Visitors to the Skidaway Marine Science Day will be able to catch a rare glimpse of Rider, the University of Georgia Aquarium's new hatchling loggerhead sea turtle, on Oct. 26 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Held on the north end of Skidaway Island, the free event will include behind-the-scenes tours of the aquarium, opportunities to explore research vessels and hands-on science activities.
The event is jointly presented by the UGA Aquarium and UGA Shellfish Laboratory, which are both part of Marine Extension, a public service and outreach unit of UGA, and by the UGA Skidaway Institute of Oceanography, Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary and the Nature Conservancy.
Researchers at the University of Georgia 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. They published their findings recently in PLOS Pathogens.
Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite capable of infecting nearly all warm-blooded animals. While healthy human adults usually suffer no lasting ill effects from infection, it can be harmful or fatal to unborn fetuses or those with weakened immune systems.
"For many years, therapies for toxoplasmosis have focused on drugs that target only the parasite," said Silvia Moreno, senior author of the article and professor of cellular biology in UGA's Franklin College of Arts and Sciences. "But in this paper, we show how we can hit the parasite with two drugs simultaneously, one that affects body chemistry in the host and one that affects the parasite."
A team of University of Georgia College of Education professors is developing a Web-based tool to improve young students' literacy skills thanks to a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
The specific aim of the grant is to support underachieving writers from low-income backgrounds, English language learners, students with a range of learning disabilities and those for whom initial motivation in writing or engaged writing is a problem.
The new literacy tool, PersuadeMe, is designed to help students in grades 4-8 engage in writing and arguments on issues that interest them.
Thirty-four million people are living with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, worldwide and each year some 2.5 million more are infected, according to the World Health Organization.
New medicine developed at the University of Georgia attacks the virus before it integrates with human DNA, understood by researchers as the point of no return.
"In our laboratories, we have discovered a highly potent HIV integrase inhibitor, or blocker, aimed at the ‘point of no return' in HIV infectivity," said Nair, who is the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar in Drug Discovery in the UGA College of Pharmacy. "This inhibitor is highly effective against many variations of HIV."
According to Nair, HIV integrase is an ideal target for drug therapy because it is essential for viral replication, and there is no human counterpart, which means there is a low risk of side effects.
A diverse agricultural hub is thriving just minutes from downtown Atlanta in the area surrounding the city of Chattahoochee Hills. To help with the growth, University of Georgia Extension recently developed a new position for a Fulton County agriculture and natural resources agent.
On Oct. 1, Todd Leeson started work under a collaborative funding agreement between UGA, UGA Extension and the Chattahoochee Hill Country Conservancy—the first of its kind for the university. The joint program's goal is to return sustainable agriculture to a good portion of the locally protected green space—an area where 70 percent of the community's 35,000 acres is to be preserved from commercial and residential growth—and to demonstrate the many levels of economic development that can be derived from local food production.
Leave young children alone with a soccer ball or a plastic shovel, and they quickly begin to put the object to use, especially if they've observed adults kicking the ball or using the shovel to dig a hole.
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 Royal Society B, documents the work of two groups of researchers investigating cases of habitual tool use in wild chimpanzees and capuchin monkeys.
The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities has designated the University of Georgia an Innovation and Economic Prosperity University. UGA is one of only 16 universities in the nation to receive the designation.
The new APLU designation acknowledges universities working with public and private sector partners in their states and regions to support economic development through a variety of activities, including innovation and entrepreneurship, technology transfer, talent and workforce development, and community development.
The University of Georgia Performing Arts Center has created a new family concert series called the Saturday Morning Club. Designed for children ages 4-12, the series will feature performers from UGA's Hugh Hodgson School of Music and will give young audiences an inside look at what it takes to make music.
With the arrival of 456 third- through fifth-graders at the University of Georgia Rock Eagle 4-H Center on Thursday, Oct. 10, Georgia 4-H marked its millionth student served by its environmental education program.
While Georgia 4-H may be best known for student leadership and skills development programs offered through UGA Extension's 4-H clubs, the organization has offered environmental education to youth across the Southeast since 1979. The programs are open to all Georgia students, whether they attend class at public or private schools or are home-schooled.
The University of Georgia's Lynne Billard has been selected to receive the 2013 Florence Nightingale David Award by the Committee of Presidents of Statistical Societies. Billard is a professor in the Franklin College of Arts and Sciences department of statistics.
Established in 2001 and jointly sponsored by the Caucus for Women in Statistics, every two years the F.N. David Award biannually recognizes a female statistician who exemplifies David's contributions to education, science and public service. The award was announced at the COPSS awards session during the Joint Statistical Meetings.
Billard has long been recognized for her statistics research, her leadership of multidisciplinary collaborative groups and as a role model for women in science.
