Happy Halloween: Spooky news and fall favorites
Learn about zombie fungus, vampire bats, historic homesteads, and more.
Students explore the engineering major with a hands-on Halloween decoration project in the Frith First-Year Makerspace.
You won’t see any vampire bats tonight in the United States, but Luis Escobar, assistant professor of wildlife conversation in the College of Natural Resources and Environment, travels to Latin America to study them. Supported by grant funding, Escobar hopes to better understand the spread of rabies.
A recent paper published in Ecography by Paige Van de Vuurst, graduate student in the Escobar Lab, shows the linkage between climate change and vampire bat expansion and rabies virus spillover.
Can the fungus from HBO’s "The Last of Us" really create zombies? Jordan Metzgar, curator of the Massey Herbarium at Virginia Tech, answers questions about what humankind should realistically fear from fungi.
Trick-or-treaters may feel like they’re in Barbie’s Dreamland this year. Diana Smith-Glaviana, assistant professor of fashion merchandising and design, talks about the popularity of #Barbieween.
Photo courtesy of Ray Meese for Virginia Tech.
Some visitors feel the presence of the Reynolds family lurking around the historic homestead located about 70 miles south of Blacksburg. While she was careful not to call it haunted, Beth Almond Ford, the former historical services assistant at the Virginia Tech outreach center, has “felt the past come alive.”
Pumpkins hit store shelves a while ago, but fall is still in full swing. Virginia Cooperative Extension horticulture expert Ashley Edwards shares tips to preserve and repurpose your pumpkins throughout the season.
Need a break from the Halloween crowd? Now may be the perfect time for a fall foliage drive.
