What’s in Morgan Klaus Scheuerman’s Phone?

Anonymous — Fri, 02 Jul 2021 06:00:00 +0000

What’s in Morgan Klaus Scheuerman’s Phone? Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 07/02/2021 - 00:00

Kelsey Yandura

A PhD student and Microsoft research fellow, Morgan Klaus Scheuerman (PhDInfoSci’21) has worked with companies like Facebook and Google to spot social issues within technology design. His work explores how social identities like race and gender are represented in algorithms and other technical infrastructures.

Model: Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra with a card case and a cat-shaped keyring

How soon after waking up do you look at your phone?
I use my phone as my alarm, but most of the time I look at it and then hit snooze immediately — at least five times!

Duration of longest call last week?
Eighteen minutes with a journalist discussing AI ethics work.

Where was the location of your last selfie?
At home, with my cat on my chest. I take a lot of selfies and a lot of cat photos. Anytime my cat graces me with his cuddles, I have to take a picture.

The main thing you use your phone for?
Probably chatting on different apps. My phone is mostly a social connection tool for me. But I do doomscroll quite a bit, sadly.

Lock screen or background image?
I am a nerd, so both my backgrounds are from nerdy media. My lock screen is a fanart of Thanatos from the video game Hades, and my home background is a fanart from Full Metal Alchemist.

How many hours were you on your phone last week?
I don’t even want to think about this!

Most-Used Apps: Gmail, Twitter, Slack

Most-used emoji:

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Photo courtesy of Morgan Klaus Scheuerman

A PhD student and Microsoft research fellow, Morgan Klaus Scheuerman has worked with companies like Facebook and Google to spot social issues within technology design.

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The Curious Cats of Madagascar

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Jun 2020 17:59:00 +0000

The Curious Cats of Madagascar Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 06/01/2020 - 11:59

In the midst of 30 years of primate research in Madagascar, �� Boulder anthropology professor Michelle Sauther and her colleagues had continual encounters with another animal: Cats.

She wondered how these cats, which have tabby-like coloration, could wind up in Madagascar, an island with no native felines.

“When I first started working in Madagascar, I noticed that these cats all seemed to look the same,” said Sauther, who has researched primates in the area for 30 years. “They were big, and they were always the same color.”

The results of the team’s DNA test on 30 of the animals — published in the journal Conservation Genetics — revealed they were

Felis catus, the same species as the beloved house pets we own today.

“The real worry is: What are these cats doing?” said Sauther, who is particularly concerned for the highly endangered lemurs unique to Madagascar. “Are they posing a threat to animals in Madagascar?

Maybe they’re just part of the local ecology.”

The team traced their origins to the Arabian Sea trade routes originating in places like modern-day Dubai, Oman and Kuwait that have existed for as long as 1,000 years. The cats most likely traveled with the people on the ships, Sauther said.

“Cats have essentially gone with us everywhere we’ve gone,” Sauther said. “We can see that journey of humans and their pets going back pretty deep in time.”

More must be known about the cats’ origins and biology to know their true threat to native species. But for now, the reason for the cats’ puzzling appearances are answered.

Said Sauther: “We now know that these mysterious cats are domestic cats with a really interesting backstory.”

Read more about this story at �� Boulder Today.

Photo courtesy Michelle Sauther

�� professor determines the path of non-native feline

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