Avian Influenza Is Not Just for the Birds

 By: Daisy Davis

Avian influenza concerns have flown the coop in Georgia, but not before causing fear in poultry farmers and residents.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report in January 2026, a new strain of avian influenza could cause problems for wild birds, poultry and cattle.

“The H5N1 strain of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) is present in wild birds worldwide and is causing outbreaks in U.S. domestic birds and dairy cattle,” the report stated. The CDC website also warns that many other species are susceptible to this virus.

In January, the Georgia Department of Agriculture reported the first case of H5N1 at a commercial poultry location in Elbert County.

Isaac Fung, an epidemiologist and assistant professor at Georgia Southern University, said influenza may be hard to keep up with because of how rapidly the viruses can mutate.

“Influenza is a group of viruses. They infect not only humans, but a number of other organisms,” Fung said. “This includes birds, poultry and pigs.”

Fung said some forms of influenza could infect humans, but not all of them.

“Cycles of replication cause a lot of errors. These coding errors can generate new viruses that have many differences,” Fung said. “Differences in the proteins on the surface of the virus affect whether the human bodies and immunity can successfully bind to it and neutralize the virus.”

The World Health Organization’s January 2026 report on avian influenza states that the currently circulating avian influenza has not demonstrated a sustained ability for human-to-human transmission.

Marina Eremeeva, an environmental science professor at Georgia Southern University who specializes in emerging zoonotic infectious diseases, said that this is not a new issue.

“We actually had an outbreak of bird flu about 30 years ago, and we saw real loss of birds and people,” Eremeeva said. “The original source of it was tracked to wild birds.”

The main problem with influenza, Eremeeva said, is that it is always varying in composition and severity.

“I used to check the CDC regularly, and the lady at the time that was the one in charge of flu predictions, she was joking that she has to look at the crystal ball every year,” Eremeeva said.

Eremeeva said understanding the current strain is the key to determining what to do next.

“It really depends on the strain and, based on my understanding, the strain circulating now is a particularly virulent variety,” Eremeeva said. “The result of this can cause a lot of deaths in poultry flocks, that’s why it's particularly concerning now.”

Eremeeva said this could pose a problem for the food industry because eggs and poultry products are a significant source of protein for many people.

“I think it may result in a very significant shortage of proteins for consumption, not only meat but also eggs, because there are a lot of the people who don’t eat meat at all, right, but eggs would be for some an alternate source of protein,” Eremeeva said. “If a chicken dies, it can’t produce eggs. It’s really a mass production issue at that point. If you don’t have chickens, you can’t have eggs.”

To prevent food contamination and scarcity, commercial poultry farms must take measures to protect their flock from exposure to H5N1.

“What we know about where the bird flu is coming from is that it’s transmitted by wild migratory birds,” Eremeeva said. “I think there’s a need to keep commercial poultry and domestic flocks protected from exposure to wild birds.”

Eremeeva said extensive measures must be taken, even if there is a cost.

“Unfortunately, if the flock is infected, it’s probably going to have to be contained and killed. So that is the sad part,” Eremeeva said. “They need to have very strict disinfection measures.”

Eremeeva said this may include specific outfits for tending to the flocks and specialized cleaning practices.

“When you have an industrial scale, it could be a concern that the people taking care of the birds can get infected,” Eremeeva said. “We talk about it like it’s mostly a bird or poultry pathogen. If you have a susceptible individual, it can infect these people, because we know that the flu virus can mutate depending on what environment it’s in.”

Eric Sorel, the corporate director for quality assurance at Claxton Poultry Farms, hopes to reassure Georgia residents that the cases of H5N1 have been resolved and there is no spread to their poultry facilities.

“There were two cases of HPAI earlier this year in Walker and Hart counties in northern Georgia,” Sorel said. “However, these cases have been resolved, and Claxton chickens have not been affected by this outbreak.”

According to the Georgia Department of Agriculture, emergency management and state agricultural response teams were deployed in both cases to conduct depopulation, cleaning, disinfecting and disposal operations.

Although the H5N1 strain seems to be contained and is not spreading into South Georgia’s poultry industry, it’s important to understand how fast things can change.

