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Researchers at Virginia Tech Combine Public Health and Geography Expertise to Understand a Concerning Trend.

By: Eli Lamport, science reporter

Dr. Korine Kolivras in her office in Wallace Hall, on Virginia Tech’s campus.

Dr. Korine Kolivras is a medical geographer with more than 20 years of experience in her field. At Virginia Tech, she has embarked on research into the spread of Lyme disease in the New River Valley area.

Dr. Kolivras also teaches several undergraduate courses and works directly with graduate students in Virginia Tech’s Department of Geography. I sat down with Dr. Kolivras to discuss her background, research, and thoughts on the current state of science in the United States.

(Editied for clarity)

You describe yourself as a medical geographer. Can you elaborate on that? What does that mean? What does your day-to-day look like?

Stepping back a little bit, as a geographer we study why things are where they are. So some people call it the science of where, because we’re understanding why is that type of plant here and not there? Why is this city here and not somewhere else? So I study why diseases and health concerns are where they are, what factors are unique to making certain places healthy or less healthy and also how diseases spread from place to place. So day to day, I do research related to that.

How do medical geographers work alongside other kinds of geographers, and what other fields does your work overlap with?

Yeah, so I collaborate with people within geography as well as in other fields and disciplines. It’s pretty interdisciplinary. So, within geography, we’re trying to figure out where diseases are, but oftentimes that’s where certain insects are. So it’s like, where are ticks living? Where they’re living, we’ve found that Lyme disease is higher, where we have land cover change, where we have different land covers next to each other. So a forest, a large forest patch next to a farm field, for example, that’s the type of place where we would have Lyme disease more typically. And so I could work with bio-geographers and people that study land cover change. And then outside of geography, I collaborate with people in epidemiology and public health, but also, I could collaborate with people in sociology, because they understand population patterns and population level decision making within society.

How did you end up in this field? Do you remember a moment where you realized this is what you wanted to do long term?

First of all, in K-12 education we don’t get a really good understanding of what geographers do. Students come into my class, and it’s just like memorizing capitals and where rivers are and stuff. That’s not really what we do, you know, the location of things is definitely important, but it’s more about what else is going on in that place?

In college, I started out as a Spanish major because I love to travel. I love languages, and then I just randomly took a geography class. And I’m like, oh my gosh, this is where the cool stuff is, the stuff that I’m excited about. So I switched my major to geography. And actually, it was my senior year of undergrad when I first took a medical geography class. It was fascinating to combine this idea of geography and why things are where they are, with thinking about human health. It also made me realize that I could do research that could make a difference. I feel like everyone deserves good health, and so by doing this kind of research, it could help with that. So I went on, I got my master’s degree and then my PhD doing medical geography related work.

You have done extensive research on Lyme disease trends within Virginia. Can you tell me more about that process, and why Lyme disease continues to spike in this area?

I first got started working on it a little over 15 years ago when the Virginia Department of Health noted that Lyme diseases were increasing in Virginia. I think the number of cases tripled over a 20 year span, and they were looking to do a study to try to understand why that was happening. And so that’s when I first got started on it. And then eventually I got funding from the National Science Foundation, which was critical in getting this research started and trying to understand Lyme diseases spread. Early on, we had a lot of cases around northern Virginia. There’s a lot of people living there. There’s also a lot of suburbanization. Suburban areas are often hotspots for the disease. Starting around 2014, the New River Valley was a hot spot. We had a lot of cases down here. So my research is centered around trying to understand why that spread happened and why some places have high rates of Lyme disease and some places have low rates.

Even when we standardize and adjust by population, some areas stand out as having a lot of cases. And so what we found is that within plots of land that had high rates of forest patches next to herbaceous land. So like a pasture, a farm field, you know, grassy areas, those were the census tracks that had the highest rates of Lyme disease. And honestly, if you drive around, that’s what a lot of neighborhoods around Blacksburg are like. And honestly it’s kind of a cultural thing where that’s what we want our suburban developments to look like. We want to live in areas where you’re close to forest or greenspace, which is understandable, but at the same time, it supports this Lyme disease cycle.

How do you feel about the state of your field going forward?

I’ll speak about science more broadly. The United States has been an innovator and leader within science for decades. Developing new things, new solutions, discoveries. And I am a bit concerned about the decreased focus on research funding that we’ve seen recently. I’ve gotten funding from the NSF, and that’s definitely something that could be in jeopardy. Science research is so important, and I’m not just saying that as a researcher, but also as a member of the public.

SCI/TECH: Complexities of Vaping

by Ava Dorn, Eden Kaplan –

Vaping has become increasingly popular in recent years, but what do we really know about it? This podcast explores the science, technology, and risks of vaping, and provides a balanced perspective on this complex topic. News Feed Reporter Eden Kaplan shares a personal experience to the topic. This podcast demonstrates the real health risks that come along with vaping. Whether you’re a current smoker, a concerned parent, or someone who’s just curious about vaping, this podcast will explore how vaping works, the health effects, and the marketing tactics that led to the younger demographic obtaining the addiction.

