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Chi-Town to Brew City
...One giant leap for MU Marquette Lunabotics team takes third at national competition at the Kennedy Space center
First-year’s Kyle Bebej, Diegoarmando Alvarado continue recruiting pipeline
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Volume 105, Number 1
SPORTS, 14
Tuesday, September 6, 2022
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MU Professor makes leaps in frog breeding Rick “Rainforest” Boyd becomes 2nd person in the United States to successfully breed the translucent-stomached amphibian
By Connor Baldwin
connor.baldwin@marquette.edu
Just north of Milwaukee, Rick “Rainforest” Boyd, adjunct instructor in the College of Arts & Sciences, is making leaps and bounds over his latest accomplishment in the frog breeder community. Walking into his lab feels like venturing thousands of miles away from Wisconsin and into the rainforests of Central America. Boyd is greeted with the croaks and calls of multiple species of frogs. Red-eyed tree frogs watch with their beating eyes on when feeding is next. White tree frogs are practically
jumping out of their cages greeting him. And the poison dart frogs lounge with their brilliant colors, warning those to stay away. Fortunately for Boyd, the dart frogs are only poisonous because of the fire ants they eat in the wild, so he has no trouble handling them. But the one that is catching the most attention is his efforts with the granulosa glass frog. Boyd is only the second person in the United States to successfully breed the granulosa
glass frog, a frog with a translucent stomach found in the humid lowlands of Central Asia. This trait makes it possible to view the glass frog’s intestines from the outside looking in. His feat was confirmed after his tadpoles had climbed out of the water with their newly developed legs, turning into froglets, the next step in the frog metamorphosis. Boyd’s achievement has some of the frog community jumping for joy. “The exciting news in the community is that my work is helping to show that that
technique is duplicatable by a hobbyist in terms of trying to get this to happen in captivity. Meanwhile, the hobbyists are excited because they end up with a pet frog and when I sell them to a pet store or community they get a frog that is used to being with humans,” Boyd said. Boyd said that his discovery came after a period of trial and error. In the wild, female frogs wait until the rainy season to breed. In Costa Rica, where the frogs are most native, this is between the months of May and November. Creating this natural phenomenon in an artificial environment was a tricky step in Boyd’s endeavor.
“It turned out that granulosa glass frog females apparently do not even ovulate until the second month of the rainy season. So I’ve had to rotate these in and out, in and out every day for weeks at a time, but it worked,” Boyd said. At first, his efforts were fruitless. Millie, Boyd’s only female, wasn’t showing any signs of ovulating and Boyd was stumped. Going out on a limb, he turned to the Facebook group where he reSee FIRST page 3
Photos courtesy of Rick Boyd
Campus housing: A comparison of Jesuit universities Marquette is one of eight AJCU schools located in Midwest By Skyler Chun
skyler.chun@marquette.edu
Marquette University welcomed 1,990 first-year students to campus Aug. 24 for move-in day, the largest first-year class since 2018. Returning graduate and transfer students also continued settling into their dorms, apartments and off-campus housing throughout the summer in
preparation for the new school year. However, while many students are just beginning to adjust to and reflect on their new living situations, for some, it’s already time to start thinking about signing leases for the year ahead. “Campus housing is super competitive … My roommates and I are already talking about ‘What do we want to do next year?’ and I don’t even know what I’m doing next year.” Nora Graham, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences, said, as they are beginning to look for housing in Milwaukee INDEX COMICS.........................................................2 MUPD REPORTS...........................................3 CROSSWORD................................................7 A&E................................................................8 OPINIONS....................................................10 SPORTS........................................................12
after graduation. “Our landlord is already showing our apartment … It’s just so stressful, that aspect of how quickly you have to decide everything.” The Marquette Wire collected data to compare on-campus residential housing prices and leasing processes for Jesuit universities in the Midwest, which are a part of the Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities. Jesuit colleges and universities that comprise AJCU are located in 17 states, including the District of Columbia and Belize. Eight are located in the Midwest.
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The schools compared in this story are Marquette University, Creighton University, Rockhurst University, Xavier University, John Carroll University and Loyola University Chicago. Saint Louis University and University of Detroit Mercy are also part of the eight AJCU schools in the Midwest but did not give separate rates for room and board. An analysis of residence hall rates for the 2022-23 school year at the six schools where data was collected showed the following: The average pricing rates of
residence hall housing (per term): $3,631 at Creighton, $3,916 at Rockhurst, $4,041 at John Carroll, $4,103 at Xavier, $4,795 at Loyola University Chicago and $4,857 at Marquette. The average pricing rates of residence hall housing (per year): $7,263 at Creighton, $7,831 at Rockhurst, $8,081 at John Carroll, $8,206 at Xavier, $9,589 at Loyola University Chicago and $9,714 at Marquette. Marquette and Loyola University Chicago both offer the most See HOUSING page 2
ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT
OPINIONS
Lovell shares his alternative summer music with campus community
Campus groups need financial resources to function properly
Mike behind the mic PAGE 9
Funding student orgs PAGES 10 & 11