Mustard gas, or sulfur mustard, is one of the most harmful chemical warfare agents, causing severe blistering of the skin and mucous membranes upon contact. To enhance battlefield detection of this hazardous substance, a team of chemists, including M.G. Finn, professor in the School of Chemistry and Biochemistry and the School of Biological Sciences, will develop a streamlined method for detecting vesicants—a broader class of chemical agents that includes sulfur mustard.

“We will initially focus on model compounds that act like mustards, but that can be handled safely in the laboratory. This will allow us to test different molecular sensor designs, with Professor Jennifer Heemstra's lab and ours working together on complementary approaches,” Finn explains.

AZO Sensors

School of Physics Professor Ignacio Taboada provided brief commentary on KM3NeT, a new underwater neutrino experiment that has detected what appears to be the highest-energy cosmic neutrino observed to date.

“This is clearly an interesting event. It is also very unusual,” said Taboada, spokesperson for the IceCube experiment in Antarctica. IceCube, which has a similar detector-array design as KM3NeT but is encased in ice rather than water, has detected neutrinos with energies as high as 10 PeV, but nothing in 100 PeV range. “IceCube has worked for 14 years, so it’s weird that we don’t see the same thing,” Taboada said. Taboada is not involved in the KM3Net experiment. 

The KM3NeT team is aware of this weirdness. They compared the KM3-230213A event to upper limits on the neutrino flux given by IceCube and the Pierre Auger cosmic-ray experiment in Argentina. Taking those limits as given, they found that there was a 1% chance of detecting a 220-PeV neutrino during KM3NeT’s preliminary (287-day) measurement campaign. 

This also appeared in Scientific American and Smithsonian Magazine.

Physics Magazine

Marvin Whiteley, professor in the School of Biological Sciences, has been named the new editor in chief of mBio, an open-access journal that explores the interconnected microbial world and publishes research in microbiology and allied fields. Whiteley’s term will begin on July 1, 2025. 

American Society for Microbiology

National Weather Service staff cuts may put lives at risk, meteorologists say

The firings of hundreds of National Weather Service employees will affect local forecasters’ ability to warn the public about dangerous weather, local meteorologists warn. And that could have deadly consequences when there are tornado outbreaks or an approaching hurricane, some say.

Georgia Tech’s Dean of the College of Sciences, Susan Lozier, says the weather forecasts aren’t just useful for those planning outdoor activities.

“It goes beyond protecting people and personal property, which is great. But it just impacts so many corners of our economy,” Lozier said. “Transportation relies on the weather. Do we really want the safety of our skies dependent on private industry? Or our armed forces? There are just amazing stories about how accurate weather forecasting has won battles."

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia named Robert Scott president of Albany State University, effective May 1, 2025. Scott, who holds a Ph.D. in cellular and molecular biology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, will return to higher education after almost two decades working in the private sector. 

University System of Georgia, External Affairs