Top Stories /asmagazine/ en He will, he will rock you /asmagazine/2024/10/10/he-will-he-will-rock-you <span>He will, he will rock you</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-10-10T07:11:59-06:00" title="Thursday, October 10, 2024 - 07:11">Thu, 10/10/2024 - 07:11</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/murat_guitar_onstage_0.jpg?h=95aaa5f9&amp;itok=diUWpjRS" width="1200" height="600" alt="Murat Iyigun playing guitar onstage"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/897"> Profiles </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/130" hreflang="en">Economics</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/857" hreflang="en">Faculty</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/rachel-sauer">Rachel Sauer</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Pursuing a passion for music, CU Boulder economist Murat Iyigun transforms from recognized expert on baby直播apps of the family and baby直播app history to regional rock star with a growing musical reputation</em></p><hr><p>In a low-key pub and grill on a quiet street in Littleton, baby直播app, it鈥檚 about 10 minutes to 8 on a Saturday night, and the renowned economist seems to be in six places at once.</p><p>He鈥檚 sound checking his guitar and finalizing plans with the light technician and joking with the singers and ticking through the set list with the drummer and donning a dusky green bomber jacket and wraparound shades.</p><p>The dance floor in front of the stage is empty for now, but it won鈥檛 be for long. At a little after 8, members of the steadily growing audience put down their forks and drinks to welcome鈥攁s they鈥檇 been invited, as the musicians had been introduced鈥攖he Custom Shop Band.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/murat_iyigun.jpg?itok=UUfWiLrL" width="750" height="914" alt="Murat Iyigun"> </div> <p>Murat Iyigun is a professor of baby直播apps focusing on the baby直播apps of the family and baby直播app history.</p></div></div></div><p>A kaleidoscope of colored lights flashes from the rafters toward the stage as lead singers Amy Gray, Mckenna Lee and Abbey Kochevar begin an iconic refrain: stomp-stomp-clap, stomp-stomp-clap.</p><p>鈥<em>Buddy you're a boy, make a big noise, playin' in the street, gonna be a big man someday</em>,鈥 Gray sings, achieving the stratospheric, Mercurian growl and grandeur of the original. 鈥<em>You got mud on your face, you big disgrace, kickin' your can all over the place. Singin'鈥︹</em></p><p>The renowned economist leans toward his mic and joins the immortal chorus: 鈥<em>We will, we will rock you.鈥</em></p><p>It wasn鈥檛 so much a threat as a promise. For the next four hours, minus breaks between sets, the band founded by <a href="/baby直播apps/people/baby直播app/murat-iyigun" rel="nofollow">Murat Iyigun</a>, a University of baby直播app Boulder professor of <a href="/baby直播apps/" rel="nofollow">baby直播apps</a> and former economist with the Federal Reserve Board in Washington, D.C., would rock everyone there.</p><p>And they would rock <em>hard</em>.</p><p><strong>鈥榊ou should listen to Queen鈥</strong></p><p>The question, then, is how does a scholar and economist widely known for his research on the <a href="/asmagazine/2023/03/20/1950s-many-wives-financed-their-husbands-through-college-1" rel="nofollow">baby直播apps of the family</a> and baby直播app history come to be on a pub-and-grill stage on a Saturday night, slaying licks originally conceived by Brian May?</p><p>鈥淟ife is funny, isn鈥檛 it?鈥 Iyigun admits.</p><p>The story starts, as not many&nbsp;rock stories do, in Ankara, Turkey. The son of a Turkish father and a Turkish-American mother, Iyigun grew up during a tumultuous time in Turkey, when older kids might stop him on the street to ask whether he was a leftist or a rightist. Still, he says, he was lucky and maybe even a little sheltered, while some of his older sisters鈥 friends became victims of the left/right violence.</p><p>It was that violence, in fact, that caused his older sister鈥檚 university to be shut down for seven months. To continue her chemistry studies, she transferred to The Ohio State University, but not before leaving her LP collection to her younger brother.</p><p>鈥淚 was about 13, and I was counting the days to when she left in July because I was going to be getting all the LPs,鈥 Iyigun recalls with a laugh. 鈥溾楬otel California鈥 was huge that summer, and then there was Cat Stevens, ELO. I was totally captivated even though, compared to now, things were so closed for us. Going to the U.S. was like going to Mars. But in terms of music and Western culture, especially among urban secular Turks, we followed everything.