Tags: Earth

screenshot of radar image over regional map
New weather radar to improve forecasting in North Georgia

A weather radar system purchased by the University of Georgia and the Georgia Institute of Technology could lead to improved weather forecasting in North Georgia – and provide both expanded educational opportunities for students and enhanced research capabilities for the two institutions. “The acquisition of this radar is a game-changer for our state,” said Marshall Shepherd, director of UGA’s Atmospheric Sciences Program. “Not only does it…

photo of sunrise over frozen sea, with bow of ship
2022 Arctic Report Card

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) presented the 2022 Arctic Report Card, highlighting that the warming Arctic reveals shifting seasons, widespread disturbances, and the value of diverse observations. Issued annually since 2006, the Arctic Report Card is a timely and peer-reviewed source for clear, reliable and concise environmental information on the current state of different components of the Arctic environmental…

graphic of never-ending staircase, purple
Noted and Quoted, November 2022

From doing the math on Fibonacci numbers to a later and later hurricane season and layoffs in the tech industry, Franklin faculty offered expertise and had their research featured in a variety of media across the globe. A sample from November's stories:   Commentary: It’s not just the economy, stupid – Stephen Mihm, associate professor and head of the department of history, writing in The Washington Post Midterm elections are Nov…

photo of two dancers with black background
Kudos, November 2022

Congratulations to students, staff, and faculty in our community for their many extraordinary and distinguishing feats of intellect, athleticism, and artistry. A sampling from November: On Friday, Oct. 28, three University of Georgia students clinched a victory in the Capital One College Bowl, a multi-week trivia competition hosted by Peyton Manning and Cooper Manning. Broadcast nationally on NBC, seniors Aidan Leahy (Double Dawg student from…

photo of woman sewing a red jersey
Community threads

A story that combines campus, alumni, sustainability, the Georgia Bulldogs, and local partnerships weaves the fabric held together by Community threads: It might be difficult to see on television or while attending a game in Sanford Stadium, but if you were to examine the University of Georgia’s football jerseys closely, you would see tokens from past games in the form of darned tears or re-stitched seams. These repairs tell the story of…

photo of students in garden with medicinal plants
UGA’s Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden

An incredible resource of knowledge about flora from around the world – some very familiar, others less so – positioned in a corner of North Campus is a wealth of tastes, cures, and indigenous wisdom. Students in many FYO courses, as well as staff from around Franklin College, have enjoyed and learned from tours of Latin American Ethnobotanical Garden courtesy of its director Paul Duncan.  Research Communications presents an intro complete…

book cover with text and color photo of ruins
New book focuses on global land governance

Should Africa’s land be owned? Westerners have a crucial blind spot when it comes to engaging with other landholding systems. Private, exclusive title backed by statutory law is sacrosanct in the West, and has been sold to the rest of the world on our behalf through international development agencies such as USAID and the World Bank.  Many benefits are said to flow from this outside intervention in African land relations, from greater…

graphic map of island on white, with inset regional image
Anthropology study on land use, herding in Bronze Age Cyprus

New research findings, the first comprehensive study of stable isotopes from both animal and plant remains on the island of Cyprus, expand the archaeological understanding of the dynamics of landscape management in Cyprus during the development of social complexity that led to the first cities on the Mediterranean island The new study, led by UGA associate professor Suzanne E. Pilaar Birch with colleagues Patricia Fall, Steven Falconer, and…

photo of man with apple tree, day
Noted and Quoted, October 2022

From tempests in the physical world to the discovery of an ancient canal to the reintroduction of heritage apple crops, expertise from and research by Franklin faculty was present in media around the globe. A same of stories over the past month:    As moms return to the office, companies need to demonstrate empathy – Malissa A. Clark, associate professor of psychology, quoted at Indeed Historic storm surge. Record flooding.…

composite of 9 headshot photos of women
Kudos, October 2022

Amid the turning of the season, October brought career milestones and the dedication the McBay Science Library, along with prestigious awards, grants, and new books from Franklin faculty. A sample of recent announcement – congratulations to all: UGA oceanographer Samantha Joye has been awarded the 2022 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration The University of Georgia has named nine faculty and academic leaders to the 2022-2023…

photo of Roman aqueduct
Classics professor documents changing climate

UGA's Jordan Pickett recently published findings which reveal that environmental and climatic changes in the eastern Mediterranean were part of a “perfect storm” that led to widespread settlement abandonment or transformation in the early medieval period, roughly 1,500 years ago. This new body of research, which challenges decades of scholarly work, provides modern humans with a case study for how our ancestors adapted creatively…

photo of skulls and vials with overlay graphic and text
Special issue focuses on growth of archeological science

Suzanne Pilaar Birch, associate professor of anthropology, served as co-editor of a special issue published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences featuring articles outlining the state of the art in archeological science. A collection of articles from the Recent Advances in Archaeological Science Techniques Special Feature explores developments in archaeological science, highlighting advancements in radiometric…

photo with three women with tea and portfolio
UGA study away programs frame a global mindset

At the conclusion of the spring semester, many University of Georgia students and faculty will take a greatly earned break from classes and enjoy a more relaxed time, but others will begin new chapters in new places.   Facilitated through the Office of Global Engagement, nearly 3,000 UGA students study abroad each year, selecting from hundreds of programs, including about 100 faculty-led programs. Due to the pandemic, many…

photo of ground with uncovered skeletons of humans and horse
Research opens up new revelations about Ancient Greece

