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Volunteers at work planting native flora along the Atlanta BeltLine walking and biking trail. (Photo by Trees Atlanta). Judith Moen writes in Ensia Magazine about how the Atlanta BeltLine is serving as a model for the future of urban green space, driving economic, cultural and environmental renewal. Below is an excerpt from the article: "Efforts to clean up 1,100 acres of contaminated brownfields and plant more than 3,000 indigenous trees and grasses are bringing back biodiversity not seen in decades. "'The native plantings they have done had a tremendous positive impact,' says Berry Brosi , associate professor of environmental sciences at Emory University. 'We found enormous areas in terms of pollinator abundance.' In fact, an unpublished study Brosi conducted found on average three times as many bee species and five times as many bees in pollinator planting sites along the BeltLine than in mowed grass. 'I noticed for the first time in my backyard, we ...

Comedian Jordan Klepper, center, takes a break from filming in the Emory psychology department. He interviewed Emory psychologist Stephan Hamann, left, about the brain science involved in trying to understand the U.S. political divide and culture wars. (Photo by Carol Clark) By Carol Clark Why do some people have a liberal mindset while others seem set on conservatism? And what makes it so difficult to find common ground? Those are some of the questions explored in a one-hour special, � Jordan Klepper Solves Guns ,� which aired recently on Comedy Central. Comedian Jordan Klepper and a camera crew came to the Emory campus last October to film part of the program in the Department of Psychology. Klepper interviewed psychologist Stephan Hamann about his research into how the brain may influence whether people are on one end of the political spectrum or the other, and how we might use this knowledge to better understand one another.  �People develop their beliefs over a lifetime,� Ham...

Brains without borders: Emory Laney Graduate School student Charlie Ferris, from psychologist Stephan Hamann's lab, poses with a brain sculpture at the Institute of Neurobiology in Quer�taro, Mexico, during the recent Binational Mechanisms of Learning Forum. (Photo by COMEXUS)  By Carol Clark Jessica Dugan sits at a computer in the Emory University psychology department in Atlanta, training a rhesus monkey in a lab at a university in Quer�taro, Mexico, on the concept of transitive inference.  She watches the monkey in real-time on her screen. With a few clicks on her keyboard she can present the monkey with random images on a computer attached to its cage and see which image it chooses. The monkey is automatically rewarded with food pellets for correct choices. Eventually, the monkey begins to grasp that the computer �game� is based on a concept of transitive inference � the idea of a hierarchy based on a shared property. �It�s pretty cool,� Dugan says. �As long as there�s a ...

Environmental sciences instructor Daniel Rochberg, chief strategy officer for Climate@Emory , says the Georgia Climate Research Roadmap aims to create "Georgia's Top 40," a set of targeted research questions to help the state understand and address climate change. (Emory Photo/Video) By Kimber Williams Emory Report Scientists, researchers and environmental experts from across the state convened at Emory last week to draft the � Georgia Climate Research Roadmap � � a set of targeted research questions that could help Georgia better understand and address one of the century�s defining challenges. The goal of the May 22-23 gathering was to formulate �Georgia�s Top 40,� key climate research questions that could eventually aid decision-making and planning for Georgia policymakers, scientists, communities and service organizations. An initiative of the Georgia Climate Project , the roadmap was a response to the fact that communities across Georgia are already exploring strategi...

"We're all partly responsible for our local air quality," says Emory graduating senior Emily Li. "Even if we don't hold ourselves accountable, our health will." (Emory Photo/Video) By Carol Clark Emory 2017 graduate Emily Li is leaving Atlanta this summer, but her student research will continue to have a presence here. For her undergraduate thesis, Li investigated the effects of shifting weather patterns on the air quality of Atlanta and the region � and how that relates to human health. She�s compiled her findings into a web site, Climate Change is in the Air , as a resource for local residents.  �The web site explains some of the science involved, but it�s not just statistics,� Li says. �It also tells stories of real people. I wanted to put faces on these complex, scientific processes and explain how individuals are being directly affected by climate change, right now.� In addition to science and stories from real people, the site offers solutions � what ...