The catalyst for this podcast topic was the FDA’s recent ban on menthol pods. Here is an article discussing the recent ban. We discussed how even with the FDA’s efforts there are still room for appeals from these large companies. Only time will tell what the future has in store for vaping. For now, the technology and science of it all is still evolving every day. The Real Cost has made it their mission to inform young teens and adults on the health effects of vaping. Their website has a lot of extensive and accurate information regarding vaping, the long term effects and also resources on how to quit.

SCI/TECH: Metaverse disconnected from reality

by Colleen Henneberry, Gabriel Philipsen–

The News Feed pocasters Gabriel Philipsen and Colleen Henneberry discuss why the Metaverse, the big virtual environment closely tied with Facebook’s rebrand into the company Meta, has entirely disappeared after less than 3 years.

The shutdown of the assumed 13 trillion dollar entity is one that does not have a definite single-point cause of death, but rather many disparate causes, failures and problems that created a whirlwind that suckered investors and gained lots of hype, only to disappoint everyone who bought in and prove skeptics correct.

What makes this a body worth dissecting is the night-and-day difference between expectation and reality, and as a cautionary tale for the rest of the Web 3.0 tech crowd. Facebook is still one of the most popular websites around, but the Metaverse could only muster up 38 daily users.

With Apple’s upcoming plans for VR and the extreme backlash to generative AI art and text generation, tune into this short podcast by Gabriel and Colleen to get an overview on how Facebook learned the lesson of novelty-based-products the hard way.

SCI/TECH: DNA sequencing advances

by Alycia Baker & Alex Conkey –

The News Feed podcasters Alycia Baker and Alex Conkey discuss Virginia Tech’s exploration in DNA sequencing advances. Securing a game-changing $200,000 grant from the National Animal Health Health Laboratory Network.

The grant fuels their cutting-edge research in nano-pore sequencing technology, led by Dr. Kevin Lahmers. The primary focus of this funding is to enhance efficiency in managing the massive data generated by nano-pore tech, a promising but costly genomics tool. The grant provides invaluable training opportunities for emerging talents.

Dr. Michelle Todd plays a key role, envisioning the grant’s use in education and training others in the techniques developed at Virginia Tech. Their aim is to empower individuals to diagnose diseases accurately in various organisms

For an in-depth exploration on these groundbreaking research implications for genomics and animal health, tune in to Alycia and Alex’s podcast episode. It delves into how this grant is revolutionizing DNA sequencing and transforming the realm of science and technology.

AI: Changing the music listening experience

by Kate Haas-

With artificial intelligence becoming a hot topic across various industries, Spotify’s new AI-powered DJ has raised concerns about the future of music streaming platforms.

As a leading music streaming service, Spotify attributes its success to one major hallmark: they provide a personalized music experience for users. By partnering with the company that owns the ubiquitous ChatGPT, OpenAI and Spotify launched one of the most personalized features for Premium users.

This new feature, currently only available in the United States and Canada, creates a unique radio station for each listener based on past favorites, recent repeats and new recommendations.

In between each song, the AI-powered host, DJ X, provides commentary about different artists and tracks using a generated, realistic-sounding radio voice.

DJ X also updates commentary each month to include cultural references during song breaks. In honor of Women’s History Month, DJ X has been recommending users listen to the playlist “Women of Pop Throughout the Ages.”

The goal of the new feature, explained Spotify, is for the platform to get to know listeners well enough for the DJ to choose what to play with the click of a single button. Or, as Spotify said in their press release, it’s putting an “AI DJ in your pocket.”

Spotify’s new AI-generated radio station is a popular choice for students as background noise while doing homework. Photo was taken by Kate Haas on 3/23/23 in Blacksburg, Va.

How do other online music streaming services plan to compete with Spotify by integrating AI into their own systems? Will AI change the future of the music business? Experts within the industry have their own responses to these burning questions.

“I think that we’ll see other platforms attempt to integrate AI into their systems in unique ways – maybe YouTube Music will implement AI searching or Pandora will try to create AI talk shows,” said Artem Bank, an esteemed audio engineer and professor of audio technology at Virginia Tech. “I think for any service, AI integration is the buzzword right now, just as ‘algorithm’ was for search relevance not too long ago.”

Bank said there are several dangers that arose when Spotify merged AI with music.

The priorities of Spotify’s version of AI focus on data sets of popularity. This means when DJ X is recommending artists for a user to listen to, popular artists with a higher listener count will get priority over a smaller artist, even if the user listens to both. This specific piece of the algorithm could be threatening to smaller names trying to gain popularity on streaming platforms.

“AI can replicate based on what it’s learned, but it struggles to create something brand new in terms of style and genre,” said Bank, the lead live audio engineer for the PBS series “Live at 9:30.”

Bank also noted that until AI seeks to replace composers and songwriters as a whole, a major shift in the future of the music industry won’t happen.

Although Spotify has taken the lead in integrating cutting-edge AI technology into their streaming service, the challenge for musicians to create unique and innovative sound becomes even more difficult amidst an evolving industry landscape.

