Tags: Human Nature

seal plus two men
Georgia Debate Union at Miami University tourney

Teams representing the Georgia Debate Union earned second and fifth place at the University of Miami intercollegiate debate tournament recently held in Miami, Florida.  The college debate tournament featured over 30 teams from 12 colleges and universities across the Southeast, Midwest, and mid-Atlantic, including the US Naval Academy and Vanderbilt University.  The team of Swapnil Agrawal, a freshman from Chamblee, and Advait Ramanan,…

man with instruments, inside
Molecular fingerprints track oil and dispersants

Oil-degrading marine microorganisms in the Gulf of Mexico are the focus of a broad array of research at UGA, and a new study documents biodegradation in deep seawater using ultra-high resolution mass spectrometry: The challenging task of quantifying the chemical composition of oil and weathered oil from the Deepwater Horizon spill has been the focus of past studies and continues with ongoing investigations. The researchers in this…

buildings and sidewalk of UGA north campus
Happy Holidays

The Franklin College of Arts and Sciences wishes you all the best this holiday season. See you in 2016! Image: author photo, UGA North Campus in the rain, December 24, 2015.

man in lab with syringe
Inorganic mercury and its health effects

Fascinating insights into how an inorganic compound found its way into human microbial systems provide the background of this new study authored by microbiology doctoral student Stephen LaVoie : Published in December in the Journal of Biological Inorganic Chemistry, the research looked at how inorganic and organic mercury affected specific molecular processes. Inorganic mercury from the ore cinnabar was used for centuries against infections…

two men in a lab, one looking at camera
$2.1m MERIT award extension to Escalante

Jorge Escalante of the department of microbiology conducts an extensive research operation into one of the most complex challenges in health science - biosynthesis of the coenzyme B-12. The National Institutes of Health, longtime supporters of his investigations, this fall renewed a prestigious long term commitment to this important research: The MERIT, Method to Extend Research in Time, award is an extension of $2.1 million to an initial five-…

man outside with backpack
Amazing Student: Rahul Shah

Augusta native and double Franklin major (A.B. economics, B.S. biology) has been involved in research, as well as many other activities, since he started at UGA: Since my first semester here at UGA, I have been involved with the Roosevelt Institute, a national student policy think tank with chapters at over 100 universities across the country. Working with Roosevelt, I have conducted policy research with faculty members in a variety of…

group of grads with women at center
All that UGA has to offer

From a Red & Black article on how graduating in December provides a leg up in beginning careers: “I am at somewhat of an advantage because when I start in my position in December, I will be one of two people entering the firm that early," she said. "I will stand out in the work force because there is not a wave of candidates coming in with me in May.” Webb reminded students who are on track to graduate early that they do not have…

Sendak illustration
LaFleur translates Sendak's classic

WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE now enjoys a new adventure in classical Latin, courtesy of Franklin Professor of Classics Emeritus, Rick LaFleur. The new first-ever translation into Latin of the beloved book by LaFleur, UBI FERA SUNT was published by Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc. in December 2015. LaFleur will hold a book signing on Wednesday Dec. 16 from 6:30-7:30 p.m. at Avid Bookshop in Athens. The lively translation faithfully…

woman outside day
Class of 2015: Carmen Kraus

In just over seven days, double major Carmen Kraus (B.S. in Ecology, B.F.A. in Scienitific Illustration) will join the distinguished ranks of UGA graduates. What brought her to that unique combination of credentials? Attending the Ecological Society of America annual meeting convinced me once and for all that I had chosen the correct career path. I went to as many lectures as I could, focusing mainly on bioremediation but also hearing some…

MRI machine in a lab
Improving psychiatric diagnoses

A team of researchers led by faculty in psychology has identified a number of biological markers that make it possible to classify mental disorders with greater precision: The advent of modern medical diagnostic tools has made it possible to identify the hallmarks of innumerable diseases with simple, reliable tests that portray the inner workings of the body in exquisite detail—allowing doctors to pinpoint the specific cause of a patient's…

two women headhsots
First class of leadership fellows

As Women's Leadership Fellows, the faculty members will attend a monthly meeting where they will learn from senior administrators on campus as well as visiting speakers from academia, business and other fields. The program also will feature a concluding weekend retreat in June for more in-depth learning.  ... Babb, director of the Institute for African American Studies and Franklin Professor of English. Her research focuses on African-…

graphic on red, with plant fist
'Raising Resistance' screening Dec. 4

The Georgia Workshop on Culture, History and Power through the Franklin College and the Latin American Sustainable Agriculture initiative presents a screening of the sustainable agriculture documentary, Raising Resistance: The project seeks to engage some of the most pressing questions of the ability to derive sustainable agriculture production from Latin America while also ensuring the congruent development of local communities. The project…

woman outside with tree
Class of 2015: Elizabeth Benyshek

Terrific new feature from UGA on our students graduating in December. First up is geology major Elizabeth Benyshek: Our fieldwork focused on basaltic volcanism, landscape evolution and planetary surface processes as related to both Earth and Mars. While the fieldwork aided me in gaining geological experience, I also learned more than a few life lessons from the scientist who invited the UGA students, Bob Craddock.  How did that experience…