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/murat_on_guitar_0.jpg?itok=DMv4TjbM" width="750" height="527" alt="Murat Iyigun playing guitar"> </div> <p>Murat Iyigun was inspired to learn to play the guitar after hearing Queen's album <em>Live Killers</em>. (Photos: The Custom Shop Band)</p></div></div></div><p>鈥淣ow you can get all the vinyls and they鈥檙e easy to come by, but at that time people basically made tapes that everyone shared around. There was all this bootleg stuff that would come from Europe, and someone in Istanbul would press some vinyls, but I was never sure if they had an agreement (with the record labels) or if those were counterfeit.鈥</p><p>At the tender age of 13, Iyigun was more into the mellow side of rock n鈥 roll. A few years deeper into his teens, however, and he discovered KISS. Visiting family in the United States during the summer of 鈥78鈥攁 time that might be considered the fever-pitch apex of the band鈥檚 makeup years鈥擨yigun acquired all things KISS: T-shirts, posters, tapes, you name it.</p><p>It might have been the following summer, he doesn鈥檛 remember exactly, that he went camping with friends and met one of the great platonic loves of his teenage years鈥攁n older girl who inadvertently changed his life.</p><p>鈥淪he said, 鈥榊ou should listen to Queen, they鈥檙e a great band,鈥欌 Iyigun recalls. 鈥淪o, I asked someone to make me a tape of the <em>Live Killers</em> album, and that was it.鈥</p><p>It says something about what happened to him, listening to that album, that he currently has鈥攊n a glass case in his Boulder home鈥攁 replica of May鈥檚 immortal Red Special guitar, signed by May. Iyigun also bought Red Special replicas for both of his daughters.</p><p>He heard <em>Live Killers</em> and had to learn to play guitar, is the point. Then he and some of his friends, including an ambassador鈥檚 son whose presence allowed them to practice at the Swiss embassy in Ankara, formed a band.&nbsp;Iyigun absolutely loved it, but making it as a rock musician in a Muslim country in the 1980s started to strike him as increasingly impossible.</p><p>鈥淚 thought, 鈥極K, I need to get my act together,鈥欌 Iyigun says, so he came to the United States to earn an MBA at Boston University and then a master鈥檚 and PhD in baby直播apps at Brown University.</p><p>His parents had given him a Les Paul guitar when he graduated high school and began studying business administration at Hacettepe University鈥斺渋n Turkey back then you just didn鈥檛 have these instruments, so for my parents I know this was very costly,鈥 he explains鈥攁nd as a graduate student at Brown he bought an amp and noodled around at home.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/custom_shop_band.jpg?itok=yF5o9aDA" width="750" height="447" alt="The Custom Shop Band onstage"> </div> <p>The Custom Shop Band includes, left to right, lead guitarist Murat Iyigun; singers Amy Gray, Mckenna Lee and Abbey Kochevar; drummer Kevin Thomas; bassist Elliot Elder; and keyboardist Tone Show. Steve Johnson (not pictured) also is a member of the band. (Photo: The Custom Shop Band)</p></div></div></div><p>But then life happened. He was beginning his career, he had a wife and young children, he was working toward tenure, and he just didn鈥檛 have time to play, for more than a decade.</p><p>Then, about 15 or so years ago, at a time he was hardly ever playing guitar, his daughters and wife gave him the game Guitar Hero for Father鈥檚 Day. He played it a bit and realized the game console was an instrument in its own way, so with typical focus 鈥淚 thought, 鈥業 need to learn to play it well,鈥欌 he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 nothing like guitar playing, but I thought I could learn to do this, and then I was thinking about how I used to play. And that鈥檚 when I brought out my guitar.鈥</p><p><strong>Learning through blues jams</strong></p><p>鈥淥nce I started to come back to it, I realized some of my fundamentals had gone,鈥 Iyigun says. 鈥淪o, I started by taking these baby steps. I immediately hooked up with a great music teacher, Jeff Sollohub, a Berklee (College of Music) graduate and super nice guy, and every two weeks I鈥檇 work with him on a new song, on composition and things like that.</p><p>鈥淲ithin a year or two, I realized I鈥檓 only going to get so good if I don鈥檛 actually go out and play. By the time I came back to it, there were so many more resources online, YouTube and things like that, and I still got a lot of joy out of playing at home. But I quickly realized there鈥檚 a limit to how much I can improve unless I get out and play. That鈥檚 when I discovered blues jams, which are the easiest way to go play live even though blues is super difficult to play well.鈥</p><p>He went to multiple blues jams a month around metro Denver and endured the 鈥減ainful, painful learning process.