Tags: Human Nature


New funding for ECOGIG-2

Samantha Joye's tireless work in the Gulf of Mexico in the aftermath of the 2010 Macondo well blowout will continue thanks to a major new support stream: Joye has received a new grant to continue its studies of natural oil seeps and to track the impacts of the BP/Deepwater Horizon oil spill on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. The project, known as ECOGIG-2 or "Ecosystem Impacts of Oil and Gas Inputs to the Gulf," is a collaborative, multi-…


Taking a closer look at workaholism

What does it mean when work becomes our life, our identity, our primary devotion? The question itself is a function only of higher considerations, a luxury hopefully of which we become availed as society advances. One of the fundamental spilts between the approach to social policy in the U.S. and Europe is over how we see this very question: Workaholism - how does it work? workaholism tends to produce negative impacts for employers and employees…


Examining the history of plants

It sounds like the title of a cable documentary (a good one! And maybe it is) but scientists from North America, Europe and China have published a paper in PNAS that reveals important details about key transitions in the evolution of plant life on Earth: From strange and exotic algae, mosses, ferns, trees and flowers growing deep in steamy rainforests to the grains and vegetables humans eat and the ornamental plants adorning people's homes, all…


Four Thirty-Three: Spotlight on Scholarship

In 1952, American experimental composer John Cale composed a three-movement composition, Four minutes, thirty-three seconds, or Four thirty-three. Written for any instrument or combination of instruments, the score instructs the performer(s) not to play their instrument(s) during the entire duration of the piece throughout the three movements. The piece purports to consist of the sounds of the environment that the listeners hear while it is…


$1.44 million NIH grant to statistics researcher

One form of epigenetic change known as DNA methylation is particularly understudied in this area. "There's a large amount of evidence that a process known as DNA methylation is a key player in cancer development," Zhong said. "Today's next-generation sequencing techniques give us the data we need to close the gap in this area of research." Zhong and her team will develop a suite of statistical models to broaden the understanding of how…


Shepherd: Lessons on climate from Ebola outbreak

Athletics Association Professor in the Social Sciences and nationally-recognized expert on climate Marshall Shepherd took to the pages of the Washingtom Post last week to point out connections between the latest Ebola outbreak and the challenges presented by climate change: However, before I mention these parallels, I want to establish that I trust the expertise and knowledge of those in the infectious disease and public health communities,…


New approach for early diagnosis of dementia

Researchers in the department of psychology have developed a unique method for diagnosing the earliest stages of dementia by applying tasks commonly used to gauge levels of impulsive or risky behaviors related to financial decisions: This approach, which has been used in the past to evaluate the decision-making processes of problem gamblers and other impulse control disorders like substance abuse, may help diagnose many forms of dementia…


NIH supports UGA glycoscience training program

Complex carbohydrates are the key to cell behavior, and the ability to study them at UGA and train the next generation of researchers just received a great boost: University of Georgia researchers have received a five-year $850,000 grant from the National Institutes of Health to establish a glycoscience training program for pre-doctoral graduate students that will help train a new generation of carbohydrate researchers. The award makes UGA one…


Geology to partner with Chevron to support graduate assistantships

Images: At top, L-R, Skip Forsthoff, Chevron; Annaka Clement, Geology graduate student; Jeff Shellebarger, Chevron: Jason Burwell, Geology undergraduate student: Doug Crowe, Geology department head. Below: undergraduate, graduate students, Geology faculty and alumni.    


Jessica Kissinger: making research usable

Great opportunity to feature not just one of our star faculty members, but also an emerging challenge for all researchers everywhere in this era of big data: Jessica Kissinger is a molecular geneticist whose research on the evolution of disease and the genomes of eukaryotic pathogenic organisms—Cryptosporidium, Sarcocystis, Toxoplasma andPlasmodium (malaria) among them—has led her to perhaps the emerging issue among research scientists…


UGA discovery: building better plants

The complexity of natural materials has long been a point of fascination for scientists, and has only increased as the technology to look closer has itself evolved. The structure and development of sea shells, for example, holds great potential for nanotechnology and building light weight materials of great strength. So, too, the cell walls of plants, whose flexibility and strength depend on two critical proteins. Now UGA scientists have…


Faculty in the Media, September 2014

Franklin faculty continue to be reliable sources of expertise and explication on the most pressing issues of the day. A sampling of quotes and reports on UGA research: Professor comments on plagiarism charge – If author Rick Perlstein is guilty of plagiarism, “it was a minor transgression,” said Peter Charles Hoffer, Distinguished Research Professor of History.  Perlstein is being accused of the charge after the release of his new book, The…


