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Fighting wildfires is difficult, dangerous work that puts the lives of firefighters at risk. But what if we had a more efficient way to extinguish these fires while putting fewer people in harm’s way? David H. and Margaret W. Barker Associate Professor of Computer Science and Business Adam Eck just might have the solution: highly specialized robots, powered by artificial intelligence, that have learned how to respond to and suppress these unpredictable natural disasters.

What if chemists were able to speed up the creation of new medications using computer-simulated experiments? Or foster lab processes with fewer environmental impacts?

How do we think about musical expression, especially in relation to robots and machines? That’s the question Steven Kemper aims to answer in his research. In the age of artificial intelligence—and the various concerns surrounding it—Kemper’s research proves that robots can, in fact, enhance human creativity.

Advertising signs are used to sell everything from legal services to razor blades. But are there ways to leverage advertising psychology for the good of the planet? And could digital signs be used to encourage pro-environmental thoughts and action?

It’s been nearly a half-century since the Spanish Nationalist general-turned-fascist dictator Francisco Franco Bahamonde died after close to 40 years in power. That’s a long time for a country to exist under a dictatorship. But even now, Spaniards can’t agree on what it all meant or what lingering effects it may have on Spain today — if they bother to discuss it at all.

Eternal youth is sold by the bottle at beauty retailers and features heavily within U.S. mass media. But what if people who possess years of hard-won skills and knowledge experience prejudice at their jobs for looking younger than they are?

What makes a live performance unforgettable? Assistant Professor of Music Theory Samuel Gardner has uncovered compelling evidence that physical gestures—ranging from subtle, unconscious movements to lively, intentional displays—are central to understanding how both performers and audiences connect with sound.

In 1669, the colonial government of Carolina, which encompassed most of what is now Georgia and North and South Carolina, adopted the Fundamental Constitutions of Carolina. This document specifically promised religious freedom for Jews, heathens, and other dissenters from the Anglican church. At a time when much of Europe was still embroiled in religious wars, this was historic and even radical.

What information gaps exist in history? Specifically, who are the people we don’t hear about, and where can their footsteps be seen today? Associate Professor of African and Black Atlantic Art History Matthew Rarey seeks to tackle those very questions in his book Insignificant Things: Amulets and the Art of Survival in the Early Black Atlantic (Duke University Press, 2023), which traces the history of sacred objects created by people of African descent living in South America and Europe.

Bacteria are everywhere you go. In the case of Caulobacter crescentus—the funky, crescent-shaped star of a recent paper by Assistant Professor of Biology Gaybe Moore ’15 —this is no exaggeration. It’s in the soil, in the water, and around your plants, and it surprisingly produces the world’s stickiest superglue as a biofilm.