Holding up an abalone shell before a visitor, Belcher describes the moment when the two threads--persistent interest and sudden insight--came together, forming the basis of her current research ...

And she says the shell of the black abalone, an endangered marine snail, is the ideal choice — to represent the threat of climate change and to honor its history with Native American tribes.

Highly valued for its edible muscular foot and mother-of-pearl shell, the pinto abalone has declined significantly in recent decades and faces extinction unless it'ss protected — and soon — under the ...