Science Corner

Statisticians Get to Play in Everyone’s Backyard – Maybe Even Yours. These metaphorical yards include engine oils, automotive paints, bullet-resistant body armor, medical device packaging, cancer detection, flu virus spread, crop yields, and invasive plant species. Other statisticians work in finance, technology, or public policy. In all of these areas, we transform relevant data into information to help teams make decisions in the face of uncertainty.

When it comes to science research, the link between investment and outcome is sometimes just as clear as that bridge. At Virginia Tech, our scientists are predicting water quality in lakes and reservoirs; this helps municipal water agencies know how to treat the water to keep it safe. We are developing new types of antibiotics to combat drug-resistant infections. We are discovering how infectious diseases migrate and spread. We are gaining understanding of the neurological basis for autism.

Here’s a mind-boggling concept: Many scientists think that there are more species yet to be discovered than have been discovered already. Even after hundreds of millions of specimens have been collected and catalogued, we are still lacking information about many species, particularly in the diverse tropical regions. To truly understand the biodiversity of our natural habitats, we need faster methods to survey and identify species, so that we can determine the most important areas to conserve.

In addition to the title of a horror movie in the 1980s, Poltergeist was the name of the first experiment trying to prove the existence of neutrinos.

A polar Vortex in February 2021 caused record cold temperatures over most of the U.S., including my family’s farm in Hiwassee, where the cold snap killed over 200 of our lavender plants that had already begun to bud out following an unusually warm January. This was when I started getting interested in “weather whiplash,” rapid changes in weather conditions from one extreme to another.

Tweaking the molecules by adding and removing pieces like a Lego, we can plug the enzyme or transporter to block its signal. We have been successful in demonstrating that our strategy works in both cells and animal models of kidney disease.

Climate change is melting glaciers, increasing sea level, extending hurricane season, and intensifying wildfires.

For those of us in Southwest Virginia, mosquitoes are a nuisance to outdoor activities and only rarely cause greater concern.