Mamels life animal

Greetings from Namibia! Prof. Brooke Scelza , Department of Anthropology, UCLA and I just spent the last few weeks conducting research among the Himba people of Northwestern Namibia.  This has been a long-planned collaboration between Brooke and myself and it was fantastic to finally get the project well and truly launched. Integrating methods from human behavioral ecology, ethnography, and lactation biology we were able to investigate numerous aspects of breastfeeding and breastmilk among traditionally living pastoralists.  Although bold claims and righteous results await lab assays and data analysis, here is a photo essay that captures some of what we were doing. Himba Woman & Infant photo by me! Driving from Windhoek to Kaokoland took a couple of days during which we saw baboons, giraffes, warthogs, and duikers just  chillin' roadside . Driving on the right side on the left side  (of the car, of the road) W e worked in the shadow of Omuhonga,  near the town of Okongwa

Usually Mammals Suck… Milk! showcases recent scholarly publications from throughout lactation biology, usually emphasizing the evolutionary perspective. However, those journal articles, so meticulous, brief, and jargony, often obscure the months and years scientists spend doing the science .    "Science has it ALL!" -Principal Skinner   Well, 2013 has been a really exciting year around the Comparative Lactation Lab and I am going to take a moment to high five my colleagues and the cool stuff everyone is doing. This summer, 3rd  year graduate student Laura Klein conducted pilot research for her dissertation. She investigates the types and levels of immune molecules in breast milk from women who live in different disease ecologies. During summer 2012, she collected milk samples and interviewed women at the Mogielica Human Ecology Study Site in rural Poland established by Professor Grazyna Jasienska . Most families in this area live on small-scale farms or help relatives