicole Ackermans. Get the full article here! https://anatomypubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ar.25526 Subscribe…
-
Two undergrad awards on Honors day 2024
Congratulations to Abi Yarbrough and Lillie Howe who were both awarded the E. Holznagel Jr. award in Biology for their research efforts in the CVN lab! We had a wonderful awards ceremony at the Alabama Museum of Natural History.Abi is working on using machine learning to track behaviors related to neurodegeneration on videos of headbutting…
-
CVN in Psychology Today
Dr. Ackermans was interviewed by Mary Bates for Psychology Today about the CVN lab’s newest paper on the neurobiological tradeoffs of headbutting bovids. The article is titled “what can headbutting goats reveal about brain injury?”. Check it out and share!
Nicole Ackermans, CVN lab 