A team of researchers from the School of Biological Sciences found some answers to the mystery of gene regulation by turning to the trusty roundworm C. elegans, a frequently studied model organism that has contributed to many important discoveries. In their new study published in GENETICS, the researchers used a powerful new approach to compare gene activity across several types of wildly diverse worm strains from all over the world to uncover their regulatory structure.

In this first of its kind study, the researchers crossed each strain of worm with their standard N2 lab strain to make a hybrid offspring. They then used a modern and powerful technique called allele-specific RNA sequencing to determine how the genes were being used in these new strains, and which parent DNA is driving the gene’s activity.

Genes to Genomes

In a new study published in Geophysical Research Letters, Georgia Tech physical oceanographer Susan Lozier and researcher Yao Fu shed light on the shifting dynamics of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC). Their findings, produced in collaboration with an international team of scientists, reveal shifts across surface and deep ocean currents, with implications for climate prediction and ocean heat transport. This research underscores the importance of sustained observational efforts in understanding long-term ocean variability.

Geophysical Research Letters

We may never agree on what AGI or “humanlike” AI means, or what suffices to prove it. As AI advances, machines will still make mistakes, and people will point to these and say the AIs aren’t really intelligent. Anna Ivanova, an assistant professor in the School of Psychology at Georgia Tech, was on a panel recently, and the moderator asked about AGI timelines. “We had one person saying that it might never happen,” Ivanova told me, “and one person saying that it already happened.” So the term “AGI” may be convenient shorthand to express an aim—or a fear—but its practical use may be limited. In most cases, it should come with an asterisk, and a benchmark.

IEEE Spectrum

WABE

James T. Stroud, assistant professor in the School of Biological Sciences, coauthored an article published in The Conversation detailing research which documents exceptional cases of lizards — survivors of limb damage or loss — that defy expectations about how natural selection works.

The Conversation