Ask a Scientist Posts
Ask a Scientist: How do we know scientific studies are safe? Who approves them?
By Alexandra Wickson and Samantha Yeligar Have you heard a lot about COVID-19 vaccine trials recently? Ever wonder who oversees and approves these trials to make sure they are safe…
Read MoreThere is a lot of talk about donating plasma. What does that mean?
by Christine Doronio Your blood is made up of four main components: red blood cells, white blood cells, platelets, and plasma. When you donate blood, you can either donate ‘whole…
Read MoreWhat’s the deal with radiation? And can my cell phone cause cancer?
First things first: Your cell phone can’t cause cancer. The reason is the difference between non-ionizing and ionizing radiation. When most people think of radiation, they think of cancer treatment,…
Read MoreST&T – Adopt-A-Stream: Citizen Science and Healthy Waters
Georgia Adopt-A-Stream encourages and supports community members interested in collecting water quality data, ranging from dissolved oxygen to crayfish abundance. These data are then used by the community, local organizations,…
Read MoreCleaning Up an Urban Creek at the Blue Heron Nature Preserve
by Sarah Poletti, Conservation Research Bridge Program, Amphibian Foundation The Blue Heron Nature Preserve is a pocket of nature hidden in the Buckhead area of metro-Atlanta. The preserve serves the…
Read MoreDroplet, Aerosol, Airborne, what’s the difference? And do I still have to wear a mask?
by Alexandra Wickson, MPH and Amy Sharma, PhD You might have heard a lot of new terms recently used to talk about COVID-19. Aerosol, droplet, and airborne are a few…
Read MoreTavern: Bendable Concrete
Qingxu “Bill” Jin, Ph.D., LEED GA, E.I.T.Georgia Institute of Technology With increasing worldwide urbanization, the urban population has increased from 700 million in 1950 to 4.2 billion in 2018. The…
Read MoreST&T Hummingbird Song
Fernanda Gisselle Duque Mendoza studies how hummingbirds have adapted to communicate in challenging environments and discovered that some species of hummingbirds produce unusually high-pitched songs. She continues to study these…
Read MoreTicks: Real Life Vampires
by Alexandra Wickson, MPH What are ticks? Ticks are parasitic insects that feed on the blood of people and other animals. They have four life stages: egg, larva, nymph, and…
Read MoreAsk a Scientist: How do volcanoes erupt? What is a volcano?
The earth is like a chocolate covered ice cream bar. When you take that first bite – the chocolate coating cracks in a bunch of places. The chocolate coating is…
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