According to the CDC’s page on avian influenza, no human-to-human spread of H5N1 has been detected during the current outbreak and the current health risk is low.

“It seems like it’s a relatively small virus, but it changes so much,” Eremeeva said. “It’s very hard; even with all of the mathematical modeling we do now, it’s still very complicated to stay ahead of it.”

Ink Deep: The Science Behind What Happens When You Get a Tattoo

By: Dakota Guy

Ella Toth has lost count of how many times she has sat in a tattoo artist's chair. The large, elaborate pieces covering her body are a point of pride, but they have also left her feverish, nauseous, and convinced something was seriously wrong.

"There were times after a big session where I felt genuinely sick," said Toth, who has received multiple large tattoos over several years. "My skin was swollen and hot. My body was clearly reacting to something."

What Toth experienced is not unusual. Getting a tattoo is not simply a cosmetic procedure. It is a biological event that triggers a complex immune response and introduces unregulated chemicals into the body.

When a tattoo needle punctures the skin, it drives pigment past the epidermis and into the dermis hundreds of times per minute. The body responds immediately. Within two hours, white blood cells rush to the site to surround the foreign pigment. By 24 hours, immune cells called macrophages, mast cells, and fibroblasts have absorbed pigment aggregates, according to a 2016 review published in Clinical Reviews in Allergy and Immunology by researchers at the University of California, Davis.

The ink itself presents risks. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not regulate tattoo inks. Traditional colored inks have relied on heavy metals, such as red from mercury or cadmium, blue from cobalt, and green from chromium.

Newer organic formulations are not necessarily safer. A 2012 review in The Lancet Oncology by researchers at the University of Helsinki found that 60% of organic colorants identified in tattoos were azo compounds, some of which are classified as carcinogenic. The same review found polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, a known carcinogen source, present in 19 commercial black inks tested.

Red ink triggers the most reactions of any color, according to the UC Davis review. The immune mechanism is classified as a Type IV hypersensitivity reaction, a delayed T-cell response that can show up days, weeks, or even years after exposure. Standard allergy testing frequently returns false negatives because the ink must be chemically modified inside the dermis before the immune system recognizes it as a threat.

Toth said she has experienced itching and raised skin over red-inked areas that flared repeatedly, especially after sun exposure.

"It would calm down and then come back," Toth said. "I didn't think, oh, it was my tattoo that did this. It's too pretty to hurt me."

Between 1% and 5% of tattoo recipients develop skin infections, most commonly caused by Staphylococcus aureus or Streptococcus pyogenes, according to the UC Davis review. More serious complications, including toxic shock syndrome and bacterial endocarditis, have been documented, mainly from tattoos done outside of licensed parlors.

On the question of cancer, roughly 50 cases of skin cancer arising within tattoos have been reported over 40 years. Given that an estimated 80 million Americans have tattoos, the Helsinki researchers concluded the association appears coincidental, though they noted the long-term effects of newer inks remain understudied.

Toth said science has changed how she approaches the process.
"I do more research now," Toth said. "I ask about the inks. I'm not stopping, but I'm not going in blind anymore either."







References 

Islam, P.S., Chang, C., Selmi, C. et al. Medical Complications of Tattoos: A Comprehensive Review. Clin Rev Allergy Immunol 50, 273–286 (2016).
Kluger, N., Koljonen, V. Tattoos, inks, and cancer. Lancet Oncol 13, e161-e168 (2012).

The Impacts of Brain Rot and Doom Scrolling

By: Kyle Arnold

 

The term brain rot gain popularity between 2023 and 2024, and it was extremely popular in TikTok communities among Generation Z and Generation Alpha. On the other hand doom scrolling was something that ramped up during COVID when people were stuck in their homes.

Brain rot was defined as the “deterioration of a person’s mental or intellectual state, especially viewed as the result of overconsumption of material consider to be trivial or unchallenging”, according to the Oxford University Press. People consume so much low effort content that they get used to it and it leads to negative impacts.