鈥 A significant moment of clarity and focus came when he saw the parallels between being onstage playing and lecturing in front of a full classroom or at an baby直播apps conference.</p><p>鈥淚 had a lot of embarrassing days where the ride home would be miserable, and I did that for a couple of years, and I was discovering other jams and just kept playing,鈥 he says. 鈥淭he limitation of blues jams, though, is you pack all the gear, get in the car, drive 40 minutes, get on the list, then the person running the jam will put these bands together and you play for 20 minutes. So, I drove there an hour, waited an hour, spent this time to play 20 minutes鈥攁nd 18 minutes of that was painful.</p><p>鈥淏ut after doing that a couple years, this blues band of three guys needed a guitar player, and they鈥檇 seen me play, so they said, 鈥楧o you want to join a band?鈥 I joined for about a year, and there was this point where I鈥檓 like, 鈥榊eah, this is what I want.鈥欌</p><p>Inside, though, he was still the kid obsessed with KISS and Queen who knew <em>all</em> the guitar greats, not just the blues ones. He was treasurer for Mile High Blues Society, but he wanted to play rock.</p><p>[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1GsmjeOjVPs]</p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Joining the band</strong></p><p>The <a href="https://thecustomshopband.com/home" rel="nofollow">Custom Shop Band</a>鈥攖he name is a reference to the custom guitars Iyigun plays鈥攃ame together in a way that could be interpreted as either patchwork or destiny: friends of friends, acquaintances who know a guy, calls and emails that began with, 鈥淗ey, are you interested in being in a band?鈥</p><p>Elliot Elder, the Custom Shop Band bass player and a 2022 CU Boulder graduate in jazz bass performance, was recommended by a mutual friend. Amy Gray, the original in what is now a trio of lead singers, was recommended to Iyigun by another mutual friend:</p><p>鈥淚 was singing with another band and had recently left them when I got a message from Murat,鈥 Gray says. 鈥淗e saw me in a video from that band, and he said they were looking for someone to do backups and fill in when their lead at the time was not available.</p><p>鈥淪o, I looked them up, I went to a show to see what they sounded like and saw that they played some fun songs, that they as instrumentalists all sounded good, so I thought, 鈥榃hy not, let鈥檚 give it a chance, they all seem very nice鈥 and I jumped in and went with it.鈥</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><div> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/csb_murat_0.jpg?itok=kqoJX4Co" width="750" height="500" alt="Murat Iyigun singing onstage"> </div> <p>Murat Iyigun joins in on harmony during the Custom Shop Band's set list of "hits, with a twist."</p></div></div></div><p>Gray recruited Kochevar, whom she knew from performing with her in theater, and Lee, who had recently moved to baby直播app from California and whom she knew through mutual friends. And that鈥檚 how the Custom Shop Band has worked: Iyigun founded it and continues to act as band leader and manager, but in every other way it鈥檚 a democracy.</p><p>鈥淢urat is an awesome band leader,鈥 Elder says. 鈥淥ne of the reasons why a lot of bands don鈥檛 get past a certain point, in my opinion, is the band leader doesn鈥檛 have the flexibility and communication skills to manage situations where lineups change, things change on short notice, people have different ideas about how a song should be played. Murat鈥檚 emailing venues, scheduling gigs, managing lineups and all the while teaching at CU. He puts a lot of work into it. You meet a lot of people in the music scene who don鈥檛 communicate, who don鈥檛 get details to people on time, but Murat is definitely an exception.鈥</p><p>The band, which also includes Kevin Thomas on drums and either Tone Show or Steve Johnson on guitar and keyboards, practices in-person when adding a new song to the set list or a new musician, but otherwise its members practice at home with versions of the songs that Iyigun sends to everyone. In keeping with the band鈥檚 democratic ethos, every member brings song suggestions to the table.</p><p>At any given show, the Custom Shop Band may open with Queen鈥檚 鈥淲e Will Rock You,鈥 and soon thereafter play 鈥淔lowers鈥 by Miley Cyrus and 鈥淚t鈥檚 Raining Men鈥 by The Weather Girls, which might be followed by a mashup of Foreigner鈥檚 鈥淛ukebox Hero鈥 and Led Zeppelin鈥檚 鈥淲hole Lotta Love.鈥</p><p>On a Saturday night in September, at a pub and grill on a quiet street in Littleton, 鈥淪o What鈥 by P!nk gets booties to the dance floor in a joyful melee. A dude to the left is lost in his own world of intricate air guitar and a lady on the right has divested herself of shoes. A little later, as the band plays Cheap Trick鈥檚 鈥淚 Want You to Want Me,鈥 the air guitarist to the left reaches a fever pitch as the band鈥檚 lead guitarist, who also happens to be a renowned economist, absolutely wails on the solo.