A new study by Georgia Tech's Maya Cakmak and Andrea Thomaz (School of Interactive Computing) identifies the types of questions a robot can ask during a learning interaction that are most likely to characterize a smooth and productive human-robot relationship.
Georgia Tech Associate Professor Hermann Fritz and his research team are studying the impact of the tsunami on the Sanriku coast. Using eyewitness video and terrestrial laser scanners from atop the highest buildings that surveyed the tsunami, Fritz has mapped the tsunami’s height and flood zone to learn more about the flow of the devastating currents.
Zhigang Peng, associate professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, has converted the seismic waves from last year's historic Japanese earthquake into audio files. The results allow experts and general audiences to “hear” what the quake sounded like as it moved through the earth and around the globe.
Georgia Tech researchers have designed a texting solution that could become a modern substitute for passing notes under the table. BrailleTouch is a prototype texting app that requires only finger gestures to key in letters on touch screen devices – no sight required.
Members of the modern workforce might be surprised to learn that if they use the word “weekend” in a workplace email, chances are they’re sending the message up the org chart. The same is true for the words “voicemail,” “driving,” “okay”—and even a choice four-letter word that rhymes with “hit.” However a new study by Georgia Tech’s Eric Gilbert shows that certain words and phrases indeed are reliable indicators of whether workplace emails are sent to someone higher or lower in the corporate hierarchy.
2011 brought two of the deadliest bacterial outbreaks the world has seen during the last 25 years. The two epidemics accounted for more than 4,200 cases of infectious disease and 80 deaths. Software developed at Georgia Tech was used to help characterize the bacteria that caused each outbreak.
Georgia Tech has created a new data analysis algorithm that quickly transforms complex RNA sequence data into usable content for biologists and clinicians. Scientists will be able to more readily use this data to compare the RNA profiles or “transcriptomes” of normal cells with those of individual cancers and thereby be in a better position to develop optimized personal therapies.
Georgia Tech Professor Rigoberto Hernandez studied the movements of a spherical probe amongst static nanorods. He found that the particles sometimes diffused faster in a nematic environment than in a disordered environment. That is, the channels left open between the ordered nanorods don’t just steer nanoparticles along a direction, they also enable them to speed right through.
Glaucoma is typically triggered when fluid is unable to circulate freely through the eye’s trabecular meshwork (TM) tissue. Intraocular pressure rises and damages the retina and optic nerve, which causes vision loss. In certain cases of glaucoma, this blockage results from a build-up of the protein myocilin. Georgia Tech Chemistry and Biochemistry Assistant Professor Raquel Lieberman focused on examining the structural properties of these myocilin deposits. She was surprised to discover that both genetically defected as well as normal, or wild-type (WT), myocilin are readily triggered to produce very stable fibrous residue containing a pathogenic material called amyloid.
With ten shopping days left, the Georgia Tech College of Computing has released its own unique spin on the traditional holiday gift guide, showcasing some of the year’s biggest research stories and providing top technologists with all sorts of “gift” ideas for this holiday season.
The coming years will bring increased personalization, innovation and flexibility in the media landscape, according to the Georgia Institute of Technology. These findings were announced in today’s release of the FutureMediaSM Outlook 2012, a multimedia report that offers Georgia Tech’s annual viewpoint on the future of media and its impact on people, business and society over the next five to seven years.
Georgia Tech has developed a computer program that can study larger molecules faster than any other program in existence. The analysis program is designed to improve knowledge about why certain molecules are attracted to each other and how those relationships can be "tuned" to improve drug development.
Researchers from the Georgia Tech College of Computing, working in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), have developed a digital data tracking system to assist low-resource clinical laboratories in developing countries.
Physicists from the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a theory that describes, in a unified manner, the coexistence of liquid and pinned solid phases of electrons in two dimensions under the influence of a magnetic field. The theory also describes the transition between these phases as the field is varied
DNA sequences for human and chimpanzees are nearly indentical, despite vast phenotypical differences between the two species. Georgia Tech researchers have determined that the insertion and deletion of large pieces of DNA near genes are highly variable between humans and chimpanzees and may account for these major differences.
Scientists from across the globe will meet October 24-27 in St. Augustine, Florida at the Third International Symposium on the Science and Technology of Epitaxial Graphene. The conference is hosted by the Materials Research Science and Engineering Center at the Georgia Institute of
Technology.
A research team led by Patrick Traynor (Computer Science) has discovered how to program a smartphone to sense nearby keyboard vibrations and decipher complete sentences with up to 80 percent accuracy.
Today the citizens of Liberia will participate in just their second presidential election since the country emerged from a brutal civil war in 2003, and in such an environment the specter of violence or other unrest is never far away. But what if social media, a Georgia Tech professor is asking, could identify and even help prevent dangerous situations from occurring?