Doom scrolling is defined as purposely searching out negative content, according to Psi Chi the International Honor Society in Psychology. Just like brain rot, doom scrolling leads to negative impacts on someone’s mental well-being.

So what’s wrong about consuming low effort content and negative content? Brain rot and doom scrolling both come with their own negative outcomes that both impact a person’s brain.

 While the studies on brain rot are fairly new, studies show that brain rot impacts attention span. The attention span is lowered because dopamine is sent to the brain from using phones as a reward system, which leads to addiction, according to the Psi Chi the International Honor Society in Psychology.

On the other side, studies show that doom scrolling leads people to constantly show negative emotions and makes it harder for them to have pleasurable feelings. They reflect the news and content that they consume, even if they don’t know it.

“A reason that this happens is because someone can be very passive when consuming negative content,” Cassandra Baldwin, an assistant psychology professor at Georgia Southern University said.

Well why do people do it? Why would they continue to return to these bad habits that lead to their mental downfall?

As mentioned before studies have shown that dopamine is sent to the brain when people use their phones as a reward system. However, for young adults the reason that they consume low effort content was because of what happens in the world around them.

“Its’s a distraction, but it’s a good distraction because sometimes the world is bad,” a Georgia Southern student majoring in criminal justice said. “Sometimes we need something to distract us.”

For doom scrolling, people constantly fall to it because they are desensitized to the negative content that they consume. This could also lead to addiction when you factor in how social media algorithms work.

“That’s the stuff that is attention grabbing,” Baldwin said. “That might be why people want to focus on that rather than something that is more positive.”

Baldwin also went on to mention that when it comes to falling into the trap of overconsuming negative content, younger adults are most likely to do it.

“In developmental psychology, there is one phenomenon that’s been found suggesting that younger adults are more likely to pay attention to negative content than older adults are,” Baldwin said.

So are there any solutions? What can people do to quit these bad habits?

When it comes to countering doom scrolling and brain rot, the best thing to do is to limit screentime. People should reduce their screen time and commit to more stimulating activities like exercise or reading which allows them to keep their minds active and in turn makes them more productive.

Baldwin also backed up the solution with a study that was written about in a NPR article that showed when students in a classroom avoided their phones for a day, their mental well-being and their productivity rose.

Deepfakes on the Rise: How AI Manipulation Effects Privacy and Public Trust

 By: Kyra Dorsey

When X/Twitter users asked the artificial intelligence chatbot Grok to “put her in red lingerie,” it quickly obliged. It took a photo of pop star Sabrina Carpenter that was posted by a pop culture page, removed her winter coat and showed her in lingerie. This was not an image that Carpenter herself posed for. 

According to an article by Rolling Stone, The artificial intelligence chatbot Grok creates at least one nonconsensual sexualized image every minute. This incident illustrates how easy it is for AI and AI tools to generate or manipulate images to make them highly convincing. Now, the technology has advanced and we have synthetic media known as deepfakes. 

Researchers Saiyad Mahammadakram Hanif and Vivek Dave from Parul University in India did a study on deepfake technology. They explained that the combination of “deep learning” and “fake content,” deepfakes, show hyper-practical recordings or images that are carefully controlled to portray an individual saying or doing something. 

Hanif and Dave also explained in their research that the technology relies on neural networks. Neural networks are a type of AI system that were designed to work similarly to the human brain. It is made up of several small processing units called nodes or neurons that are connected together and pass information to each other. The networks then analyze large sums of data to figure out how to copy a person's looks, body movement, quirks, and voices. 

Ogeechee Technical College cybersecurity student, Eli Adams, said specifically random access memory, or RAM, plays a major role in how fast AI systems can create content. 

“RAM is essentially the deciding factor of how fast your PC runs because it takes temporary memory,” Adams said. “The more RAM you have, the faster your computer can run, the better the AI is going to look.” 

The technology has been around for years but the term “deepfake” was first coined in 2017 by a Reddit user according to an article from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Journalism professor Dr. Angela Misri of Toronto Metropolitan University, does not think that the media and newsrooms are fully prepared to fully identify manipulated media. 

