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Science education: Research on the reservation

Nature volume 471, pages 25–26 (2011)Cite this article

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American Indians have had some unhappy interactions with scientists in the past. Now, America's tribal colleges are rapidly expanding their own research.

Katie McDonald had never given much thought to the trout in Flathead Lake — except when fishing with her family. She didn't wonder about heavy-metal pollution or how that might affect people eating the fish. But that was before the then-19-year-old student started a bachelor's degree in environmental science at Salish Kootenai College in northwest Montana and had to choose a research project. She saw that trout consumption was going up on the Flathead Indian Reservation, where she lived. Poor people, in particular, had begun to receive donated fish. So McDonald set out to see whether there was cause for concern.

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References

  1. Stevens, D. K., McDonald, K. & Bishop, N. Environ. Bioindicators 4, 303-317 (2009).

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  2. Bunnell, J. E. et al. J. Environ. Public Health 2010, 260525 (2010).

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Authors
  1. Zoë Corbyn
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See Editorial p.5

Zoë Corbyn is a freelance journalist based in San Francisco.

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American Indian College Fund

Society for the Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science

NSF Tribal Colleges and Universities Program (TCUP)

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Corbyn, Z. Science education: Research on the reservation. Nature 471, 25–26 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/471025a

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