At just past the halfway point in The Research Project it’s time to do a little looking back at what we’ve blogged about so far, maybe pick some favorites. To be sure I have discovered that we have some really amazing colleges and universities in our country. And there is a phenomenal amount of fascinating research that is happening.

Some of what I’ve reported on is in the land of things that can keep you up at night. I’ve found other research that has great potential for improving our lives.

The criteria I have been following in selecting research to blog about are:

• research that I think may be of interest to a wide audience
• research that has the potential to have a profound effect on our daily lives
• and research that may bring new understanding to previously held beliefs.

If you want to read more about any of the posts just use the search feature on the blog site.

Week 1, Alabama – Researchers at the University of Alabama are studying the wings of monarch butterflies to find out what enables them to fly such long distances.

Week 2, Alaska – Researchers at the University of Alaska study ancient bones to determine what kind of culture our ancestors had.

Week 3, Arizona – A new method for predicting how many hurricanes might form in a given year has been developed by researchers at the University of Arizona.

Week 4, Arkansas – Researchers at the University of Arkansas are working to protect our nation’s electric power grid from massive outages.

Weeks 5 & 10, California and Georgia – Researchers at the University of California-Berkley and the University of Georgia are studying how healthy pasturelands can help reduce global warming.

Week 6, Colorado – To find the most accurate clock in the world you’ll have to go to National Institute of Standards and Technology at the University of Colorado.

Week 7, Connecticut – The Roper Center at the University of Connecticut is the place to go to find out about public opinion research that goes back several decades.

Week 8, Delaware – Researchers at the University of Delaware are studying why children often struggle to learn fractions.

Week 9, Florida – By studying sets of twins, researchers at the University of Florida have found genetic markers indicating why some people attract mosquitoes and others do not.

Week 10 (See Weeks 5 & 10 above)

Week 11, Hawai’i – Hawai’i Pacific University studies bottlenose dolphins because they have been found to be “sentinels of ocean health.”

Week 12, Idaho – Much research has been done to determine if the electronics that we use daily have an adverse effect on our health. College of Idaho researchers are focused especially on the impact that radioactive cadmium has on our bones.

Week 13, Illinois – University of Chicago researchers are working on ways to identify peoples’ biases so that they can help them be more objective in their decision-making.

Week 14, Indiana – DePauw University is working to show how Geographic Information Systems, basically Google maps on steroids, can help us in our everyday lives.

Week 15, Iowa – Drake University researchers are trying to bring more uniformity to our country’s laws related to midwifery and in-home births.

Week 16, Kansas – Washburn University is studying how health care workers can be more considerate of patients in intensive care units, especially when it comes to letting them get good sleep.

Week 17, Kentucky – Transylvania University is studying the migration patterns of plants and animals as the earth’s climate changes.

Week 18, Louisiana – Tulane University, a school almost wiped out by Hurricane Katrina, has been in the forefront of research related to the storm and its aftermath.

Week 19, Maine –  Researchers at the University of New England are trying to come up with pain medication that has fewer side effects.

Week 20, Maryland – I am rethinking the wisdom of the Keystone Pipeline based on what researchers at Johns Hopkins University have found out about the high environmental cost of extracting the oil from Canada’s oil sands that will flow through the pipeline.

Week 21, Massachusetts – Boston University researchers are studying why people perform better in presentations when they bring along their good luck charms.

Week 22, Michigan – A scientist at Michigan Technological University is trying to come up with a better stent for keeping arteries in the heart open.

Week 23, Minnesota – A researcher at the University of Minnesota-Duluth is trying to determine if a parasite is responsible for the decline in the moose population in northern Minnesota.

Week 24, Mississippi – Sadly sports venues have now become terrorist targets. A group at the University of Southern Mississippi studies how to make sports venues safer.

Week 25, Missouri – What’s it really like to be a refugee? Researchers at Webster University’s campus in Geneva, Switzerland tested themselves to see if they could handle it.

Week 26, Montana – An algae research project from Rocky Mountain College was destroyed when the Space X rocket exploded.

Week 27, Nebraska – A promising new technique for treating PTSD has been developed by researchers at Creighton University.

Sorry I couldn’t come up with a favorite. But I’m really looking forward to continuing this challenge in the coming weeks.