“Newsrooms are working on shoe-string budgets with diminishing budgets and numbers of actual subscribers,” Misri said.”This is just an extra hurdle journalists must somehow incorporate into their workflows.” 

There are a few major organizations like the Investigative Bureau in Canada better known as 

Reuters fact check team and BBC Verify have dedicated resources to identifying fake content. However, Misri said this cannot be extended to smaller newsrooms once again due to budget constraints. 

One of the biggest problems with deepfakes is that they can spread misinformation that could potentially damage reputations or create confusion. 

“We need to focus on situations where deepfakes are causing harm, like nudifying AI tools or politically motivated fakery meant to incite the public,” Misri said. 

Misri also compared the current rise in deepfake usage to the early days of the internet and the development of credibility issues. 

“We went from everyone consulting the same books in the library . . . to an ever-growing list of content we will never live long enough to access,” Misri said. “One person’s lived opinion equals fact if they have enough followers nowadays.” 

The challenges with AI and deepfakes go beyond journalism and the media. Law enforcement agencies are also grappling with the evolving technology. 

According to the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, fraud experts have on average encountered 37% voice deepfakes and 29% video deepfakes during their investigations in 2024.

Rick Kelley, the White County, Georgia sheriff, witnesses this statistical reality frequently.

“Over the last five years, the amount of scams and fraud cases have gone through the roof,” Kelley said.”There’s less of the typical property crimes like theft and burglary, and more identity fraud cases.” 

Kelley also said that these crimes are difficult to investigate because it usually takes law enforcement up to three years to catch up with technological advances. 

Though the rise of deepfakes and AI can cause embarrassing and invasive experiences for individuals, they are also affecting how policies are being made and journalistic fact checking. 

Misri said the core responsibility of journalists and media remains the same, a dedication to providing the public with the truth. She quoted  journalist Jonathan Foster to reiterate her point. 

“If someone says it’s raining and another person says it’s dry, it’s not your job to quote them both,” Misri said. “Your job is to look out the f*** window and find out which is true.” 

 

From journalists verifying sources and content to law enforcement investigations, this technology is changing how we see reality. Adams said advances in deepfake technology will likely continue in the next couple of years. This leaves journalist and investigators to keep their responsibility to question digital media and find the truth.

Nature’s smallest detectives: How insects help solve death investigations

 By: Madlen Wendland 

When investigators arrive at a crime scene and insects are crawling all over the body, it might be unsettling for most people, but for forensic scientists, those insects provide some of the most valuable evidence in an investigation.

Forensic entomology is the scientific study of insects in legal investigations, allowing scientists to estimate how long a person has been dead. By examining insects’ activity on decomposing remains, experts in biology, ecology, and environmental science can determine a more accurate time of death.

“Entomology is the study of insects, and forensic entomology is the study of insects associated with a dead body, which can be a human or an animal,” Gail Anderson, professor at Simon Fraser University and co-director of the Center of Forensic Research in Canada, said.

The first insects to reach the dead body are flies, especially the blowfly species. Flies have to find something that is decomposing and dead in order to lay their eggs, and for those eggs to develop.

Edward Mondor, associate professor of biology at Georgia Southern and interim director of the Center of Forensic Science in Georgia, said that insects are so important because they cannot regulate their body temperature on their own. Therefore, their activity and development are strictly dependent on environmental temperature.

“Insects are just simply little bags of chemical reactions, and like everything you learn in chemistry, the warmer it is, faster reactions go, and the colder it is, slower reactions go,” Mondor said. “Because insects cannot regulate their body temperature, we use insects just like a biological clock that will help us determine how long the person has been deceased.”  

The flies are laying eggs on the dead body, and those eggs will later hatch into maggots, which will further develop into adult flies. In order for flies to complete their life cycle, they have to find something decomposing.

“We as forensic entomologists use this to our advantage and basically just look at the development stage of the insect, which can tell us an estimate of how long the fly has been on the body, which ultimately helps us to determine how long the person has been dead,” Mondor said.

Laurie Baio, assistant district attorney and prosecutor for the Atlantic Judicial Circuit, mentioned a recent murder case of a female Georgia Southern alumnus in 2023, where forensic entomologists were able to identify a correct timeline of her death and uncover various lies that the murderer spun.

