Richard is a Professor of Anatomy and Neurobiology at the Dalhousie University, Canada. He is also the Scientist in Residence for the DISCOVERY CHANNEL, where he is the columnist for the show "Weird and Wonderful Science", that first aired over six years ago.

Richard's first love in Science was paleontology and he published his first scientific paper on a fossil toad while still in high school. He went on to get an undergraduate degree in geology and biology at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, and a PhD in Evolutionary Biology at the University of Chicago. Richard has published at least 150 research articles based on his studies of fishes, frogs, salamanders, snakes, turtles, rodents and bats. His favourite research animals are tadpoles.

Richard has been studying the adaptations of tadpoles for more than thirty years. During this time he has authored or coauthored a hundred or so research papers and essays on the morphology, ecology, physiology, and behavior of these organisms.

In this talk, Richard will discuss research that he and his colleagues have done over the last decade on tadpole mechanics and kinematics. He will concentrate on three areas:

First he will show how computational fluid dynamics has helped us understand the adaptive significance of the globous shape and wobbly swimming style of tadpoles.

Next he will show how high speed video has helped us understand the subtle, but elegant, ways that tadpoles use their elaborate oral structures during feeding and breathing.

He will then report on the mechanical tests of tadpole tail fin tissue that have given us insights into how tadpole tails function so well in the absence of any cartilage or bone for support.

Richard will end his talk by reviewing many of the things that we still do not understand about tadpoles. He will focus here particularly on the problem of how the environment regulates tadpole metamorphosis.