Other worlds could be filled with even more flourishing life than we have on Earth, scientists have said. The new study could have significant implications for the way we search for alien life. ... "We expect oceans to be important in regulating some of the most compelling remotely detectable signs of life on habitable worlds, but our understanding of oceans beyond our solar system is currently very rudimentary," said Chris Reinhard, from the Georgia Institute of Technology, who wasn't involved in the study. "Dr. Olson's work represents a significant and exciting step forward in our understanding of exoplanet oceanography."

Researchers from the United Kingdom and United States have identified a common origin shared by teeth and taste buds in a fish with regenerative abilities. Regulated by the BMP signaling pathway, the results suggest that the oral organs have surprising regenerative capabilities and can be manipulated to express characteristics of different tissue types.  As nearly a third of all adults over the age of 65 have lost all of their teeth, the collaboration between King’s College London and the Georgia Institute of Technology set out to understand tooth renewal in animals that have replacement and regeneration capabilities. The Georgia Tech team was led by J. Todd Streelman. Here is the original paper. 

Competition for Smyrna city council seats is heating up as fall approaches and election day lingers about two months away. Along with the collection of candidates aiming to become Smyrna’s first new mayor in 35 years are at least two hopefuls to replace Ron Fennel, who isn’t seeking re-election, representing Ward 7. Lewis Wheaton, who at age 42 is seeking political office for the first time, hopes to represent the city’s southernmost portion for the next four years with the same innovative approach he takes to his work as a scientist. ... At Georgia Tech, Wheaton researches topics including cognitive motor control, motor physiology and clinical neurophysiology.

This thoughtful and thought-provoking blog post by Nicole Baran, Gretchen Goldman, and Jane Zelikova is a must-read for scientists. Baran is a postdoctoral researcher in the Georgia Tech School of Biological Sciences; Goldman is a research director in the Union of Concerned Scientists, and Zelikova is an ecologist who co-founded 500 Women Scientists. "As scientists, we are uniquely positioned to use our privilege and position in society to speak against the new abortion bans and other public policies that threaten the reproductive freedom of our nation’s people. We have the knowledge to communicate the science of reproductive health care, demonstrate the harm restrictive laws will cause and hold decision makers to account," the authors write. 

What is the full list of climate tipping points for melting ice, permafrost, etc.? And what’s the best guess of when each becomes irreversible? ... “Is it too late for the coral reefs that died in 2016 due to ocean warming? Yes, it’s too late, they’re not coming back. It’s too late for a lot of Arctic melt, for the Greenland ice sheet that’s fallen into the ocean, it’s too late for quite a few important things,” said Kim Cobb, paleoclimatologist and director of the Global Change program at Georgia Tech. “But it’s not too late to avert the worst kind of ugly surprises that come from pushing the accelerator down on a geological system that we know has not responded steadily.”