</p><p>And transitioning smoothly into Sweet鈥檚 鈥淏allroom Blitz,鈥 the dancefloor still throbbing, the economist is grinning wide.</p><p>He <em>will </em>rock you.</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subcribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about baby直播apps?&nbsp;</em><a href="/baby直播apps/news-events/donate-baby直播apps-department" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Pursuing a passion for music, CU Boulder economist Murat Iyigun transforms from recognized expert on baby直播apps of the family and baby直播app history to regional rock star with a growing musical reputation.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/feature-title-image/murat_guitar_onstage_0.jpg?itok=jHcoN81Q" width="1500" height="944" alt> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 10 Oct 2024 13:11:59 +0000 Anonymous 5991 at /asmagazine Uncovered Euripides fragments are 鈥榢ind of a big deal鈥 /asmagazine/2024/08/01/uncovered-euripides-fragments-are-kind-big-deal <span>Uncovered Euripides fragments are 鈥榢ind of a big deal鈥 </span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-08-01T00:00:00-06:00" title="Thursday, August 1, 2024 - 00:00">Thu, 08/01/2024 - 00:00</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/euripides_bas_relief_cropped.jpg?h=40fe5c7d&amp;itok=y-g_yIIp" width="1200" height="600" alt="Marble bas-relief of Euripides"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/266" hreflang="en">Classics</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1241" hreflang="en">Division of Arts and Humanities</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/510" hreflang="en">Literature</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/clay-bonnyman-evans">Clay Bonnyman Evans</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>CU Boulder Classics scholars identify previously unknown fragments of two lost tragedies by Greek tragedian Euripides</em></p><hr><p>After months of intense scrutiny, two University of baby直播app Boulder scholars have deciphered and interpreted what they believe to be the most significant new fragments of works by classical Greek tragedian Euripides in more than half a century.</p><p>In November 2022, Basem Gehad, an archaeologist with the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, sent a papyrus unearthed at the ancient site of Philadelphia in Egypt to <a href="/classics/yvona-trnka-amrhein" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Yvona Trnka-Amrhein</a>, assistant professor of <a href="/classics/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">classics</a>. The two scholars have also recently discovered the upper half of a colossal statue of the ancient Egyptian Pharaoh Ramesses II in their joint excavation project at Hermopolis Magna.</p><p>She began to pore over the high-resolution photo of the papyrus (Egyptian law prohibits physically removing any artifact from the country), scrutinizing its 98 lines.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/trnka-amrhein_and_gilbert.jpg?itok=AHYEuKF_" width="750" height="507" alt="Yvona Trnka-Amrhein and John Gilbert"> </div> <p>CU Boulder classicists&nbsp;Yvona Trnka-Amrhein&nbsp;(left) and John Gibert (right) spent months studying a small square of papyrus and&nbsp;became confident it contains previously unknown material from two fragmentary Euripides plays, <em>Polyidus</em> and <em>Ino</em>.</p></div></div> </div><p>鈥淚t was very clearly tragedy,鈥 she says.</p><p>Using the <a href="https://stephanus.tlg.uci.edu/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Thesaurus Linguae Graecae</a>, a comprehensive, digitized database of ancient Greek texts maintained by the University of California, Irvine, Trnka-Amrhein confirmed she was looking at previously unknown excerpts from mostly lost Euripidean plays.</p><p>鈥淎fter more digging, I realized I should call in an expert in Euripides fragments,鈥 she says. 鈥淟uckily, my mentor in the department is just that!鈥</p><p>Working together, Trnka-Amrhein and renowned classics Professor <a href="/classics/john-gibert" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">John Gibert</a> embarked on many months of grueling work, meticulously poring over a high-resolution photo of the 10.5-square-inch papyrus. They made out words and ensured that the words they thought they were seeing fit the norms of tragic style and meter.