Climate science made a big comeback on Capitol Hill yesterday, with two separate hearings underway on the same day that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration declared 2018 the fourth-hottest year on record and revealed that climate-related weather events caused $91 billion in damages to the US economy. Among those giving testimony before the Natural Resources Committee meeting was Kim Cobb, professor in the School of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences.

That's what scientists found while studying the dinnertime of black soldier fly larvae, or maggots. When vast quantities of these larvae feed together, their surging movement around their food creates a living fountain of writhing bodies. That may sound revolting, but the strategy makes maggots uniquely efficient at devouring meals en masse, scientists reported in a new study. [Ear Maggots and Brain Amoeba: 5 Creepy Flesh-Eating Critters] Larvae of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) typically hatch, live and eat together in the hundreds and thousands, and each voracious grub can consume up to twice its body mass in a day, lead study author Olga Shishkov, a doctoral candidate in mechanical engineering at Georgia Tech, told Live Science. Shishkov works with mechanical engineering professor David Hu, who holds concurrent appointments in the Schools of Biological Sciences and of Physics. Story was also covered by Fox News and Science Friday

 

The extinction of many coral species may be weakening reef systems and siphoning life out of the corals that remain, according to a new study by Mark Hay and Cody Clements of the School of Biological Sciences. This article is the same published by Institute Communications on Feb 6. 

Neuroscientists at Georgia State University have found a link between common food additives and anxious changes in behavior, as reported in the journal Scientific Reports. Although the link has only been found in mice so far, the researchers argue that their findings could be applied to humans and used as evidence to help explain behavioral disorders. The paper's first author is Mary Holder, now an academic professional in the School of Psychology.

"Research can always wait. Life is irreplaceable," writes John Wise in his feature for Astronomy behind the scenes of his most recent paper. He's explaining his decision to put his work on hold during his wife's cancer treatment (quoted here). Wise initially set out to answer this question: How do supermassive black holes form in the first place? The feature offers a rare look at the intersection between a researcher's work and his perosnal life. In January, we covered his work on black holes here.