“We found her body in six different parts, and when the investigators discovered her right leg, they scooped up some of the maggots and placed them in a container for further examination,” Baio said.

After analyzing the fly and identifying its species, the entomologists used the time and temperature recorded during recovery to determine the life stage of the maggots and when they began feeding on the victim's remains.

“By determining that we created a minimal postmortem interval,” Baio said. “Which means that the investigator knew the first time when the bugs could have been introduced to the carcass, to the time when we found the remains.”

With knowing the estimated period of her death, they were able to uncover lies about her time of death, which her husband had previously told law enforcement, and they ultimately convicted her husband of her murder.  

Using this method differs from traditional forensic techniques. This is because after the person has been dead for more than 72 hours, the traditional methods do not work anymore.

“There are multiple problems with traditional techniques when a body is found after 72 hours,” Anderson said. “Algor mortis, livor mortis and rigor mortis cannot be applied anymore after some time has passed, after the body has reached certain conditions.”

Algor mortis is the cooling of the body temperature after death; livor mortis is the staining of body tissues that causes discoloration of the skin; and rigor mortis is the stiffening of the muscles. However, all the processes are no longer reliable after 72 hours of death.

That is why experts use the insects that are found on the body if remains are found after this initial time period.

Jeffrey Tomberlin, professor at Texas A&M University and the director of the National Science Foundation Center for Biomanufacturing and Innovation, said that forensic entomology can be applied to recent cases as well as to much older ones.

“You can have bodies that are dead for millennia, and by knowing the insects associated with it, you can say it was a certain time of the year,” Tomberlin said. “An example for that is the Innocence Project”.

This project is known for taking on cold cases involving people who have been previously convicted, reopening them, and working with entomologists to prove their innocence.

Mondor said that new technology and its development have had a significant impact on forensic science and will continue to do so.

“Probably 20 years ago, there was no way that we could analyze insect behavior and their genetics,” Mondor said. “If we now have a case and for some reason cannot look at the insects under the microscope due to their conditions, there are different paths that we can follow in order to get our information.”  

The Hidden In Plain-Sight Dangers of Indoor Tanning

 

The second you step into a tanning bed, your skin is exposed to ultraviolet radiation that damages DNA within seconds and can significantly increase the risk of skin cancer, yet many young adults, especially women, continue to abuse tanning beds despite the ongoing list of evidence about the dangers. 

Scientists say the risks begin almost immediately after the ultraviolet rays hit the skin. 

Sanjay Premi, an assistant professor in the Molecular Medicine Program at Moffitt Cancer Center, studies how ultraviolet radiation damages DNA and contributes to skin cancer development.

“So two kinds of things will happen in response to direct UV exposure,” Premi said. “One is direct DNA damage where ultraviolet radiation will damage the DNA directly just by hitting it.”

Premi explained that this type of damage can lead to DNA bases to bond incorrectly, which creates mutations that cause cancer if the body doesn't repair them on their own. 

“The direct DNA damage happens within picoseconds.” Premi said. 

Another unknown about the indoor tanning trap is there is a second level of damage scientists call oxidative stress. Ultraviolet radiation can trigger the creation of reactive oxygen molecules in the skin, which then damages cells and disrupts normal biological processes.

“That oxidative stress does a ton of things,” Premi said. “One of those is indirect DNA damage.”

The most serious form of skin cancer is melanoma, which accounts for a smaller percentage of total skin cancer cases but causes the majority of deaths.

Premi said melanoma is especially dangerous because it can quickly adapt to treatments.

“Melanoma develops drug resistance very quickly,” Premi said. “It adapts to therapies and continues to grow.”

Presley Allen, a college student who frequently uses tanning beds and works at a tanning salon, said many people her age still view tanning as part of their beauty routine.

“A lot of people just simply like how they look with a tan.” Allen said.

While most people are aware of the risks tanning beds carry, that knowledge does not just stop them from going, especially in this generation when everything is about your appearance. 

