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Article: He brings reality of extinction to life `I want to haunt students. I want them to wake up five years after they graduate, having a bad dream because of something I said. I want them to know that extinction is preventable, and I want that to bother them.' [Corrected 10/29/08]
- Article from:
- The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)
- Article date:
- October 13, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2008 The Boston Globe. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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Meeting the Minds
CONSERVATION BIOLOGIST MICHAEL REED
Michael Reed got up from his chair and pulled a shoebox off a
shelf in his office at Tufts University. As he opened it, his voice
took on an uncharacteristically somber tone.
"They might have been the most common land bird on the planet,"
he said as he lifted the lid to reveal a preserved carrier pigeon.
He looked at it for a moment, grimaced, and closed the lid. "And we
hunted off every last one."
Then he smiled again.
Reed, a biology professor, specializes in a deadly serious issue -
the science of extinction. How he does this is somewhat unusual.
Reed is not, like many biologists, a dour prophet of doom and gloom.
Even when discussing ...