As we gear up for a new year of splashy Moss Landing graduate student adventures, check out some Drop-In highlights from our first 10 months of kicking around in 2008:

We flocked from pole to pole, from Nate Jones’ surveys of seabirds in Alaska’s Bering Sea, to Kristen Green still rubbing elbows with penguins down in Antarctica.  Kyle Reyonlds warmed things up with a trip to the hot vents of Fiji’s deep sea, and Jeremiah Brower brought us up close and personal with some very old rocks.

Amanda Kahn regaled us with the multifaceted lives of sponges, even writing about them for the popular Deep Sea News blog.  Danielle Frechette showed us why balloons can spell bad news for wildlife, while Erin Loury waxed poetic about scurvy and poked around in kelp holdfasts.  To round things off, we hosted a successful Science Cafe at the labs, drummed up some coverage in the local press, and responded to some exciting questions from you!

Thanks for reading The Drop-In and getting curious about our research and experiences!  We look forward to bringing you along for the ride in 2009.