“They know it’s bad for you, but they still do it, myself included,” Allen said. “Most people are just thinking about how they look right now.”

However, researchers say this gap between obsessive indoor tanning behavior, and the knowledge of the risks is not uncommon. 

Kim Walsh-Childers, a professor who has done indoor tanning research and studies health communication said cultural ideas about beauty have always played a role in how tanning is viewed.

“Tan skin was associated with wealth because it suggested someone had the time and resources to spend time outside at the beach or playing sports rather than working indoors.” Walsh-Childers said.

Because of those correlations, tanning has often been portrayed as part of an “attractive” lifestyle.

“It’s much more a part of the beauty or lifestyle trend,” Walsh-Childers said. “The idea of protecting one’s skin is often talked about more in terms of beauty like preventing wrinkles rather than protecting yourself from skin cancer.”

According to the International Agency for Research on Cancer, more than 80 percent of melanoma cases worldwide are linked to ultraviolet radiation exposure.

Premi said awareness is especially important for younger generations who may stray away from the biological damage caused by ultraviolet radiation.

“I think young people should understand how these wavelengths damage DNA,” Premi said. “Even a short amount of time in a tanning bed can cause damage.”

So, if you're gearing up to buy your tanning bed membership for your spring break trip, it's crucial to know what exactly is happening to your DNA before you get that tan.

Boats are Causing a WHALE-y Big Problem

By: Tristin Harrell

40 years after the International Whaling Convention outlawed whale hunting on a global scale, humans are still finding ways to harm the third largest animals on Earth.

“Right whales are called the ‘right whale to kill’ because they float after they die,” said Dr. Kathryn Craven through email. “It made it easier to transport the carcass for processing. Hunting of Northern Right whales was estimated to occur for hundreds of years, ending in the 1900’s. By 1990, the population was at its lowest recorded size, less than 300 animals.”

Craven works as a biology professor at Georgia Southern University with a specific focus on marine life. She has partnered with local conservation organizations to highlight the importance of Georgia’s state marine mammal.

The whaling industry might have died down, but these whales are still dying. Why? Boats. Often referred to as the “urban whale” because the creatures encounter humans regularly, the right whales are facing three major problems with boating.

The migration of the North Atlantic Right Whale follows down the eastern seaboard of the United States where busy ports line the way. Because the animals lack a dorsal fin, large cargo ships struggle to spot them. The dorsal fin, which is typically found on the back of sea vertebrates like dolphins and sharks, is just one of the reason these boat strikes happen. When a boat strikes the North Atlantic Right Whale, large gashes pierce the skin leaving the animal in serious pain and open to infections.“Right whales swim relatively close to our coastline, often within 50 miles, meaning they are at a much higher risk of encountering these ships,” said Courtney Reich. Reich serves as the coastal director for Georgia Conservancy, an organization dedicated to conserving the natural resources and land of Georgia. Reich believes that the combination of the whales' close proximity to coastline and their nearness to the water’s surface creates a high risk of vessel strikes.

The second biggest cause for right whale deaths is gear entanglement from fishing boats. When the whales are not traveling, they are primarily located in the northeastern U.S. where the fishing industry dominates the economy. According to Tybee Island Marine Science Center’s Program Director, Ali Caldwell, the highly competitive fishing industry leads to fisheries using longer ropes. Using longer ropes, fishermen hope to catch more crabs and lobsters. These longer ropes, which are attached to buoys and traps, become twisted around the pictorial fins. Once the ropes are twisted around the whales “arms,” it becomes difficult for the whale to continue swimming. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) believes that the stress these entanglements put on the whales are an underlying cause of population of calving females is lessening. “Vessel strikes and entanglement are the two leading causes of death for right whales, contributing to more than 75% of all whale mortalities,” said Reich.

