A team of researchers including David Hu, a professor in Georgia Tech’s School of Biological Sciences and George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering, have visualized mosquito flight behavior for the first time.

Based on their data, the researchers said they don’t think mosquitoes swarm because they’re following the pack. Each appeared to pick up on the cues independently, then found themselves at the same place at the same time.

“It’s like a crowded bar,” said Hu. “Customers aren’t there because they followed each other into the bar. They’re attracted by the same cues: drinks, music, and the atmosphere. The same is true of mosquitoes. Rather than following the leader, the insect follows the signals and happens to arrive at the same spot as the others. They’re good copies of each other.”

A similar story was published by The Economic Times.

Alex Robel, an associate professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences at Georgia Tech, said pumping sand onshore is far from a perfect solution to stabilize a beach, but it’s “one of the best tools we have in our arsenal.”

“It’s been done in the United States for almost a century in different places and we know how to do it,” Robel said. “We’re good at it.”

But nourishment is only a Band-Aid for erosion. Once cities start replenishing sand, Robel said they have to keep doing it regularly. 

In December, The Conversation hosted a webinar on AI’s revolutionary role in drug discovery and development. Science and technology editor Eric Smalley interviewed Jeffrey Skolnick, Regents' Professor and eminent scholar in computational systems biology at Georgia Institute of Technology, and Benjamin P. Brown, assistant professor of pharmacology at Vanderbilt University. Skolnick has developed AI-based approaches to predict protein structure and function that may help with drug discovery and finding off-label uses of existing drugs. Brown’s lab works on creating new computer models that make drug discovery faster and more reliable.