Tags: Human Nature


Groundwork for better dementia diagnosis

UGA psychology research may lead to earlier, better diagnosis of dementia, Alzheimer’s By JESSICA LUTON jluton@uga.edu New research from UGA’s department of psychology may one day lead to a better biomarker for earlier detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), the leading predictor of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease in older adults. With nearly 36 million people estimated to have dementia currently, and that number expected to double every…


Faculty in the Media

A diversity of invaluable faculty expertise was reported on or quoted in a variety media over the last month. A few examples of this crucial element of university public service: Associate professor of chemistry Jason Locklin teamed up with an area high school student to create an app to help students study organic chemistry The Red & Black reported on work by asssitant research scientist Zhu-Hong Li of biochemistry and molecular biology and…


50 Years

Plenty of commemorations for the fifty-year anniversary today of the arrival of Vince Dooley to campus, and deservedly so. Coach Dooley has a tremendous legacy at the university, and continues to have great impact on UGA and the Franklin College through his philanthropic beneficence to the department of history, the Redcoat Marching Band and other units. Five decades is obviously a long time, easy to remember as a conceptual frame - truly a…


Two faculty named AAAS Fellows

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) is an international professional organization founded in 1848 that published the journal Science, which has the largest paid circulation of any peer-reviewed general science journal in the world (approximatelt 1 million). AAAS also has two new members from the UGA: Two University of Georgia faculty members have been named Fellows of the American Association for the Advancement…


Organic Chemistry II app

Local High School Student, UGA Professor Team Up to iPhone/iPad application By Jessica Luton  jluton@uga.edu For North Oconee High School student Chuanbo Pan, computer programming just comes naturally. After creating an iPhone app to help fellow high school students learn Latin, Pan was sought out by his neighbor, chemistry professor Jason Locklin, to help create an app for what is often known as one of UGA’s most difficult classes—Organic…


Athens Music Project

Nice article going around this week on one of the Willson Center Faculty Research Clusters projects focused on the behemoth that is the local musical traditions of Athens, GA: The Athens Music Project will take into account the city's variety of African-American musical traditions, both secular and religious; its growing jazz scene; bluegrass and other folk music traditions; the Latin American/Latino musical community; new music and conceptual…


Plant genome mapping with Andrew Paterson: Focus on the Faculty

I was trained as a conventional plant breeder but have been fortunate to participate in genome sequencing to reveal the entire genetic blueprint(s) of most of the crops that I study. Their unique attributes make crop plants valuable both commercially and as botanical models, thus linking increased fundamental knowledge to improving human lives. Genome sequences empower many new opportunities to improve plants to better suit human needs while…

students in class, with laptop
The SCALE-UP teaching method

Terrific article on classroom innovations by two of our very best: Steven Lewis and Craig Wiegert: Two physics professors have taken Isaac Newton's first law of motion-an object at rest will continue to be at rest unless acted upon by an external force-and applied it to the way they teach the subject. For decades there was inertia on how physics classes were taught to undergraduates: A lecturer would talk to students about physics without the…


Cell biology researchers discover new treatment

Researchers in the department of cellular biology have discovered that a combination of two commonly prescribed drugs used to treat high cholesterol and osteoporosis may serve as the foundation of a new treatment for toxoplasmosis, a parasitic infection caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii. Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite capable of infecting nearly all warm-blooded animals. While healthy human adults usually suffer no lasting ill effects…


Learning without language

Interesting new study authored by Dorothy Fragaszy in the department of psychology and several collaborating authors from around the world: A new study from a group of researchers, led by University of Georgia behavioral scientist Dorothy Fragaszy, reports that artifacts—objects similar to the ball or shovel—are an important component in technical learning by nonhuman species. The study, published Oct. 7 in Philosophical Transactions of the…


Faculty Kudos, October 2013

And speaking of great faculty, ours continue to shine with professional accomplishments, new grants and awards that bring UGA and the Franklin College great honor and distinction. A few this month include: David P. Landau, Distinguished Research Professor and director of the Center for Simulational Physics, was awarded the newly created title of Mainz Visiting Professor for 2013-2015 by the "Graduiertenschule (Graduate School of Excellence)-…


The Nature of Music

Ethnomusicology is the study of why, and how, human beings are musical - a definition that positions ethnomusicology among the social sciences, humanities, and biological sciences dedicated to understanding the nature of the human species in all its biological, social, cultural, and artistic diversity. The Hugh Hodgson Schol of Music welcomes UCLA ethnomusicologist Timothy Rice to campus on Thursday, Oct. 10, where he will present a public…


The Marine Institute at Sapelo Island

The appointment of Alber reflects a renewed focus on the pristine marine laboratory as a field station that supports world-class research and education in coastal ecosystems. UGAMI's international reputation, dating back to the 1950s, is based on groundbreaking ecological research by scientists from UGA and beyond.  An undeveloped barrier island on Georgia's coast, Sapelo is a national treasure as well as a unique living laboratory for…


