Orlando Salinas WDBJ7 Reporter

6:27 p.m. EDT, July 13, 2012

Most of you may not know it, but deep in the heart of Mountain Lake in Giles County, the University of Virginia is doing some summer time research.

The Research Experience for Undergraduates or REU has been going on for 20 years, part of the National Science Foundation and smack in the middle of the forest.

Talk about a living lab. A handful of smart and lucky college students from around the country are working in the woods behind Mountain Lake. Dirty Dancing Mountain Lake.

Caitlin Alford is a UVA student and says this Summer program makes sense. "After taking classes here I really found out I like being in nature. I like exploring questions that I just ask walking in the woods."

One of many projects focuses on birds and how maybe like people, they only like other birds that smell good.

More than 250 acres make up this University of Virginia outdoor biology lab, just minutes from the Virginia Tech campus.

Students design, collect data and then get cracking on their projects. One includes this forked fungus beetle that gives off a nasty smell of blood. This reporter watched as another student blew his breath on that beetle. The beetle gave off an ugly smell. Eric Wice was quick to say, "Hopefully it's not my breath!" Wice wants to know why baby beetles fight each other to the death, and then some. Wice said, "The larvae will actually eat each other and cannabilize each other."

The students get a 5000 dollar summer allowance and free room and board.

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Mountain Lake holds UVA biology lab