The year ahead will feature new and increasingly sophisticated means to capture and exploit user data, as well as escalating battles over the control of online information that threatens to compromise content and erode public trust and privacy. Those were the findings announced by the Georgia Tech Information Security Center (GTISC) and the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) in today's release of the Georgia Tech Emerging Cyber Threats Report for 2012.
Physicists have predicted that under the influence of sufficiently high electric fields, liquid droplets of certain materials will undergo solidification, forming crystallites at temperature and pressure conditions that correspond to liquid droplets at field-free conditions. This electric-field-induced phase transformation is termed electrocrystallization. The study was performed by scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
In looking for the culprit as to why people tend to display tinges of racism, sexism or ageism, even towards members of their own group, a research team, led by the Georgia Institute of Technology, found that our culture may be partially to blame. The research is posted in the latest edition of the British Journal of Social Psychology.
President Obama named Maria G. Westdickenberg, associate professor in the School of Mathematics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, as one of 94 recipients of the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE).
Georgia Tech today announced a call for entries to the 2012 Margaret Guthman Musical Instrument Competition. Submissions are being accepted online until October 15, 2011. Preliminary and final performances will take place in Atlanta February 16-17, 2012, where contestants will battle for $10,000 in cash prizes.
Researchers have shown they can reverse the aging process for human adult stem cells, which are responsible for helping old or damaged tissues regenerate. The findings could lead to medical treatments that may repair a host of ailments that occur because of tissue damage as people age.
The role of chief operating officer among Fortune 1000 companies is alive and well despite reports in the last year touting its demise, according to researchers from the Georgia Tech College of Management and Heidrick & Struggles.
In the aftermath of most disasters recent, communication systems have been overwhelmed, leaving people without phones and Internet when they need these tools the most. Fortunately, Georgia Tech researchers have developed an innovative wireless system called LifeNet designed to help first responders communicate after disasters.
Scientists have discovered fundamental steps of charging of nano-sized water droplets and unveiled the long-sought-after mechanism of hydrogen emission from irradiated water.
Biologists worldwide subscribe to the healthy herds hypothesis, but could it be that predators can also make prey populations more susceptible to other predators or even parasites? Biologists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have discovered at least one animal whose defenses against a predator make it a good target for one opportunistic parasite.
For years, the relationship between Internet service provider and home user has been a simple, all-you-can-eat model. Now, as the nation’s largest providers prepare to implement usage-based pricing plans, a tool created by Georgia Tech researchers could empower consumers to ensure they are getting the service they are paying for.
Scientists find that combustion of methane using two gold atoms at room temperature yields ethylene, while at lower temperatures it yields formaldehyde.
A scientist at Georgia Tech has created Trimensional, the first app that allows users with an iPhone 4, iPad 2 or recent iPod Touch to take 3-D scans of faces or other objects. Now in the latest update, users can e-mail animated videos and for a few dollars more, can export their creation to CAD programs or 3-D applications.
Christine Ries, professor of economics at Georgia Tech's Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts, offers her views on why Representative Paul Ryan’s budget plan is moving the debate in the right direction.
Nick Feamster, assistant professor at Georgia Tech's College of Computing and researcher at the Georgia Tech Information Security Center offers his expertise on the Epsilon data breach and what users and custodians can do to protect their data.
Mark Guzdial and Barbara Ericson, the husband-and-wife pair who together are reinvigorating computing education for a generation of Georgia students, have received the Association for Computing Machinery’s 2011 Karl V. Karlstrom Outstanding Educator Award, the organization announced today.
In an initial study, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology found people generally had a positive response toward being touched by a robotic nurse, but that their perception of the robot’s intent made a significant difference.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found that they can program a robot to understand when it gains a human’s attention and when it falls short.
Seismologists have developed a new system that could be used to warn future populations of an impending tsunami only minutes after the initial earthquake.
Representatives from the humanitarian sector, government, nonprofits and academia will address these questions and more at the 3rd annual Health and Humanitarian Logistics Conference, to be held March 3-4 at Georgia Tech’s Global Learning Center. The conference is free and open to the public.
By studying seismographs from the earthquake that hit Chile last February, earth scientists at the Georgia Institute of Technology have found a statistically significant increase of microearthquakes in central California in the first few hours after the main shock.
Georgia Tech is taking the lead on creating a new virtual world to improve Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education for all students, especially those with disabilities.
Researchers from the Georgia Institute of Technology have created a new sampling device that could prevent thousands of people worldwide from dying of pneumonia each year.
The Georgia Institute of Technology announces the release of Argon, the first mobile augmented reality (AR) browser based on open Web standards. Argon is available now for free download to the iPhone at Apple’s App Store.
Cancer researchers have discovered that a type of regulatory RNA may be effective in fighting ovarian cancer. This new discovery may allow physicians to turn back the clock of the tumor's life cycle to a phase where traditional chemotherapy can better do its job.