However, not all dangers lie surface level. Motorized marine equipment like boats and submarines and offshore drilling sites create noise throughout the water. “Animals in general are very sensitive to sound,” said Caldwell. These hums interfere with the North Atlantic Right Whales primary communication method, echolocation. Whales are just one of many marine species that can locate objects using the echos of their calls. Each pod, or a group of whales, has a special sound. These whales then emit the call and wait for the sound waves to hit an object. Once the sound waves return to the whales, the creatures can locate other whales, structures such as coral reefs, and nearby predators. The rumble of the boat’s motors distracts and disorients the whales, who often get the noise confused with fellow whales. Submarines utilize SONAR technology. SONAR mimics echolocation. This technology has been documented to increase stress levels and disrupt the behavior of whales. This is increasingly problematic when the two main U.S. submarine bases are located directly through the migration pattern of the animal.

Hope is not completely lost for these creatures. Coastal Georgia locals are combining their efforts to educate the public through community outreach. Georgia Conservancy recently partnered with the University of Georgia’s Sea Grant and Marine Extension program to research the effectiveness of ropeless fishing gear. The group has found great success with this new technology. With ropeless fishing gear, researchers are hopeful that whale entanglements will decline. Tybee Island Marine Science Center is currently spotlighting the North Atlantic Right Whales through a new exhibit titled, “The Right Whale to Save.” The exhibit features family trees and birth rates, documentary-style videos of marine biologists studying the creatures, and interactive displays highlighting the dangerous journey of the whales. The center also hosts Whale Week for local schools where marine scientists and activists teach students the importance of the North Atlantic Right Whale. At the end of Whale Week, students are prompted to create their very own “Save the Whale” poster, which is then displayed at the science center. The recent recipients of the Whale Week 365 grant, Tybee Island Marine Science Center is working to expand their education efforts beyond the classroom. With regulations in place to protect the endangered species and conservation groups lobbying hard on their behalf, the North Atlantic Right Whales have experienced a record setting calving season. Though the creatures are still at a high risk for extinction, Caldwell is holding out hope. The fishermen, politicians and scientists are all going to have to work together. “It takes all of us to really make a difference and it can still happen,” said Caldwell.

Are Bulloch County Citizens Still Concerned About the Hyundai Plant's Water Use?

The Hyundai Motor Group Meta Plant America posed threats to Bulloch County citizens and their water use during its opening in March of 2025, and those threats continue to concern those citizens. 

The Hyundai Plant draws their water from the Floridan Aquifer, which is also a primary water source for many farms in Bulloch County.  

Bulloch County and Bryan County had an intergovernmental agreement about water and sewer services that would provide for the Hyundai Plant. 

According to the Georgia Environmental Protection Division (EPD) the plant is permitted to use around 6.6 million gallons of water daily. The water that they use is pulled from four wells, which pull water from the Floridan Aquifer. 

The four wells are located in Southeast Bulloch County. Many farms in Bulloch County who also pull water from the Floridan Aquifer, had strong oppositions to the agreement between Bryant and Bulloch County. 

One of the farms in Bulloch County that disapproved of the agreement was Franklin’s Citrus Farm. Franklin’s Citrus Farm is located in Statesboro, GA that specializes in growing different types of citruses. 

In 2024 when EPD allowed the Hyundai Plant on average 6 million gallons of water daily, farmers in Statesboro had concerns.

Shaylee Renz works at Franklin’s Citrus Farm and is the daughter of farmer Bill Renz. 

“The percentage they were taking per year of our overall water was very, very extreme, which can cause our soil to dry out,” Shaylee Renz said. 

A petition was started in 2024 to fight for the water rights of Bulloch County, which included Franklin’s Farm. The group fighting against the Hyundai Plant’s water use was called the Bullloch Action Coalition. 

Its purposes were to repeal the Intergovernmental Agreement to provide water and sewer services to Bryan County and to repeal the passage of the well mitigation program between Bryan and Bulloch County. 

The Hyundai Plant has been in operation since March of 2025. For Franklin’s Farm, which specializes in citrus, they haven’t seen a direct impact yet.

Renz expects the plant’s water use to have more of a long-term impact. 

“Since what we grow is citrus, it wouldn’t make an impact this soon, but I expect it to come,” Renz said. 

Another group that is against the Hyundai Plant’s water services is the Ogeechee Riverkeeper. 

The Ogeechee Riverkeeper’s mission is to protect, preserve, and improve the water quality of the Ogeechee River Basin.  

