Experts in the News

Heterotrophic activity, primarily driven by sulfate-reducing prokaryotes, has traditionally been linked to nitrogen fixation in the root zone of coastal marine plants, leaving the role of chemolithoautotrophy in this process unexplored. The researchers show that sulfur oxidation coupled to nitrogen fixation is a previously overlooked process providing nitrogen to coastal marine macrophytes. In their study, they recovered 239 metagenome-assembled genomes from a salt marsh dominated by the foundation plant Spartina alterniflora, including diazotrophic sulfate-reducing and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria. Based on the findings, the researchers propose that the symbiosis between S. alterniflora and sulfur-oxidizing bacteria is key to ecosystem functioning of coastal salt marshes. The study's co-authors include School of Biological Sciences researchers: Jose Louis Rolando, Maxim Kolton, Tianze Song, Roth Conrad, Y. Liu, P. Pinamang, Professor and Associate Chair of Research Joel Kostka, and Professor Kostas Konstantinidis. (Konstantinidis is also professor in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering.)

Robotics engineers have worked for decades, using substantial funding, to create robots that can walk or run with the ease of animals. Despite these efforts, today’s robots still cannot match the natural abilities of many animals in terms of endurance, agility, and robustness. Seeking to understand and quantify this disparity, an interdisciplinary team of scientists and engineers from top research institutions, including Dunn Family Associate Professor at the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences Simon Sponberg, conducted a comprehensive study to compare various aspects of robotic systems designed for running with their biological counterparts. (This also appeared at SciTechDaily.)

A group of researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have created the world’s first functional semiconductor made from graphene, a development that could lead to advanced electronic devices and quantum computing applications. Seen as the building block of electronic devices, semiconductors are essential for communications, computing, healthcare, military systems, transportation and countless other applications. Semiconductors are typically made from silicon, but this material is reaching its limit in the face of increasingly faster computing and smaller electronic devices, according to the Georgia Tech research team who published their findings in Nature earlier this year. In a drive to find a viable alternative to silicon, Walter de Heer, Regents' Professor in the School of Physics, led a team of researchers based in Atlanta, Georgia and Tianjin, China to produce a graphene semiconductor that is compatible with microelectronics processing methods.

It’s possible for volcanoes to have a short-term impact on the climate – including global temperature cooling – due to the gases they inject high into the upper atmosphere. But Mount Ruang’s influence on the climate will likely be minimal, according to Greg Huey, professor and chair of the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. And the day-to-day weather conditions near Mount Ruang in Indonesia – things like temperature, clouds and rain – probably won’t be influenced by the volcano for long, Huey told CNN. “The ash itself is short-lived in the atmosphere because it’s heavy, it’s big and it tends to settle out quickly,” Huey told CNN. It’s the gases that are able to reach much higher in the atmosphere. (This story also appeared at WRAL.)

"A dog is a man's best friend," the old saying goes. Can the same soon be said of robot dogs? This summer, a group of scientists including alumna Feifei Qian (M.S. PHYS 2011, Ph.D. ECE 2015) and School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences assistant professor Frances Rivera-Hernández, will travel to Oregon's snow-capped Mt. Hood to train a dog-shaped robot named Spirit how to walk. The slopes of Mt. Hood are strewn with volcanic rocks and sprinkled with glaciers, a rugged environment that researchers think resembles the moon — which Spirit is being prepared to eventually explore. (This story also appeared at BBC, Reuters, Sharjah 24. and TAG 24).

In a new study, published in GEN Biotechnology titled, “Changes in Gene Network Interactions in Breast Cancer Onset and Development,” researchers from the School of Biological Sciences and the Integrated Cancer Research Center (Zainab Arshad, Stephen N. Housley, Kara Keun Lee, and John F. McDonald) have identified differential gene-network changes characteristic of the three most prevalent molecular subtypes of breast cancer, Luminal A, Luminal B, and the highly metastatic Basal-like subtype. In contrast to previous studies, the authors expanded their analysis beyond genes differentially expressed between normal and cancer samples, as differential gene expression may not be a prerequisite for changes in gene-gene interactions. (This story also appeared at Medical Xpress and Mirage News.)

In an opinion published in the May 2024 edition of APSNews, School of Physics Professor Andrew Zangwill reflects on the debate on the boundaries of physics and its impact on the discipline. Zangwill states “for more than a century, physicists have been drawing and redrawing the borders around the field, embracing and rejecting subfields along the way.”

The stars aligned to give a Georgia Tech undergraduate student and an alum the moment of a lifetime during the recent solar eclipse. Corinne Hill is currently majoring in physics with a concentration in astrophysics. Nathaniel Greve graduated in 2023 with a degree in computer science. The couple met in 2021 when they both played alto saxes in the Georgia Tech marching band. After being unable to experience totality in 2017, Greve said the pair made plans to go to Wapakoneta, Ohio, for 2024′s eclipse. Hill’s friends in the Astronomy Club went to the Ozarks to experience the eclipse, but Hill agreed to go to Ohio instead.

Researchers in the School of Psychology co-authored a 2017 study related to daydreaming. They found that daydreamers have unique connections in their brains, linking parts that handle deep thoughts and creativity. That means your daydreaming is more than just moments lost in thought. They’re actual signs that you’re sharper and more creative than you realize, especially when it comes to solving complex puzzles and coming up with new ideas.

Crowds in Georgia and people across the U.S. are gearing up to watch the 2024 Great North American Eclipse. The eclipse’s path of totality stretches across 13 states in the U.S. Georgia is not included in the path of totality, but Atlanta is expected to experience the effects of a partial eclipse. Show host Rose Scott speaks with Georgia-based astronomy expert Jim Sowell, a principal academic professional with the School of Physics and an astronomy expert who serves as the director of the Georgia Tech Observatory.

It’s been 10 years since the Air Force Research Laboratory, or AFRL, successfully launched the astronomy outreach program called Aloha Explorations at the Air Force Maui Optical and Supercomputing site, or AMOS, in Maui, Hawaii. This STEM outreach project uses an 11-inch Celestron telescope, also known as the Aloha Telescope, to provide students in grades K-12 the ability to view live images from their classrooms and remotely control the telescope via an internet connection. The idea for this project originated from Dr. James Sowell, an astronomer and observatory director at the School of Physics. (This story also appeared at Los Alamos Daily Post and Defense Visual Information Distribution Service.)

Georgia Tech students associated with the Astronomy Club are traveling to Missouri in order to be in the path of totality for the April 8 solar eclipse. The path of totality is the prime spot for viewing the moon travel between the Earth and the Sun. For the eclipse viewing trip, the Club plans to bring along astrophotography gear, an 8-inch Celestron telescope with a solar filter, and other equipment for members to use. (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution also covered this story.)