The school year started with a total solar eclipse that captivated thousands on Tech Green. For some schools, that would be enough to qualify for a memorable year. But this is Georgia Tech, and events before and after Aug. 21's celestial happening also put a spotlight on the Institute.
Legendary physicist/cosmologist Stephen Hawking died on March 14, and the news is already prompting stories about the inspiration he provided to scientists around the world.
"A study spearheaded by scientists at Georgia Tech has found that an obscure class of crystal could improve the way we light and power our world. The subatomic behavior of these crystals is fluid, dynamic and, frankly, bewildering in the context of some established laws of quantum physics. However, this latest study, completed early this month, shows that weirdness doesn’t necessarily mean ineffectiveness.
Maggots aren't the cutest creatures. But David Hu, who is affiliated with the School of Physics and the School of Biological Sciences, spends time with them in a lab, studying their motion to determine how they are able to eat food so efficiently. Hu's lab is not a creepy, crawling maggot madhouse without a purpose: these creatures may be harnessed for breaking down waste.
A Georgia Tech team is one of eight finalists in the Biomimicry Global Design Challenge. The Biomimicry Institute selected the finalists from more than 60 teams from 16 countries. Georgia Tech's Team Full Circle students from the College of Sciences: Savannah Barry, Kenji Bomer, and Sara Thomas Mathews, respectively from the Schools of Biological Sciences, Physics, and Mathematics. School of Biological Sciences Professor Jeannette Yen served as faculty mentor. The team moves on to the 2018-19 Biomimicry Launchpad to compete for the $100,000 Ray C. Anderson Ray of Hope Prize.
Ants are renowned for their industriousness. However, new research at Georgia Tech suggests that although ant colonies are very efficient, that may be because 70 percent of them are doing very little — at least when it comes to tunnel digging. Daniel I. Goldman, a physicist at the Georgia Institute of Technology, and his colleagues, found that the secret to efficient tunnel digging by fire ants was that 30 percent of the ants did 70 percent of the work. The work is published in Science.
To revive antibiotics and devise new drug designs, Georgia Tech researchers team up with Oak Ridge’s Titan supercomputer....Knocking out efflux pumps is a promising strategy both to create new drugs and bring old antibiotics back to life, says physicist James C.
Georgia Tech has received an award for $3.7 million from the National Science Foundation to cover 70 percent of the cost of a new high-performance computing (HPC) resource that will be established at the Coda building at Tech Square, which is set to open next spring. Project participants include two from the College of Sciences: David Sherrill, professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and Deirdre Shoemaker, professor of physics.
"Even a horse's tail shouts out secrets," says David Hu, who holds joint appointments in the School of Biological Sciences and the School of Mechanical Engineering. For the past few months, Hu had been plagued by a simple question: What's the purpose of a horse's tail? Using biology and engineering, Hu and his team found the answer. Hu is also an adjunct professor in the School of Physics.
That's what scientists found while studying the dinnertime of black soldier fly larvae, or maggots. When vast quantities of these larvae feed together, their surging movement around their food creates a living fountain of writhing bodies. That may sound revolting, but the strategy makes maggots uniquely efficient at devouring meals en masse, scientists reported in a new study.