Shepherd: shell game with climate science

As the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Science rolls out its fifth assessment report this week, Athletic Association Professor and president of the American Meteorological Society J. Marshall Shepherd weighs in on the need for common sense on climate change: For me, the hat with the ball from the IPCC report is that it continues to affirm that our planet is warming, and humans are a significant contributor to the warming. Andrew Dessler,…

structures of glycoenzymes
$7.4 million NIH grant to Franklin researchers

For the second time in two months,  a group of UGA researchers have received significant grant support from the NIH to study and experiment on the sugar molecules known as glycans: [The researchers] have received a five-year $7.4 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to help better understand one of the most fundamental building blocks of life. They are tiny chains of sugar molecules called glycans, and they cover the surface…


Fire walk with him

The department of physics and astronomy hosts a distinguished guest to campus on Thursday sept. 19 with a very unusual bit of expertise to share with all and sundry: To some, fire walking is an act of faith, belief or mind-over-matter, but for condensed matter physicist John Campbell, fire walking is a matter of thermal conductivity. Campbell will lecture on the subject at the University of Georgia Sept. 19 at 7 p.m. in the physics auditorium.…


UGA historian featured on The Learning Channel

  By Jessica Luton jluton@uga.edu A University of Georgia historian was featured on the TLC show “Who do you think you are?” earlier this month. A recent Ph.D. recipient, Joshua Haynes currently teaches four classes in American History and Native American history, but this summer he had a chance to help Trisha Yearwood sort out her family history and discover why her family ended up in Eatonton, Georgia. Along the way, Haynes learned some…


New psychology research explores boundary extension

How do we change or mis-remember what we see with our own eyes? New research from the department of psychology seeks to unpack this intriguing process: In just a few short seconds, the human brain helps most people extend the scene beyond what is actually seen. Scientists at the University of Delaware discovered this concept in 1989 when they showed study participants real photographs of 20 scenes for 15 seconds and then had participants draw a…


Kudos, September 2013

Great news this month about our faculty, students and alumni. A few of the highlight of accomplishments and awards in the Franklin College:   University Professor Lynn Billard of the department of statistics was selected to receive the 2013 Florence Nightingale David award by the Committee of Presidents of the Statistical Societies. The award recognizes a female statistician who exemplifies David’s contributions to education, science and…


Faculty in the News, September '13

Here's a sampling of Franklin College faculty writing and quoted in the media this month:   “The secret bromance of Nixon and Brezhnev” – Posting by associate professor of history Stephen Mihm in Bloomberg News, picked up by the History News Network. A second posting by Mihm is in the same outlets on the topic, “How computers took over trading.” Spalding professor of history James C. Cobb reflects on commencement in Flagpole magazine. “This…


Georgia Virtual History Project

One of the new Faculty Research Clusters recently launched by the Willson Center for Humanities and Arts is the Digital Humanities Lab co-directed by Franklin faculty in the departments of English (Bill Kretzschmar) and history (Stephen Berry and Claudio Saunt). This initiative combines digital humanities courses and the strengthening of the university’s digital humanities research core through projects such as the Linguistic Atlas Project and…


$10m NIH grant to Center for Biomedical Glycomics

Glycobiology is very complex science - the study the structures, biosynthesis and biology of the sugar chains, or glycans, that are essential components in all living things. Glycans have been the focus of much attention by UGA researchers recently, and now glycobiology is at the center of big new NIH grant to another team of Franklin College researchers: Researchers at the University of Georgia have received a five-year, $10.4 million grant…


Engaging Students and Communities in Music Research

The Willson Center for Humanities and Arts and the Hugh Hodgson School of Music present a lecture by a noted expert on bringing research into communities and vice-versa. Carol Muller, a South African-born Ethnomusicologist at the University of Pennsylvannia, will speak at the Hodgson Schoo, at 4 p.m. Thursday Sept. 5 in room 408.  Muller has published widely on South African music at home and abroad. Her books include Rituals of Fertility…


Faculty Research Clusters in the Humanities

In continuing with our Humanities Week theme, today the Jane and Harry Willson Center for Humanities and Arts at UGA launches its new Faculty Research Clusters initiative with a reception at 4 p.m. in the Russell Building Special Collections Libraries: The program supports groups of University of Georgia faculty who are organized to address large-scale humanities and arts questions in partnership with colleagues from allied departments, colleges…


Genetically Speaking

  Genetics lectures series begins today By Jessica Luton jluton@uga.edu If the development of species over time is of interest to you, the department of genetics has just the thing for you—a weekly lecture series meant to shine light on genetics research on campus and at other universities.  Featuring visiting scholars and campus experts alike, this series of lectures happens each Wednesday at 4 p.m. at the Paul D. Coverdell Center…
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