</p><p>Eventually, they became confident that they were working with new material from two fragmentary Euripides plays, <em>Polyidus</em> and <em>Ino</em>. Twenty-two of the lines were previously known in slightly varied versions, but 鈥80 percent was brand-new stuff,鈥 Gibert says.</p><p>鈥淲e don鈥檛 think there has been a find of this significance since the 1960s,鈥 he says.</p><p>鈥淭his is a large and unusual papyrus for this day and age,鈥 Trnka-Amrhein says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a big deal in the field.鈥</p><p><strong>Retelling a Cretan myth</strong></p><p><em>Polyidus </em>retells an ancient Cretan myth in which King Minos and Queen Pasipha毛 demand that the eponymous seer resurrect their son Glaucus after he drowns in a vat of honey.</p><p>鈥淎ctually, it has a relatively happy ending. It鈥檚 not one of these tragedies where everyone winds up dead,鈥 Trnka-Amrhein says: Polyidus is able to revive the boy using an herb he previously saw one snake use to revive another.</p><p>The papyrus contains part of a scene in which Minos and Polyidus debate the morality of resurrecting the dead, she says.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/louvre_euripides_sculpture.jpg?itok=LEAi5Y57" width="750" height="1129" alt="Marble statue of Euripides"> </div> <p>A marble statuette of Euripides, found in 1704 CE in the Esquiline Hill at Rome and dated to the 2nd century CE, lists several of the tragedian's works on the back panel. It is on display at the Louvre-Lens Museum in France. (Photo:&nbsp;Pierre Andr茅/Wikimedia Commons)</p></div></div> </div><p><em>Ino</em> came close to being one of Euripides鈥 best-known plays, Gibert says. Part of the text was inscribed on cliffs in Armenia that were destroyed in modern conflict. Fortunately, early 20th-century Russian scholars had preserved the images in drawings.</p><p>The eponymous character is an aunt of the Greek god Dionysus and part of the royal family of Thebes. In previously known fragments of a related play, Ino is an evil stepmother intent on killing her husband the Thessalian king鈥檚 children from a previous marriage. The new fragment introduces a new plot, Trnka-Amrhein says.</p><p>鈥淎nother woman is the evil stepmother, and Ino is the victim,鈥 she says. 鈥淭he third wife of the king is trying to eliminate Ino鈥檚 children. 鈥 Ino turns the tables on her, causing her to kill her own children and commit suicide. It鈥檚 a more traditional tragedy: death, mayhem, suicide.鈥</p><p>Of course, in matters of ancient Greek, there is always room for interpretation, and such bold claims will receive careful scrutiny from other experts. Gibert and Trnka-Amrhein decided not to pull any punches with their conclusions.</p><p>鈥淲e could play it safe,鈥 Gibert says. 鈥淲e are establishing a solid foundation, and on top of that we are sticking our necks out a little.鈥</p><p>They鈥檝e already entered the gauntlet of scrutiny, making their case to 13 experts in Washington, D.C., in June and having their first edition of the fragment accepted for publication in August.</p><p>On Sept. 14, they will host the Ninth Fountain Symposium on the CU Boulder campus, supported by long-time Boulder resident and classics enthusiast Dr. Celia M. Fountain. The day-long event will feature three illustrious experts: Professor Paul Schubert, a Swiss specialist in papyrology; specialist in ancient Greek literature and drama Laura Swift of Oxford University; and Professor Sarah Iles Johnston, an expert in Greek religion, goddesses and magic from the Ohio State University. They will be joined by Trnka-Amrhein, Gibert and Associate Professor of Classics <a href="/classics/laurialan-reitzammer" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Laurialan Reitzammer</a>.</p><p>鈥淚n a departure, instead of having the guests give hour-long papers, we鈥檙e going to present for 20 to 25 minutes each, in pairs, in dialogue, followed by Q-and-A,鈥 Gibert says.</p><p>And as the academic year gets underway, Gibert says he and Trnka-Amrhein will 鈥渢ake the show on the road鈥 to such places as Dartmouth and Harvard.</p><p>鈥淛ohn鈥檚 contacts and readers in the Euripides world have given us reassurance we鈥檙e not going to have too much pie on our faces,鈥 Trnka-Amrhein says. 鈥淲e feel extremely lucky to have worked on this material and look forward to the world鈥檚 reactions.鈥</p><p><em>Top image:&nbsp;A marble bas-relief show Euripides (seated), a standing woman holding out a theater mask to him (left) and the god Dionysus (right), dated to between the 1st century BCE and the 1st century CE, from the Misthos collection in the Istanbul (Turkey) Archaeological Museum. (Photo:&nbsp;John-Gr茅goire/Wikimedia Commons)</em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;<a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Subcribe to our newsletter.