Tags: Human Nature


New UGA study on marriage

Somewhat counter-intuitive findings from a new study led by psychologist Justin Lavner, though they also remind us what is probably most obvious about relationships: the severity and number of couples' overall problems stay stable over time, even as their relationship dissatisfaction grows. The research, published in the December issue of the Journal of Family Psychology, suggests a departure from conventional wisdom, both on the part of the…


UGA-Emory collaborations in Infectious Disease research

The Provost's Office highlighted some research collaborations in the state of Georgia among our premier institutions, the cummulative extramural support awarded these efforts and its effects. The summary included work by Franklin College professor of genetics, Jessica Kissinger: Kissinger, who directs the UGA Institute of Bioinformatics, is leading a team that is organizing, distributing and mining the massive quantities of data produced by the…


CCRC-Franklin researchers target cancer stem cells

A new paper by research scientists at the Complex Carbohydrate Research Center focuses on cancer stem cells: the research team demonstrates that the sugar molecule, made by an enzyme known as GnT-V, regulates the development of a particular subset of cancerous cells known as cancer stem cells. Much like normal stem cells that sustain organs and tissues, cancer stem cells can self-renew, and their cellular offspring clump together to form tumors…


Linguistics PhD grad wins international dissertation prize

Congratulations to Dr. Mark Wenthe, currently a parttime instructor at UGA and also a recent PhD alumnus in linguistics in the department of classics, who won an international competition for best dissertation for the year 2013 from the Society of Indo-European Studies (Indogermanische Gesellschaft). Wenthe's dissertation, ISSUES IN THE PLACEMENT OF ENCLITIC PERSONAL PRONOUNS IN THE RIGVEDA, among the four canonical sacred texts (…


Baldwin Hall expansion underway

Shovels hit the ground last week as an expansion project began on one of our venerable North Campus buildings, Baldwin Hall: Built in 1938, Baldwin Hall has served as a Navy pre-flight school during World War II and home to several UGA academic programs. The building currently houses the School of Public and International Affairs as well as the departments of sociology and anthropology in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. ... The…


Dorsey, Garfinkel and Joye elected to AAAS

Fantastic news for the Franklin College and UGA, as three faculty members including Franklin dean Alan Dorsey were elected to the American Association for the Advancement of Science: an honor bestowed upon them by their peers for "scientifically or socially distinguished efforts to advance science or its applications." These three faculty members are among 401 new AAAS Fellows who will be presented with an official certificate and a gold…


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…
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