Tags: Human Nature


New nanomaterials produce better DNA diagnostic tools

The physicist Richard Feynman gave his famous lecture, There's Always Room at the Bottom, in 1959, considered by many as the conceptual birth of nanotechnology. And ever since, nanotechnology has represented a very promising avenue for all manner of scientific research and application, from drug delivery to hydrogen fuel cell storage. As such it has attracted the attention of some of the world's premier researchers and we're now approaching, if…


Microbes move researchers one step closer to biofuels from biomass

We mention this periodically and should be gladdened at every occasion. University researchers and scientists from all over campus, from engineering to genetics, have been working on various aspects of creating renewable fuels for decades. Now, one group of UGA researchers has moved closer to producing biofuels from biomass, in this case by focusing on microbes in the fermentation process. The single most important barrier to the use…


New Microbiology faculty members

The Franklin College’s Department of Microbiology recently hired two senior faculty members, both of whom bring an impressive record of research and teaching to UGA. Jorge C. Escalante-Semerena comes to UGA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and his work focuses on a number of areas that impact human health. Among his interests are the use of vitamin B12 derivatives for cancer therapy and the modification of bacterial proteins to…


Meet a faculty member

One idea that we've had in the Dean's office is to try to find ways to introduce our faculty members and what they do. Video can be a great tool for that. Here's another in an ongoing series, this time featuring psychology professor and department head, Keith Campbell.


Fallows book selected for international award

A monograph by professor of romance languages and associate dean in the Franklin College Noel Fallows has been selected for the prestigious La corónica International Book Award: La corónica is a refereed journal published every spring and fall by the Modern Language Association's Division on Medieval Hispanic Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. It publishes groundbreaking articles written in English or Spanish on topics in medieval…


New website allows access to changes along the coast

Overlapping constituencies have often been the bane of sustainable development practices. Even having the tools that allow different groups to share information and work together has long been a deficiency; and without them, marshalling agreement among competing interests has been that much more difficult and rare. Now, a new web tool from UGA researchers might begin to change that dynamic: a team of University of Georgia researchers has…


Franklin joint-appointment faculty receive $2 million for biofuel development

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…

cropland
History researcher ties 'Green Revolution' to the American South

The Green Revolution refers to a series of research, development and technology transfer initiatives between the 1940's and the late 1970's that increased agricultural production around the world. This campaign disseminated U.S. agricultural methods, such as the use of pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, hybrid seeds and the like to farmers throughout the developing world of the mid-twentieth century. Up to now, most scholars have credited the…

Greenland ice melt
Climatologists note dramatic surface ice melt in Greenland

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…


Nanoscale researchers develop rapid diagnostic tests

In a series of studies, UGA researchers have developed a single-step method that can detect viruses, bacteria and chemical contaminants: "The results are unambiguous and quickly give you a high degree of specificity," said senior author Yiping Zhao, professor of physics in the UGA Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and director of the university's Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center. Zhao and his co-authors—doctoral students Jing Chen…


UGA exhibit focuses on the Power of Microbes

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…


The expanding universe (of knowledge)

Scientists at the University of Georgia, the University of California, San Diego, UCLA, California State Polytechnic University and the Australia National University have collaborated on a study, published in the journal Nature, suggesting new information on how planets are formed. The study: began with a curious and unexpected finding: Within three years, the cloud of dust circling a young star in the Scorpius-Centaurus stellar nursery simply…


Renowned educator to join chemistry department

 


UGA psychologists focus on Facebook

Social media tools have the perception of keeping us all connected, but we probably shouldn't dismiss the extent to which they are also self-serving, so says a new study: New research from the University of Georgia finds what people may really "like" about social networking are themselves. "Despite the name ‘social networks,' much user activity on networking sites is self-focused," said Brittany Gentile, a UGA doctoral candidate who looked at…


Realizing the Good Life

How far removed are we from connecting a successful life with the ability to enjoy it? It can be a painful question, one that seems like an assault on capitalism. But you would think that capitalism could withstand a vigorous debate on its ultimate purpose. As this essay In Praise of Leisure points out, it's a subject the great economist John Maynard Keynes was willing to contemplate even in 1930. Imagine a world in which most people worked…


UGA Research News

The UGA Office of the Vice President for Research has released the Spring 2012issue of Research magazine with several articles detailing the work of Franklin faculty, including: Harry and Jane Willson Professor in the Humanities Bill Kretzschmar, on his work in language variations and complex systems. Associate professor of psychology Adam Goodie on the nature of pathological gambling. Responding to climate change as a research…


Kannan receives NSF Career award

 

millet stalk
Genetics a key to better biofuels

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…

researchers
$1.5 million for energy research to two UGA chemistry professors

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…


Robinson wins Humbolt Award

Franklin Professor and Distinguished Research Professor of Chemistry Gregory H. Robinson is among the awardees of the 2012 Humboldt Research Award. The award, which is presented to up to 100 scientists worldwide annually, is granted in recognition of a researcher's entire achievements to date and is presented to academics whose fundamental discoveries, new theories or insights have had a significant impact on their own discipline and who are…


The fight against Toxoplasmosis

The Center for Tropical and Emerging Global Diseases is a UGA-wide, multi-disciplinary center establshed in 1998 to bring together research, education and service resources in parasitology, immunology, cellular and molecular biology, biochemistry and genetics. The Franklin College has been one its core institutional partners from the beginning, recognizing that facilitating expertise from a wide-range of disciplines is the key to fighting…


Psychology researchers focus on consequences of binge drinking

It's a perennial issue on college campuses nationwide, one with heavy effects on the health and saefty of students: Binge drinking. A doctoral candidate from psychology has published findings that suggest patterns of binge drinking establish the environment for dangerous situations. The study, recently published in the journal Violence and Victims, found that first-year female college students who drank four or more alcoholic drinks in one day…


Franklin alum Mitcham named Georgia's Poet Laureate

UGA alumnus Judson C. Mitcham (AB '69, MS '71) was named by Governor Nathan Deal as the new poet laureate of Georgia. Mitcham succeeds David Bottoms in the post. A former adjunct professor of creative writing at UGA, Mitcham was very active on campus as a Man of Letters during his time in Athens and has many connections to Franklin College. A recipient of numerous awards and honors, Mitcham currently teaches creative writing at Mercer…

Photo of Fossil Brachiopods
Predicting risks of extinction

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…


NSF Graduate Fellowships

Ten UGA students and alums received graduate fellowships from the National Science Foundation to conduct research during their master's and doctoral studies, including four from Franklin College: Christopher Abin, of Miami, Fla., is pursuing a doctorate in microbiology at the University of Georgia. As a Florida International University undergraduate student, Abin made the dean’s list every semester and received a National Institutes of Health…
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