Thanks to trade and colonization, 1st millennium BCE Mediterranean was characterized by an unprecedented increase human mobility. New anthropology research co-led by the University of Georgia on the diverse genetic origins of the Classical period Greek army reveals a broad mix of ethnic identity within Greece and throughout the region – as well as the use of mercenaries in battle. Accounts by ancient historians Herodotus and Diodorus…

photo of woman aboard ship, ocean in background
Joye selected for Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration

University of Georgia oceanographer Samantha Joye has been awarded the 2022 Captain Don Walsh Award for Ocean Exploration. Awarded jointly by the Marine Technology Society and the Society for Underwater Technology, the award is named for American oceanographer and marine policy specialist Capt. Don Walsh, who co-piloted the bathyscaph Trieste when it made its daunting record descent on Jan. 23, 1960, into the deepest point of the world…

photo of pink and green bacteria
Noted and quoted, September 2022

A new naming system for microbes, Greenland's zombie ice, a Finnish scholar on a American history, and tributes to a beloved campus colleague and friend lead Franklin College media mentions and experts During September: Greenland ‘zombie ice’ an ominous warning for future, new study finds – Tom Mote, Distinguished research Professor of geography and associate dean, quoted at Yahoo! News Jackson’s water crisis – A stark warning about…

microscopy image of cell, with colorful outlines of round objects
Ghost in the cell

UGA’s Audrey Ward won Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory’s Yeast Microscopy Competition in the category of Best Special Effects and Editing with “Ghost in the Cell,” this spectral shot of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. To create the image, she and Yee Mon Thu of Colby College used calcofluor-white staining of the cell wall of the yeast species, which has been used in winemaking, baking and brewing since antiquity. Ward edited the final…

pictorial diagram of fern leaf parts and sections, with text on white
Genome evolution in the modern fern

Defying all expectations, a fern no larger than a dinner plate currently holds the title for highest chromosome count, with a whopping 720 pairs crammed into each of its nuclei. This penchant of ferns for hoarding DNA has stumped scientists, and the intractable size of their genomes has made it difficult to sequence, assemble and interpret them. Two new papers published in the journal Nature Plants are rewriting history with the first full-…

photo of bouncy castle, with blue sky
Noted and Quoted, summer 2022

Broad coverage of big stories on race, health, climate change, weather safety, and history featured research findings and expertise of faculty from across the Franklin College over the summer. A sampling of ongoing, highly impactful scholarship from our colleagues: Black, Latino people more likely to remain masked during pandemic, polls show – research by Allison L. Skinner-Dorkenoo, assistant professor of psychology, reported at …

photo of building interior with people
UGA completes Phase 2 of STEM Research Complex

The University held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to celebrate the completion of the second phase of the Interdisciplinary Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (I-STEM) Research Complex on Wednesday, Aug. 24. The 101,000-square-foot, $64 million I-STEM Research Building 2, which was funded by a combination of university and state funds, will support collaborative research in chemistry, engineering and other scientific disciplines. Paired with…

aerial photo of solar array
Conservation is the future

On campus, as well as elsewhere. The University of Georgia report on its operational sustainability and energy conservation reveals some notable findings. Despite adding over 500,000 square feet of conditioned space, including I-STEM Research Building 1, the Butts-Mehre Heritage Hall Expansion and the Porcelain and Decorative Arts Museum, Discovery and Inspiration Garden, overall campus energy consumption increased only…

photo of man at building entrance
Research profile: Mattia Pistone

Much like lava flows, Mattia Pistone began his interest in volcanology and petrology via an energetic and wandering path. It started in Pistone’s hometown of Pescara, Italy, when he began studying Latin literature and noting how the Romans used nature as a model for technology. The Romans are known as excellent engineers, but they were also early geologists. They knew that choosing the right rock for the right purpose could lead to longstanding…

photo of tiny solar cell, held by blue-gloved hand
Next-generation nanophotonics devices and applications come into view

Densely-packed solar cells that fit on a car and efficiently transfer light to electricity; point-of care medical diagnostic tools; major advances in communication, sensing and imaging – all of these plus many more depend on interaction of light with the material world at a very small scale, also known as nanophotonics. What makes nanophotonics so interesting to scientists and so promising across a broad array of industry is the subject of a new…

photo of mound lodge entrance, with grass and cloudy skies
Archaeologists collaborate with Tribal Nations to hone research methods

University of Georgia researchers recently co-authored an article with members of the Muscogee and Huron-Wendat Nations (HWN) to shine a light on the importance of meaningful collaboration between archaeologists and descendant communities and nations as a necessary component of archaeological practice in the 2020s and beyond. Jennifer Birch, associate professor and undergraduate coordinator in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and…

photo of bounce house, day
Lack of bouncy castle regulations leaves children vulnerable to wind-related weather events

A popular, easily rentable party feature could be putting tens of thousands of children at risk, according to new research from the University of Georgia. The study found at least 479 people were injured and 28 died worldwide in more than 130 bounce house accidents due to weather events since 2000. But the researchers caution that these estimates are likely an undercount. These injuries are on top of an estimated 10,000 ER visits in…
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