statue of the Bard
Kudos, November 2015

Faculty, staff and students excel in every area of endeavor on campus and (quite) beyond. A sampling of solid achievements by our colleagues shared over the last month: The Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative (GoMRI) Research Board announced awards of nearly $38 million to individuals and teams studying the effects of oil on the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem and public health. Among the awardees are professor and head of the department of marine…

woman, campus exterior
Amazing Student Miller Singleton

Franklin College double major Miller Singleton (biology & psychology) strives to make service and study abroad the hallmarks of her UGA experience: Since my freshman year, I have volunteered as a mentor with Shop with a Bulldawg, an organization whose mission is to serve Athens by bringing joy and hope to children during the holidays. I currently volunteer with Affinis Hospice in which I have the opportunity to serve as a companion and…

woman, with man looking at instrument
Processing visual information: flicker fusion

Psychology researchers have linked sensory function to congnitive function in an interesting new study: researchers from UGA's Neuropsychology and Memory Assessment Laboratory and Vision Sciences Laboratory collaborated to use a method based on measuring processing speed through sight. Catherine Mewborn, a doctoral candidate in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of psychology, led the study. "We knew that sensory function is…

four people, two with certificates, photo
Convincing Arguments

The communication studies department held its bi-annual public speaking contest on Thursday, November 12. The evening began with the announcement of this year's Olive M. Cone Scholarship winner, Elizabeth Trent. The Cone Scholarship recognizes the outstanding achievement of a Communication Studies major with a tuition scholarship for the spring semester. Then, the main event: The competition was strong with eleven contestants who…

digital portal matrix in blue
Big Data heads South

• Habitat planning, including urban infrastructure, smart cities efforts, transportation, rural-urban infrastructure and wildlife habitat and conservation. Dr. Ramaswamy and his colleagues are already engaged in some vsionary work monitoring algal blooms in the region's ponds and lakes using cloud computing and corwd-sourcing, so his participation in the initiative is a natural fit. More importantly, it engages the university in wider Big Data…

man in lab with gloves
Streipen lab receives $1 million for cryptosporidium research

Fantastic news from one of our best, rewarding the hard work of his team to fight one of the world's most pervasive scourges: Researchers at the University of Georgia have received $1 million from the Wellcome Trust and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to speed the development of new drugs for the treatment of cryptosporidiosis, a major cause of diarrheal disease and mortality in young children around the world. Cryptosporidiosis is…

four male students with trophies
Franklin College Kudos

The Georgia Debate Union won the recent intercollegiate tournament at Vanderbilt University - details on that, along with a few other honors and accomplishments from the month of October: Two teams representing the Georgia Debate Union, which organizes and fields competitive policy debate teams at the University of Georgia, emerged victorious at the 2015 Vanderbilt intercollegiate debate tournament held in Nashville, Tennessee. The tournament…

woman with students posing for photos
Humanities events recap

Similar to how the world was grieving and in shock after 9/11, many of the public records after Lincoln's death presented a nation in mourning, Hodes said, but individual feelings and reactions varied.  And religion professor Derrick Lemons recently hosted the mini-conference "Theologically-Engaged Anthropology:" Along with Lemons, the scholars met Sept. 20-22 in Atlanta to discuss what theology could contribute to cultural…

burying beetle
Beetles and the genetics of parenthood

Most insects do not care for their young. But burying beetles take an extraordinarily active role - preparing food, protecting the brood and even feeding their offspring much in the same way that a bird feeds its hatchlings. New research published in the journal Nature Communications has identified many of the genetic changes that take place in burying beetles as they assume the role of parent: "Parenting is a complex trait, but it's…

child in b/w with trains
How humans become tool users

Dorothy Fragaszy's sustained investigations have made her one of the world's foremost experts on tool use by capuchin monkeys and chimpanzees. A new paper from her research group provides a unique glimpse at how humans develop an ability to use tools in childhood while nonhuman primate remain only occasional tool users: Fragaszy, a psychology professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and director of the Primate Behavior…

man seated with books
CSI Dixie: The History of Medical Science

Throwback Therapies is an interdisciplinary seminar series designed to entertain and enlighten those interested in the origins of modern health sciences. Sounds terrific - our best faculty collaborate to highlight the interwoven nature of various disciplines as they exist and are utilized in the world beyond the university. Dr. Berry is a great scholar with infectious enthusiasm for teaching and history. This should be a fun series. MLC at 2 on…

drawings of a snake on different pieces of paper
Slithering Enhancers

Snakes weren't always legless; they evolved the loss of limbs over 100 million years ago and new research from genetics explains why snakes have held on to this limb circuitry through the ages: "There have been many millions of snake generations since they evolved a legless body, and we would generally expect the DNA associated with limb development to fade away or mutate to do another job, but that doesn't seem to have happened," he said…
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