According to the Ogeechee Riverkeep, manufacturing at the Hyundai Plant will produce wastewater that could contaminate and destroy the Ogeechee River's ecosystem. 

In May of 2025, the Hyundai Plant was fined for improperly disposing of its wastewater and for having concerning levels of zinc and copper.

Senior biology student Nayli Rentas explained that humans naturally have zinc and copper in their bodies. 

“It can’t be harmful unless it’s in excessive amounts,” Rentas said. “It can hurt your GI tract if it reacts with your stomach acid.” 

After a year of production at the Hyundai Plant, manufacturing is still underway. For concerned citizens in Bulloch County, the impacts are yet to come, but are still to be awaited. 

“It’s very worrisome, but it’s kind of at the point there’s nothing we can do about it,” Renz said. 

Elevation or Extinction? The role of a Trainer Within The World of EGYM

 

By Kennon Paulk

With the new EGYM equipment introducing the ability to have these machines do most of the work for you during exercise, it can feel like personal training is being left in the past.

This standpoint can appeal to some people. If someone can just scan a wristband and it has all their information stored within it, they don’t have a need for a trainer.

However, that’s an unfair assessment of what a personal trainer is according to Parker Eberly, a personal trainer at Georgia Southern.

Eberly has been a personal trainer for four years and thinks that personal training can be enhanced by EGYM, but never replaced.

“I love teaching people, I don’t think the EGYM will replace that,” Eberly said. “Sometimes people just need somebody to talk to when they work out, EGYM can’t do that.”

Eberly isn’t alone in this thinking either. Jonathan Davis, assistant director of Georgia Southern’s student accessibility resource center, agrees that while these machines can be a plus for students who have trouble going to the gym, it won’t replace the trainer.

“I can definitely see it being a plus, I just don’t know that the student does that same sort of work with a personal trainer,” Davis said. 

While Davis did mention that the game aspect of the machines can help those who have issues with staying consistent, the machines don’t really rise to what he sees as a true accommodation for students.

Davis did speak on the fact, however, that the remote access that trainers are gaining through the EGYM app does allow more accessibility to students who can be intimidated by a personal accountability system. 

“Sometimes it can be intimidating having that accountability person to be like, ‘hey, weren’t you supposed to work out twice a week at least? You didn’t do that’ so that may make some people less likely to go follow that meeting,” Davis said. “It definitely has the potential to augment and support physical fitness for individuals with or without disabilities as well as having that real time accountability."

Even with this accountability baked into the EGYM, Hannah Halavin, a personal trainer at Georgia Southern, points out that even though it can help people be accountable, it can’t truly develop them.

“To go from a good trainer to a great trainer, goes into client development, understanding people and actually connecting with them in different ways,” Halavin said.

With all this talk, it seems like trainers are totally against these machines, but that simply isn’t the case.

“I don’t have to count, I find that being so much harder where I'm like ‘okay make sure you’re breathing, make sure we’re leaning back a little bit more’ and then making sure that I have to count as well too,” Halavin said. “I can truly focus on my client without the extra fluff and overworking them.”

Halavin and Eberly both agree that these machines are a great tool to use for anyone at any experience level, just not a straight replacement.

Eberly even sees this technology of electromagnetic resistance as the new wave of replacing old gym equipment. 

“I think one day it can get rid of the complete pully system you have with the cables,” Eberly said. “Using those magnets, using that range of motion, having all the features that it has to offer, you can do a lot more than what you can push on your own.”

The main proposal trainers are looking at is what their jobs will look like in the years to come. It can be a popular assumption that they would become more facilitators or nutritionists, things a machine can’t do, but that is far from the truth according to Halavin.

“Never a nutritionist, you cannot become a nutritionist as a personal trainer,” Halavin said. “I’d hate to be the person to say, “creatine’s going to be great for you or you should try Oxy Shredder’ and not know their history or health factors.”

Ultimately though, whether the EGYM becomes an industry standard or just a cool thing some gyms have, trainers are always going to be around. 

“In the personal trainer industry as a whole, I don’t think it’ll replace,” Eberly said.