Biology at Amherst

The Biology Department Website is a good starting point. Find out about major requirements here.

Science Student Profiles

Click here to learn about Alicia Menezes, a biology major who has been involved in multiple research projects during her time at Amherst.

Neuro?

Given your interest in Biology, you might also like to learn about our Neuroscience department. Follow this link and find out what it's all about.

Arsenic: Poison and Building Block for Life?

Although NASA’s announcement Dec. 2 from California hinted at extraterrestrial life, it certainly didn’t prove it. Still, biology professor Patrick Williamson says there’s cause to be excited that scientists may have created a bacterium that uses an element normally considered toxic.  Read more here....

Disease Likely Not a Common Cause of Species Extinction, New Amherst Study Finds

Challenging the widespread belief that rare and endangered plants and animals are unhealthy, a new study has found they in fact harbor a lower number and diversity of disease-causing parasites than non-threatened, close relatives of the same family, according to Amherst College biology professor Michael Hood and his research team.  Read more here...

Spending Time with Slime Mold

It may sound like something out of a Far Side cartoon, but it’s serious science. Amherst College biology professor David Ratner and several of his students have spent this summer examining how Dictyostelium discoideum—a cellular slime mold—behaves.  Read more here... 

Changing Evolutionary Thought

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Carl Woese '50 has heavily influenced American thought on evolution. Read this article from the Amherst magazine.

Environmental Colloquium

The Copeland Colloquium addressed issues on the ethics and politics of environmentalism. Follow this link to view info about it and related video.

Facilities


The Life Sciences building houses the Biology Department. For more info on the facilities follow the link.