</a>&nbsp;Passionate about classics?&nbsp;<a href="/classics/giving" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Show your support.</a></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>CU Boulder Classics scholars identify previously unknown fragments of two lost tragedies by Greek tragedian Euripides.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/feature-title-image/euripides_bas_relief_cropped_0.jpg?itok=9DLwuP4u" width="1500" height="791" alt> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 01 Aug 2024 06:00:00 +0000 Anonymous 5944 at /asmagazine How to ID thieving hummingbirds? Look at their feet /asmagazine/2024/06/25/how-id-thieving-hummingbirds-look-their-feet <span>How to ID thieving hummingbirds? Look at their feet</span> <span><span>Anonymous (not verified)</span></span> <span><time datetime="2024-06-25T12:53:01-06:00" title="Tuesday, June 25, 2024 - 12:53">Tue, 06/25/2024 - 12:53</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/article-thumbnail/hummingbird_and_orange_flower.jpg?h=a8f65ba7&amp;itok=uqTnsanp" width="1200" height="600" alt="Green hummingbird feeding at orange flower"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/278" hreflang="en">Museum of Natural History</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> </div> <span>Blake Puscher</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default 3"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><i>CU Boulder researcher analyzes 50 years of data to show the relationship between certain birds鈥 unorthodox behavior and their traits</i></p><hr><p>Hummingbirds are iconic, easily recognized by their plumage, needlelike beaks and unique way of flying. With several hundred species in the family, different species of hummingbirds are distinct from one another in ways that are sometimes less noticeable.&nbsp;</p><p>鈥淚t is the great diversity of forms in this family of birds which renders the study of them so very interesting,鈥 John Gould, a 19th-century English ornithologist and collector of hummingbirds, wrote. 鈥淚f these little objects were magnified to the size of eagles, their structural differences would stand out in very bold relief.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>This belief led <a href="/cumuseum/dr-robert-colwell" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Robert Colwell</a>, museum curator adjoint of entomology and zoology for the University of baby直播app <a href="/cumuseum/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Museum of Natural History</a>鈥攁s well as co-researchers Gregor Yanega, Alejandro Rico-Guevara, Thiago Rangel, Karolina Fu膷铆kov谩 and Diego Sustaita鈥攖o collect and evaluate a large amount of data on hummingbirds鈥 physical features for <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37963119/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">a research paper published in <i>The American Naturalist</i></a>.&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/robert_colwell.jpg?itok=l2KYirwd" width="750" height="1000" alt="Robert Colwell"> </div> <p>Robert Colwell, museum curator adjoint of entomology and zoology for the CU&nbsp;Museum of Natural History, and his co-researchers found that large feet and short bills correlate in hummingbirds that use an unorthodox feeding behavior.</p></div></div> </div><p>The researchers found that large feet鈥攁n uncommon trait for hummingbirds, whose feet are usually small to the point of seemingly disappearing when tucked away鈥攃orrelated with short bills in hummingbirds that engage in a particular, unorthodox feeding behavior.&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Legitimate and illegitimate feeding</strong>&nbsp;</p><p>Hummingbirds are pollinators, and the flowers they feed from deposit pollen onto different parts of their bodies so that their flight from flower to flower functions to fertilize the plants.</p><p>鈥淭he flowers they visit produce nectar for the sole purpose of attracting hummingbirds,鈥 Colwell explains, adding that different species of plants deposit pollen on different species of hummingbirds or different parts of a single species鈥 body. This specificity is necessary because 鈥渋f the bird delivers the wrong pollen, then it just clogs up the plant鈥檚 female organ, the stigma, without fertilizing the flower,鈥 he says.&nbsp;</p><p>While some plants have adapted to get pollen onto different parts of hummingbirds, the focus of this research is on species-based pollen delimitation. The main way that plants attract only certain hummingbird species is to develop corollas (the whorl of petals that protects the flower鈥檚 reproductive organs) with lengths or curvatures that not all hummingbirds鈥 bills can fit into.