Jay Burns

Recently retired as editor of Bates Magazine, Jay now occasionally contributes stories to the magazine as well as Bates News.

jburns@bates.edu

Stories by Jay Burns
Bates Bazaar: Online deals for Aug. 28, 2024

Wednesday, August 28, 2024 3:01 pm

Here's a curated offering of curious and quirky Bates-related items, such as a Maine charm bracelet, metal pen holder, and Village Club mug, that are just a click away on websites devoted to what's vintage, historical, and wicked cool.

Welcome, and welcome back, to BatesNews for 2024–25

Friday, August 23, 2024 10:34 am

Welcome to the first edition of BatesNews for 2024–25. Here's what this weekly email feature is all about.

Associate Professor of Biology Larissa Williams teaches students in Bio s39f a lesson on “uses of Genetic analysis to understand the population of dynamics of crabs in Maine.” They met in Bonney 370 laboratory and received instruction on how to use a pipette, including closing their eyes in preparing to click the instrument. The course’s instructor is Jesse Minor ’00, a lecturer in biology.
Bates biology professor and three young graduates publish ‘worrisome’ research findings of a common industrial chemical’s harmful effects

Tuesday, August 13, 2024 8:22 am

New research from Bates reveals that daily exposure to triphenyl phosphate, a chemical used in many fire retardants as well as nail polish, harms developing zebrafish and, perhaps, humans.

Brian Mason of Spicer Bees (purple shirt) removes a big honeybee hive from the college's oldest building, Hathorn Hall, on July 25, 2024. Discovered by a work crew painting the Hathorn trim, the hive was in a section of the soffit of the Hathorn portico, where the roof joins the main part of the building. Lifted to the second-story location by a Genie boom lift, Mason and Bates carpenter Matt Capone, with beard, worked together, the latter using a multitool and pry tools to remove trim to get at the hive, and the former using a homemade vacuum and hive tools to remove the bees and comb, relocating as much of the hive as possible to his apiary in Whitefield. Mason, who estimated the hive at upwards of 50,000 bees, gives credit to Bates for calling in a beekeeper for the project. "100 percent credit," he says, noting that the Bates hive was not only healthy but had apparently survived for at least one winter, if not more. Most wild honeybee hives die each winter, and commercially maintained hives typically rely on treatments to control mites. "Less human intervention is always valuable. The fact that this hive wintered without intervention means the bees might just have something going for them to survive. So now I can introduce the Bates bees into my apiary. That’s a win."
Beegone! From discovery to relocation, Hathorn Hall’s honeybee hive had Bates buzzing

Wednesday, July 31, 2024 1:46 pm

Historic Hathorn Hall is home to faculty offices in English, neuroscience, and mathematics, plus several administrative offices and classrooms. And until last week, it was also the residence of around 50,000 honeybees.

26 items (plus two from Commons) in the Bates library’s Lost and Found on June 26, 2024

Wednesday, June 26, 2024 12:38 pm

As the days get warmer, the learners at Bates get younger and older. And what they have in common with Bates students? They lose things.

NESCAC Heat Poll: June 18–20, 2024

Thursday, June 20, 2024 2:56 pm

Lyrically and meteorologically, the late Glenn Frey hinted as what causes a heat wave with his 1984 hit, "The Heat Is On." Here's our list of the hottest colleges in NESCAC this week.

‘What’s an ivy stone?’ 50 years later, the Class of 1974 joins a Bates tradition

Friday, June 14, 2024 11:01 am

The Class of 1974, launched from Bates into a sea of American malaise in the mid-1970s, would, 50 years later, strive for something of their own for their long-postponed ivy stone. 

Basking turtles, annoyed birds, 16 animals you might meet at Lake Andrews

Thursday, June 6, 2024 12:57 pm

Whether you’re an alum here for Reunion weekend, or a daily Puddle walker, here are 15 animals we’ve seen at Lake Andrews recently and over the years — and that you might see when you swing by the popular Bates pond.

Video: At this Bates baking event, you judge a book by its edible

Wednesday, June 5, 2024 1:17 pm

In terms of its name, the Edible Books Festival doesn’t mince words: It invites the Bates community to bake and cook dishes that play off the title or theme of a well-known book.

Picture Story: Baccalaureate 2024, and a Bates class that found its common humanity

Friday, May 31, 2024 12:33 pm

This immersive photographic display captures Bates' distinctive Baccalaureate Service. Far from serious or somber, it is a "celebration that is particular to each graduating class," said President Garry W. Jenkins.

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