Evolving views: A new look at the Scopes Trial

Emory professor of psychology Harold Gouzoules, left, and his son Alexander Gouzoules, an Emory alum who is a legal scholar.

A combination of inherited genes and life experiences led Alexander Gouzoules (a legal scholar) and his father, Harold Gouzoules (an evolutionary biologist), to co-author a book about the 1925 Scopes trial. 

“The Hundred Years’ Trial: Law, Evolution, and the Long Shadow of Scopes v. Tennessee” blends their expertise. Johns Hopkins University Press published the book, marking the centenary of the fierce, public legal battle over the right to teach evolution in a Tennessee high school. 

“We had the ideal meshing of interests to take on the topic in a new way,” says Harold Gouzoules, an Emory professor of psychology who studies the evolution of primate social behavior. “I took on the science and Alex covered the legal ramifications of the trial.”

Read the full story here.

Exploring the frontiers of data science

Satellite technology is transforming the field of geography, says Xiao Huang. "It's kind of like being an astronaut in that satellites give you a view of Earth from space."

As a high-tech geographer, Xiao Huang uses remove sensing and AI for insights into how to design more equitable cities, improve management of natural resources, lessen the impact of natural and human-caused disasters, and improve public health policies.

"I love geography and computer technology," says Huang, assistant professor in Emory's Department of Environmental Sciences. "I want to use my knowledge of these fields to help humanity, especially socially disadvantaged communities."

Read the full story here.

Related:

Developing a new approach to control a dangerous urban mosquito in Ethiopia

New AI tool supports best practices to prevent spread of dangerous C. diff infections

"At Emory, I look forward to continuing this line of work and exploring innovative ways AI can help improve patient care," says Shengpu Tang, who recently joined the university as assistant professor of computer science.

Decision-making forms the core of hospital patient care, involving an array of clinicians whose duties span diagnosis, treatment and resource allocation. The complexity of these interrelated decisions makes it challenging for physicians, nurses and other caretakers to connect all the dots in real time. 

Shengpu Tang, assistant professor of computer science at Emory University, is developing AI tools to identify, validate and transmit key data needed to most effectively support healthcare workers in decision-making processes. 

 

“The end goal is to improve patient care and patient outcomes,” Tang says. 

JAMA Open Network published the results of Tang’s latest collaborative project: the first AI guidance deployed in a hospital setting aimed at guiding best practices to prevent the spread of dangerous infections of Clostridioides difficile. 

Analysis by the researchers found that the new AI-guided protocol significantly reduced antibiotic prescriptions at Michigan Medicine — a factor that increases infection risk for vulnerable patients — with 10% to 15% fewer days on antimicrobials. Importantly, reducing days on antimicrobials did not increase the length of stay, readmission rate or mortality among patients. The already low incidence of Clostridioides difficle trended downwards during the study, but that reduction did not reach statistical significance.

Read the full story here.

Related:

New antimicrobial shuts down bacterial growth without harming human cells

Images of enzyme in action reveal secrets of antibiotic-resistant bacteria

Children as young as five can navigate a 'Tiny Town'

A playground scene in Tiny Town. (Dilks lab)

Many behavioral studies suggest that using landmarks to navigate through large-scale spaces — known as map-based navigation — is not established until around age 12. 

A neuroscience study at Emory University counters that assumption. Through experiments combining brain scans and a virtual environment the researchers dubbed Tiny Town, they showed that five-year-olds have the brain system that supports map-based navigation. 

The journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences published the finding, the first neural evidence that this cognitive ability is in place in such young children. 

“While large-scale navigation abilities certainly continue to develop throughout childhood, our findings show that the underlying neural system is established remarkably early,” says Yaelan Jung, first author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in Emory’s Department of Psychology. 

“Rather than taking a decade or more, map-based navigation is underway in half that time,” adds Daniel Dilks, associate professor of psychology and senior author of the study. “Five-year-olds have the brain system enabling them to find their way around a tiny, virtual town. They not only know that the ice cream store in the mountain region is different than the ice cream store in the lake region, they know how to navigate the streets to get to each of them.”

Read the full story here.

Related:

Earliest look at newborns' visual cortex reveals the minds that babies are born with

Navigating 'Neuroville': Virtual town helps map brain functions

Developing a new approach to control a dangerous, invasive mosquito in Ethiopia

Edilawit Mesfine, left, and Edel Seifu, both from Jigjiga University, collect data and larvae from a construction site. (Photo by Kim Awbrey)

Emory University received $2.8 million in funding from the Gates Foundation to support its work to develop and test a high-tech, low-cost method to control an invasive mosquito that poses a growing threat of urban malaria in Africa. The three-year project is focused on three cities in Ethiopia: Jigjiga, Semera and Logiya. 

The project’s novel approach to combating malaria combines on-the-ground knowledge of human and mosquito behaviors with detailed environmental imagery from drones and NASA satellites. Machine learning techniques will be applied to the data to develop a model — powered by artificial intelligence — for targeted public health interventions. 

The aim is to efficiently control populations of the invasive Anopheles stephensi mosquito by first, identifying water sources that are most likely to harbor the larvae during the dry season. And secondly, by sharing maps of these precise targets with local public health authorities — via a mobile phone app — to guide their larvae-eradication efforts in the most efficient and effective manner. 

The strategy is based on research on the ecology of stephensi in Jigjiga led by Gonzalo Vazquez-Prokopec, Emory professor of environmental sciences and co-principal investigator for the grant. “It sounds counterintuitive to focus mosquito-control efforts on the dry season,” Vazquez-Prokopec says. “Our research, however, shows that the dry season offers a perfect window of opportunity to cost-effectively control these mosquitoes.” 

Vazquez-Prokopec is an expert on the disease ecology of pathogens spread by vectors, such as mosquitoes. His research considers environmental factors as well as the interactions of mosquitoes, the pathogens they carry, and people. 

Read the full story here.

Related:

Building boom boosts invasive, malaria-carrying mosquito in Ethiopia

Zeroing in on a mosquito menace