&nbsp;</p><p>鈥淭he plants sort of partition the hummingbirds based on bill length, bill curvature and flowering season,鈥 Colwell explains. 鈥淚t gets more complicated the more species are involved. In a tropical lowland community, there could be 50 or 60 hummingbird-pollinated species of plants.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>This evolutionary strategy is successful only when hummingbirds feed 鈥渓egitimately鈥濃攖hat is, through the mouth of the corolla. A hummingbird with a short beak cannot reach the nectar of a flower with a long corolla; however, such a bird may access that nectar 鈥渋llegitimately鈥 by inserting its beak through natural opening near the base of a flower, poking a hole in the base using its beak, or using a hole made by another hummingbird. This method is called illegitimate because, according to Colwell, it 鈥渄oes nothing to pollinate the plant and imposes an energetic cost on both the plant and legitimate visitors by depleting nectar.鈥&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Why feed illegitimately?&nbsp;</strong></p><p>Considering the consequences of feeding illegitimately for both the flowers that a nectar thief relies on and other birds, why does this behavior exist? There are a couple of reasons, Colwell says. For one thing, it gives short-billed hummingbirds access to nectar that they otherwise could not reach.</p><p>The other reason is that, while most plants force legitimately feeding hummingbirds to hover, according to Colwell, this is not necessary for illegitimate feeders, who can instead cling to a nearby surface while stealing the nectar. Birds that cling to plants to feed, instead of hovering (called clingers), are therefore able to conserve energy in a way that non-clingers cannot.&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/hummingbird_feeding_on_zinnia.jpg?itok=QY7w876j" width="750" height="500" alt="brown hummingbird feeding on orange zinnia"> </div> <p>Hummingbirds are pollinators, and the flowers they feed from deposit pollen onto different parts of their bodies so that their flight from flower to flower functions to fertilize the plants.</p></div></div> </div><p>Hovering is the most expensive means of vertebrate locomotion, Colwell says. Consequently, hummingbirds are 鈥渙n a very tight schedule鈥 in terms of energy, 鈥渁nd if the birds have no nectar and insufficient insects to capture for a couple of days, they could die.鈥</p><p>For these reasons, saving energy by perching to feed can be the difference between life and death for a hummingbird. This is especially true in the case of the coquettes, a high-elevation Andean group that developed perching behavior early in the evolution of hummingbirds, Colwell says. Their habitat makes it even more expensive to hover: the air is thinner, making it harder to fly and breathe, and it鈥檚 colder, making the maintenance of healthy body temperatures more difficult.&nbsp;</p><p>鈥淪o, there鈥檚 strong natural selection to avoid hovering, if possible,鈥 he explains. 鈥淭here are some species that actually walk on the ground and feed on flowers that are near the ground.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>Although clinging and stealing nectar saves energy, all species of hummingbird feed legitimately while hovering at least sometimes, Colwell says. This is because if illegitimate feeding was ubiquitous, 鈥渢he flowers would go extinct because they wouldn鈥檛 be getting pollinated. So, it鈥檚 kind of a game theory thing, where there are cheaters, but you can鈥檛 have all cheaters because then the game won鈥檛 go on.鈥&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Morphological manifestations of clinging&nbsp;</strong></p><p>As Colwell recounts, the study began with an observation that he made about the morphological differences between clingers and non-clingers: 鈥淚t was an accidental discovery I made 50 years ago in Costa Rica. I was studying a high-elevation site with four species. The ones that are important to this are a very long-billed hummingbird with a large body and a smaller bird with a shorter bill.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>The expedition was using mist nets to humanely capture birds for measurement, and he noticed that the smaller bird with the short bill had feet that were bigger than those of the larger bird. The little bird perched on and pierced flowers to steal nectar that the larger bird would consume legitimately.</p><p>鈥淚 got the idea,鈥 Colwell says, 鈥渢hat maybe this is general; maybe there鈥檚 a negative correlation between bill size and foot size. That鈥檚 how it all started. Sometimes scientific discoveries are accidental in that way, or intuitive, and then you have to go on and look at it statistically.