Tags: Earth
The slowest-moving indicators can often be the most difficult to study, requiring patience and a general knowledge of many overlapping correlations. It's axiomatic that the seeming constants in life become the benchmarks and things we depend on, even though there are no true constants - with the exception of change itself. Learning from these changes also takes a great deal of patience, honed skills of observation and a diversity of knowledge…
Faculty appointments that facilitate collaborations across the UGA campus continue to pay off:
with the help of grants from the U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Energy, University of Georgia professors Chung-Jui Tsai and Andrew Paterson are conducting fundamental research to better understand the plants that may one day produce the fuel that powers our vehicles and homes.
Tsai, a Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and professor in the…
In widely reported findings, UGA climatologists and NASA independently confirm that during several days this month, nearly the entire ice sheet of Greenland experienced some degree of melting on its surface.
On average, about half of the surface of Greenland's ice sheet naturally melts in the summer. The new data—from three different satellites—show that an estimated 97 percent of the ice sheet surface thawed at some point in mid-July.
"This is…
Congratulations to Dan Colley, who was awarded the 2012 Christopher Columbus Fellowship Foundation Distinguished Life Sciences Scientist Award for his research in tropical medicine and parasitology.
Colley has focused for more than 40 years on the immunology of schistosomiasis, a debilitating chronic worm disease that affects 240 million people worldwide, most in the developing world.
Colley, a professor of microbiology, is director of the…
Students and faculty from the Franklin College and other units staffed UGA's bioenergy exhibit at the second annual USA Science and Engineering Festival, held this spring in Washington, D.C.
During the event, [associate professor microbiology Anna]Karls and five graduate students from the microbiology department in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences showed visitors how microbes convert garbage and waste into energy capable of powering…
Coevolution is the change of a biological object triggered by the change of a related object. And up until now there has been little evidence of it driving changes in Earth's history, though that, too, seems to be changing:
A new University of Georgia study shows that some native clearweed plants have evolved resistance to invasive garlic mustard plants—and that the invasive plants appear to be waging a counterattack. The study, published…
The NY Times Green blog has an interesting post on global warming trends, as illustrated by a nice interactive map produced by Climate Central.
Alongside overall warming trends, the maps show how some states are lagging in warming trends compared to others. Tthe reporter quotes UGA professor and director of the Atmospheric Sciences program, Marshall Shepherd, president-elect of the American Metoerological Society, on the phenomena of '…
The Franklin College is home to so many academic departments that we probably don't spend enough pixels talking about the many institutes, centers and programs also at the heart of student and faculty activity. I will attempt at least a partial remedy with periodic spotlights of our programs. Today: Atmospheric Sciences.
The University of Georgia’s Atmospheric Sciences Program addresses the needs of students interested in studying meteorology…
The reality of underrepresentation of various ethnicities in particular fields, whether it is biology or linguistics, is an effective way of framing diversity issues. But outside of its sociological ramifications, making any field more-representative has the added bonus of funneling more people and building more expertise in those fields, and expanding the volume of expertise is an important indirect benefit.
This is not to downplay the…
In the public realm at least, biofuels have been on a bit of a roller coaster ride over the last 12-15 years, as their promise becomes mired in politics and regional agriculture issues. But in research labs across the country and at UGA, scientists have held steady.
A newly published genetic sequence and map of foxtail millet, a close relative of switchgrass and an important food crop in Asia, is giving scientists working to increase biofuel…
From an interview in The Humanist with New Jersey congressman Rush Holt:
The Humanist: How do you define critical thinking?
Rush Holt: Let me define instead what I like to call “thinking like a scientist.” It’s asking questions that can be answered based on evidence; it’s expressing questions in a way that allows someone to check your work. If you don’t have both of those elements, it’s too easy to fool yourself or to get lazy in…
Energy-related research, thankfully, continues to filter into numerous basic-science disciplines. Because it is going to take everything we know and more to make a decisive turn toward renewable fuels:
Funded by the U.S. Department of Energy, two University of Georgia researchers will pursue innovative approaches to more efficient methods of energy transmission and storage that involve maneuvering microscopic particles. Tina Salguero and Gary…
During interviews and conversations with faculty members over the years, I've heard scientists, historians and artists all mention this same subject: the importance of wonder and curiosity to their disciplines. While some lament the decreasing capacity of wonder in many students today, I can't help but wonder whether it may have, down through the ages, always have seemed like this. Whatever the case may be, most agree that one of their…
Brachiopods are marine shell fish that have hard "valves" (shells) on the upper and lower surfaces. The Ordovician is a geologic period and system, the second of six of the Paleozoic Era, and covers the time between 488.3±1.7 to 443.7±1.5 million years ago. Both are crucial to understanding a new study from Franklin scientists:
A team of scientists analyzed more than 46,000 fossils from 52 sites and…
Can we understand art better without reducing the magic it can work on us? That is not the theme of this article by E. O. Wilson, though it would seem to be one implication of the schema he describes:
RICH AND SEEMINGLY BOUNDLESS as the creative arts seem to be, each is filtered through the narrow biological channels of human cognition. Our sensory world, what we can learn unaided about reality external to our bodies, is pitifully…
This is terrific news:
This spring, the Athens campus will enjoy not only the familiar beauty of renewed life and vegetation as the season unfolds, but also the implementation of renewable energy through the UGA Solar Demonstration Project.
The project will be installed on the roof of the visual arts building, which is currently under renovation in preparation for its newest inhabitants—the College of Environment and Design. The…
From North to South along Georgia's 100-mile-long coast, 14 islands of sand, beach ridge and maritime forest serve as a barrier between sea and land. Four of these are developed ( St. Simons, Tybee, Sea Island and Jekyll) and connected to the mainland by bridges. The rest are accessible only by boat (or plane):
Blackbeard, Wassaw, and Wolf islands are national wildlife refuges. Little Tybee, Ossabaw, and Sapelo are owned by the state of Georgia…
And speaking of Dr. Shepherd, he was quoted on the New York Times Green blog this weekend, per how he answers questions related to the changing global climate:
Climate scientists, like the rest of us, have friends and relatives who wonder what is happening. So I asked the scientists: When you see your extended family over Thanksgiving or Christmas and they ask about the weather, what do you tell them?
“My answer on that has evolved,” replied one…
Very nice Q & A with the director of UGA's Atmosphereic Sciences program, Marshall Shepherd, on the University of Georgia homepage.
A professor in the department of geography, Shepherd discusses several personal and professional topics, including his favorite courses and why?
I developed two new courses when I came to UGA. One course, Applied Climatology in the Urban Environment, is one of my favorite courses because I get to…
Franklin College researchers have used nanoparticles and alternating magnetic current to kill cancer cells in mice without harming healthy cells:
The findings, published recently in the journal Theranostics, mark the first time to the researchers' knowledge this cancer type has been treated using magnetic iron oxide nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia, or above-normal body temperatures, in laboratory mice.
"We show that we can use a small…
Tate Student Center
Image: Machu Pichu, courtesy of wikipedia commons and GNU Free Document License.
And speaking of inventors, the Lindau-Nobel Laureate Meetings have been connecting generations of scientists for over 50 years. These annual meetings offer a chance for young researchers nominated by a worldwide network of Academic Partners to interact with Nobel Laureates in panel discussions, seminars and during various social events scheduled as part of the five-day day event. When you think about it at all, connecting young…