Lost Science is an ongoing series featuring accounts from scientists whose careers and projects have been impacted by recent funding cuts. These interviews have been edited for clarity and conciseness.
Jay Falk: My terminated research focused on the captivating white-necked jacobin hummingbird. In this species, males are strikingly distinct: a shimmering deep blue head, a brilliant white belly, and a constantly fanned white tail. Females, by contrast, typically present a more subdued appearance with a mottled gray throat and belly, and a dark, almost black tail. Intriguingly, about 20 percent of females defy this norm, looking almost exactly like their male counterparts. Why would a female bird choose to mimic a male?
Dr. Falk discovered it’s a survival strategy tied directly to food access. These male-mimicking females effectively blend in, allowing them to avoid the aggressive territorial behavior of other hummingbirds when seeking precious nectar from flowers. Hummingbirds, it turns out, can be quite fierce.
His team made a remarkable discovery: they pinpointed a single gene likely responsible for this striking physical difference among females. This is highly unusual, as most complex physical traits are typically influenced by many genes working together. Further investigation revealed that this particular gene produces a thyroid hormone, a finding that surprised researchers given the magnitude of the physical change it induces.
I honestly don’t know why my fellowship was terminated. I can only suspect it might be connected to my research on a species that challenges conventional binary definitions of gender in nature.
Dr. Falk emphasizes that while his work focuses on a single hummingbird species, it addresses a profound scientific mystery: the intricate pathway from genetic code to observable physical traits in the natural world. This fundamental inquiry has direct parallels to understanding how human genes influence health and development.
His ongoing research aimed to unravel this complexity, investigating how specific changes in thyroid hormone could selectively impact feather coloration without affecting other aspects of the bird’s physiology.
However, on April 25th, Dr. Falk received an email terminating his postdoctoral research fellowship from the National Science Foundation. He remains uncertain about the specific reasons for this decision, but he suspects it may be related to his study of a species that defies traditional, binary expectations of distinct male and female appearances in nature.
The abrupt end to over a decade of dedicated research has left him disheartened and in professional limbo. The pervasive feeling is that without continued support, his valuable scientific contributions may have no future.
Jay Falk currently serves as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Colorado, conducting his work at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute in Gamboa, Panama.
More Lost Science
- GENETICS AND BIRDS
- TSUNAMI WARNINGS
- POLLUTION AND FERTILITY
- SPACECRAFT ENGINEERING
- EMISSIONS AND HEAT
- FIRES AND BEES
- ELEPHANT BEHAVIOR
Carl Zimmer covers news about science for The Times and writes the Origins column.
See more on: University of Colorado