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>Specifically, Colwell and his research colleagues hypothesized that clingers would have relatively longer toes and claws, as well as shorter tarsi (the bones connecting to bird鈥檚 digits to their lower legs) to make it less energetically costly to cling while feeding.</p><p>鈥淭he claw is very important in grasping the flower, or the stem, or the leaf, or whatever it鈥檚 perching on,鈥 Colwell explains. 鈥淏iomechanically, it鈥檚 a crucial part of the gripping force.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>To determine if this hypothesis were supported by statistics, the researchers collected measurements of hummingbird feet (including the tarsus, hallux or hind toe, hallux claw and middle toe claw) and bills over many years. Ultimately, they pooled three datasets consisting of 1,154 museum specimens and 404 field captures, with 220 of about 340 recognized species of hummingbird represented.&nbsp;</p><p>Within these data, they found that clingers showed a negative correlation between bill and hallux claw size when body weight was accounted for, with no other strong correlations detected. This confirmed part of the hypothesis: among clingers with small bills, the foot span is increased by a longer claw on the hallux. However, clingers did not have smaller tarsi.&nbsp;</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"> <div class="ucb-callout-content"><div class="image-caption image-caption-"><p> </p><div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/article-image/hummingbird_on_fuchsia.jpg?itok=HjtxW3Qb" width="750" height="506" alt="brown hummingbird feeding in fuchsia blooms"> </div> <p>Saving energy by perching to feed can be the difference between life and death for a hummingbird, says CU Boulder researcher Robert Colwell.</p></div></div> </div><p>According to Colwell, a role for tarsi was anticipated based on its presence in biomechanical studies of clinging behavior in other birds, such as woodpeckers. 鈥淲e expected that to happen, and it didn鈥檛,鈥 he says. 鈥淚t just means that hummingbirds do it their own way.鈥&nbsp;</p><p><strong>Losing big feet</strong></p><p>In addition to determining the correlation between bill and hallux claw size in clingers, the researchers used phylogenetic inference, a method of finding the evolutionary 鈥渇amily tree鈥 of related species, to estimate the number of independent origins of clinging behavior in hummingbirds. 鈥淲e were surprised at how many different, independent times perching to feed with larger feet arose in the hummingbird phylogeny,鈥 Colwell says, adding that it was over two dozen times.&nbsp;</p><p>Despite this, clinging to feed doesn鈥檛 seem to be a good long-term strategy, as it doesn鈥檛 lead to much speciation (i.e., further evolutionary development) except in the coquette clade, Colwell explains. This may be in part because the additional weight of larger feet would be strongly selected against in most cases, he says. Consequently, a branch of hummingbirds with large feet will tend to lose that trait once it is no longer useful.&nbsp;</p><p>For example, Colwell recounts, 鈥渢here are some species that walk on the ground and feed on flowers that are near the ground, so they have big feet. Late in that branch of the evolutionary tree, some of that group diversified the tropical lowlands, where they lost their big feet and now have longer bills. It beautifully confirms the overall pattern.鈥&nbsp;</p><p>Colwell adds that what makes the study significant is its focus on an often-overlooked feature of hummingbirds.</p><p>鈥淲hen you see hummingbirds, you don鈥檛 think about their feet, you think about their wings, their color, their dives, their voice, their behavior,鈥 he says. 鈥淭heir feet have been ignored for 150 years, since John Gould, who was a very good observer, marveled at them. Nobody paid any attention to it until we got interested in it 50 years ago.鈥&nbsp;</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;<a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Subcribe to our newsletter.</a>&nbsp;Passionate about natural history?&nbsp;<a href="/cumuseum/support" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Show your support.</a></em></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>CU Boulder researcher analyzes 50 years of data to show the relationship between certain birds鈥 unorthodox behavior and their traits.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Off</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/feature-title-image/hummingbird_and_orange_flower.jpg?itok=ERgjEjn_" width="1500" height="802" alt> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 25 Jun 2024 18:53:01 +0000 Anonymous 5928 at /asmagazine