Paul W. Sherman

Key takeaways

Paul W. Sherman belongs to biology; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Paul W. Sherman to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Paul W. Sherman from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

Paul W. Sherman (born July 6, 1949) is a professor emeritus at Cornell University in animal behaviour. He is best known for his work on the social behavior of rodents (ground squirrels and naked mole rats), eusociality, and evolutionary medicine.

Biography Sherman received his B.A. from Stanford in 1971, an M.S. in zoology from University of Michigan in 1974, and a Ph.D in 1976. He was a Miller Postdoctoral Fellow at Berkeley from 1976 to 78, and taught there from 1978 to 1981. He joined Cornell's faculty in 1981. In 1984 he was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, and in 1985 he received tenure. He was awarded full professorship at Cornell in 1991. He was an Elected Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society, and served as a Sigma Xi Distinguished National Lecturer. During his career, he published or edited seven books and 195 papers and book chapters, and sponsored or co-sponsored 23 doctoral students and seven postdoctoral students. In 2005 he was awarded the Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship for "effective, inspiring, and distinguished teaching of undergraduate students." In 1977, he published evidence that alarm calls by female Belding's ground squirrels function to warn descendant and collateral kin of approaching terrestrial predators (coyotes, badgers, and weasels). In 1996, he published work demonstrating how kin selection in the eusocial naked mole rats affects food allocation. In 1999, Sherman showed that spices have anti-microbial properties and proposed that the spices used in traditional meat-based cuisines world-wide originally (before refrigeration) served to stave off food-borne pathogens and preserve the food; as a result, people who cooked with spices and liked their tastes were best protected, especially in hot climates. In turn, this may explain the prevalence of spice use in hot climates today. In 2000, he published support for the hypothesis that morning sickness is an adaptation that protects pregnant mothers and their developing fetuses from foodborne illnesses, some of which can cause miscarriage or birth defects, such as listeriosis and toxoplasmosis. In 2008, he published work supporting the hypothesis that allergies function as cancer protection mechanisms. In 2010, Sherman published evidence that bdelloid rotfiers, which present a major evolutionary puzzle because they have reproduced asexually for millions of years, can escape parasites and pathogens by completely drying up (anhydrobiosis) for long periods and dispersing widely on the wind, rather than via sex and genetic recombination like other organisms.

Bibliography

Books Sherman, Paul W.; Alcock, John, eds. (2013). Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from American Scientist (6th ed.). Sunderland (Mass.): Sinauer ass. ISBN 978-1-60535-195-7. Wolff, Jerry O.; Sherman, Paul W., eds. (2007). Rodent Societies: An Ecological and Evolutionary Perspective. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Sherman, Paul; Jarvis, Jennifer U.M.; Alexander, Richard D., eds. (1991). The Biology of the Naked Mole-Rat. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-62886-8.

Papers Hoogland, John L.; Sherman, Paul W. (1976-01-01). "Advantages and disadvantages of bank swallow (Riparia riparia) coloniality". Ecological Monographs. 46 (1): 33–58. Bibcode:1976EcoM...46...33H. doi:10.2307/1942393. JSTOR 1942393. Sherman, Paul W. (1977-09-01). "Nepotism and the evolution of alarm calls". Science. 197 (4310): 1246–1253. Bibcode:1977Sci...197.1246S. doi:10.1126/science.197.4310.1246. PMID 17781971. Holmes, Warren G.; Sherman, Paul W. (1982-08-01). "The Ontogeny of Kin Recognition in Two Species of Ground Squirrels". American Zoologist. 22 (3): 491–517. doi:10.1093/ICB/22.3.491. Billing, Jennifer; Sherman, Paul W. (1999-06-01). "Antimicrobial functions of spices: why some like it hot". Quarterly Review of Biology. 73 (1): 3–49. doi:10.1086/420058. PMID 9586227. Flaxman, Samuel M.; Sherman, Paul W. (2000-06-01). "Morning sickness:a mechanism for protecting mother and embryo". Quarterly Review of Biology. 72 (2): 113–148. doi:10.1086/393377. PMID 10858967. Schlaepfer, Martin A.; Runge, Michael C.; Sherman, Paul W. (2002-10-01). "Ecological and evolutionary traps". Trends in Ecology & Evolution. 17 (10): 474–480. doi:10.1016/S0169-5347(02)02580-6. Sherman, Paul W.; Holland, Erica; Sherman, Janet Shellman (2008-12-01). "Allergies: their role in cancer prevention". Quarterly Review of Biology. 83 (4): 339–362. doi:10.1086/592850. PMID 19143335. Wilson, Christopher G.; Sherman, Paul W. (2010-07-01). "Anciently asexual bdelloid rotifers escape lethal fungal parasites by drying up and blowing away". Science. 327 (5965): 574–576. Bibcode:2010Sci...327..574W. doi:10.1126/science.1179252. PMID 20110504.

References

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Paul W. Sherman

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Paul W. Sherman claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In biology, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Paul W. Sherman before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Paul W. Sherman ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Paul W. Sherman

In research: Paul W. Sherman appears in biology research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Paul W. Sherman in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Paul W. Sherman is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 21st-century American biologists, Cornell University faculty, Ethologists, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Paul W. Sherman outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

How to study Paul W. Sherman in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Paul W. Sherman means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
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Frequently asked questions

What is Paul W. Sherman in simple terms?

Paul W. Sherman (born July 6, 1949) is a professor emeritus at Cornell University in animal behaviour.

Why does Paul W. Sherman matter?

Because it connects several biology ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Paul W. Sherman?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Paul W. Sherman.