Kudos, September 2014

Great work by our faculty continues, followed by honors and awards that bring distinction to the Franklin College and UGA. A sampling from the past month: Georgia Sea Grant and UGA units including Marine Extension and the Lamar Dodd School of Art were presented with a national award for guiding the creation of the Tybee Island Sea Level Rise Adaptation Plan Associate professor of biochemistry and molecular biology Paula Lemons (above, right)…


Next Science Cafe subject - Vaccinations

 


Yellow pigment in the eye and greater visibility

How our eyes absorb light and achieve great definition in visibilty is a fascinating subject and the focus of one of the best neuroscience researchers in the country, a faculty member in our department of psychology: [People] with more yellow in their macula may have an advantage when it comes to filtering out atmospheric particles that obscure one's vision, commonly known as haze. According to a new University of Georgia study, people with…


Expanding the fight against Infectious Diseases

The UGA Faculty of Infectious Diseases is comprised of many Franklin College faculty members and departments, researchers who have garnered significant resources in the fight against a variety of global health challenges: "The board of regents investment in infectious disease research provided a unique opportunity to recruit strategically to bridge existing strengths in veterinary medicine, ecology, tropical and emerging diseases, and vaccine…


Genetics researchers unveil fully functional lab-grown thymus

A major advance from researchers in the department of genetics: A team of scientists including researchers from the University of Georgia have grown a fully functional organ from scratch in a living animal for the first time. ... The researchers created a thymus, a butterfly-shaped gland and vital component of the human immune system. Located beneath the breastbone in the upper chest, the thymus is responsible for producing T-lymphocytes, or T-…


Summer Kudos

 


Eighteenth century fashion and literature

There are a multitude of scholarly books and monographs written by Franklin College faculty each year and one of the things we’d like to do on the blog is talk with some of these scholar/authors and learn a little more about their new works, which are such a big part of their research. Chloe Wigston Smith is an assistant professor in the department of English who specializes in the literature and culture of the eighteenth century. She is the…


Fall semester

In just a few more days the empty campus will begin to give way to thousands of new and returning students as they take up residence in our dorm communities and around town. Classes begin August 18. Other important upcoming dates: Dropp/Add begins August 18 Student Emplyment Fair on Wedneday August 20 Study Abroad Open House on Saturday, August 23 Oh, yes, and vs. Clemson on August 30. Image: Beautiful Rutherford Hall, home of the Franklin…


Nature article highlights UGA malaria researcher

Congratulations are in order to University of Georgia professor Vasant Muralidharan, an assistant  professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of cellular biology. His research was recently highlighted in the journal Nature.  Muralidharan, who studies the biology of the deadly malaria eukaryotic parasite, worked with with a group of researchers as a post-doc at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis…


New research tracks Amazon River microbial activity, effects on global carbon budget

New research from the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences  departments of microbiology and marine sciences could have a major impact on the study of microbial activity in the Amazon River, as well as the effects on the global carbon budget.. The Amazon River, the largest in the world in terms of discharge water, transfers a plume of nutrients and organisms into the ocean that creates a hotspot of microbial activity…


New nanoparticle treatment for stroke victims

Great new work from Franklin College researchers that should garner significant attention: Researchers at the University of Georgia and their collaborators have developed a new technique to enhance stroke treatment that uses magnetically controlled nanomotors to rapidly transport a clot-busting drug to potentially life-threatening blockages in blood vessels. The only drug currently approved for the treatment of acute stroke—recombinant tissue…


Microscopic photos spotlight the art of science

While they are often identified as poles, a spectrum or even a line of demarcation from one kind of investigation into another, science and art can and occasionally do cohabitate, as in the case of UGA research scientist Stefan Eberhard, who utilizes scientific instrumentation for creative purposes: Besides being a longtime research professional at the University of Georgia’s Complex Carbohydrate Research Center, Eberhard is also an accomplished…


$2 million NSF grant to Mathematics

A major new grant to the department of mathematics to help in attracting students to this essential foundational discipline: Behind every facet of digital communication is a well-trained mathematician, and the University of Georgia mathematics department is on the front lines of training for this ever-increasing field of employment. ... "Our objective is to provide an intellectually compelling, pedagogically well-planned and professionally…
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