by Nick Batora, Athens Science Café There is incredible and beautiful diversity of life all around you. No, I'm not talking about the wildlife at your local botanical garden or park, but rather all of the tiny life that you cannot easily see. Microorganisms are everywhere. They are all over you and everything you touch
by Suzie Henderson, Athens Science Café What is an ecosystem engineer? Every ecosystem, even arctic ice [2], is subject to the influence of ecosystem engineers [3]. An ecosystem engineer alters habitat and consequently changes resource availability to other organisms [2]. Even though all organisms play a role in resource cycling to varying degrees, not all
By: Patrick Griffin, Athens Science Café A couple of weeks ago, as I walked through the charming town of Broad Ripple, Indiana, I stumbled upon a behemoth three-story Chipotle. Recently erected to satiate the growing popularity of the Mexican-themed grill, the building was sporting a sign that piqued my interest as a scientist and
By: Paige Copenhaver, Athens Science Café Most people have heard of dark matter and dark energy in the news or in the media. For example, in Star Trek: The Next Generation, the Enterprise encounters a dark matter cloud. In Futurama, dark matter is used to fuel starships. Though many people are familiar with the terms,
Written and Illustrated by Uma Nagendra Uma Nagendra is a PhD Candidate at the University of Georgia and became interested in studying natural disasters since Hurricane Katrina hit her hometown of New Orleans. She enjoys finding creative ways to demonstrate complicated ecological concepts—preferably if it involves running around outside or drawing pictures. When not crawling over downed
“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic†Arthur C. Clarke SciFi is one of the most popular genres of storytelling out there. Greats like Lucas, Asimov, and Shelley have inspired generations to think weirder and imagine bigger. In the last 15 years alone, we have developed prototypes for jetpacks, driverless cars and organ printing
Everyone has seen it: a panning video showing thousands of miles of Arctic ice. This is usually followed by that same area now enveloped in water with the obligatory polar bear floating on a miniscule ice float. As polar bears rely heavily on sea ice as protective cover to hunt seals, their main food source,
A few months ago, a good friend of mine fell victim to a pervasive phone scam where he lost nearly $4,000 in a single afternoon. Despite being a smart guy he fell hook, line, and sinker for this scam. To his credit, this was not your typical internet scam but actually quite an elaborate one
In 1963, at the dawn of the molecular biology age, Dr. Joshua Lederberg predicted that this nascent biotechnology would eventually allow direct control of human DNA, including the ability to change specific genes. [1] He recognized the potential of molecular biology to bring about gene therapy to cure human disease and to be misused for
Plastic is probably the most important material in our lives today. We see it all around us and use it all the time. So much so that we throw away enough plastic waste each year to circle the planet four times. Why do we consume so much plastic? Sure, it makes our lives more comfortable,
For most of history, humans have thought of ourselves as distinguished from the rest of the animal life on this planet. We have the incredible ability to take in the world around us, understand it, and then proceed to manipulate the world to our own advantage. Some have argued what encapsulates our ability to do
If you read the first installment of our ScienceCafé invasive species series, you may have already guessed the name of this topic: Pueraria lobata, or… kudzu! Before kudzu arrived in the states and poison ivy was the only three-leaved vine, times were simpler. No one worried about kudzu invading their yard and killing their plants