Understanding the “spy balloon”

by Thomas Mundy-

It has been several weeks since the spy balloon from the People’s Republic of China was shot down by a United States jetfighter and lots of controversy has been stirred since the beginning.

What started out as an apparent weather balloon gone astray from The People’s Republic of China has thrown the public into a frenzy, when United States officials announced that there were instruments on the aircraft that were capable of sending intelligence back over to the controllers. Scientists like Ella Atkins, department head of aerospace and ocean engineering at Virginia Tech, said that this reaction seems a little overboard.

“People are overreacting to the data that could possibly have been collected by this one spy balloon,” Atkins said. “The reality is, we have satellites in low earth orbit from countries all over the world.”

*American Flag and the Virginia Flag on the Virginia Tech Campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. (Thomas Mundy) February 16, 2023*.

Airspace is more strict than what could be expected. A country owns the air above its country. This ownership leads all the way up to where the breathable atmosphere reaches non-breathable atmosphere according to Jamie McGrath, a retired Navy Captain involved in the Rice Center for Leader Development at Virginia Tech and the Corp of Cadets.

“Primarily the airspace that we are talking about are spaces that air-breathing equipment can operate in, so think of airplanes,” McGrath said. “The airspace above a country is sovereign territory just like the land and then that sovereignty stretches out 12 nautical miles from the coastline.”

*Engineering Students at Virginia Tech sanding their next project. (Thomas Mundy) February 16, 2023. Blacksburg, Va.*

With this balloon, along with any other aircraft flying, it is required to gain permission from the country to fly over top of the territory according to McGrath. This is where the problems began for the balloon. Above the country, there are a plethora of flying objects moving through the atmosphere. Much of the things in the atmosphere are non-recognizable, like the bugs and birds that fly around. Then there is the man-made equipment sent out in the atmosphere, and if this equipment is not monitored, it can become hazardous to others in the same airspace according to Atkins.

Currently, there have been multiple sightings of other alleged spy balloons. The major thought that Captain McGrath wants to get across is that, even though this seems to have turned into a foreign policy breach and national security issue, there are objects in the sky and in orbit around the Earth that are capable of this very incident, the only difference is that this balloon might have been able to stay in one spot longer than a passing satellite.

“There are capabilities that fly over our nation and other nations, that I would say, are probably equal to, if not superior to, what could be hanging from a balloon,” McGrath said. “It might be able to loiter in a single location for a longer period of time, so instead of collecting information every time it passes overhead, it was potentially able to collect a larger volume of information while it was in one place.”

SCI/TECH: 3D Printing reshaping our reality

By: Melissa Vergara & Tatyanna Walker–

Scientific technology is blasting off this year with 3D printing. 3D printing is a form of creating a three-dimensional object layer-by-layer using a computer-created design. Most people think it is made for small toys or minor mechanical items. What if 3D printing has advanced so much that it is going to outer space?

Nasa is now allowing 3D printing in space to help with printing parts while in orbit. Also, Relativity Space, a spacecraft modeling company is redefining how space rockets are made. This raises the question of how much will it cost? What NASA and Relativity Space are doing to advance technologies? And if this new technological development is some kind of race in space between the United States with other countries?

On this episode of the Newsfeed podcast, reporters Melissa Vergara and Tatyanna Walker will try to channel our inner astronaut.

SCI/TECH: What’s next for civilian space travel?

by Kamryn Buza and Kalley Sullivan

Astronauts of Inspiration4 flying aboard SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft land in the Atlantic Ocean. COURTESY OF SPACEX/INSPIRATION4

Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its first civilian flight on the Inspiration 4. A big question that remains is what does this mean for the future of tourist travel in space and what are the implications of it for Earth.

The Inspiration 4 mission cost just under $200 million dollars with 5 more SpaceX tourist flights already planned for the upcoming months and years. Other companies such as Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are also working on plans to take civilians to space.

John Harris from The Guardian leaves us with the question, is space now a playground for the rich?

SCI/TECH: LG discontinues smartphone business

The Korean company, LG, announced recently that they are officially quitting the smartphone business after 12 years. This decision came after years of struggling in the competition against popular brands such as Apple and Samsung. The company has also suffered billions of dollars in losses from its smartphones globally.

Even though they were claimed to be the third-largest smartphone maker in 2013, LG suffered tremendous losses with their products that were too gimmicky and not functional enough to compete with bigger brands. Despite this, they tried to make smartphones with new innovations and features such as a curved smartphone screen and a rollable tablet phone that was supposed to be released this year.

SCI/TECH: Apple iOS Obsolescence Theory

by Jillian Smith and Emily Carter–

Planned Obsolescence is the theory that companies intentionally design products that they know will become obsolete after a short period of time. The theory states that this strategy is used to cause consumers to continue to buy new products and devices as older ones slow down or eventually stop working at all. Because Apple has recently released a new software update, iOS14, many people have already begun to speculate how this update will impact older devices.

In this science/technology podcast, Emily and Jillian discuss the ways that Apple has addressed these claims and made efforts to debunk this theory, as well as personal experiences that they have had with Apple products and their own opinions on the theory.