Lab Work: Research at Texas A&M

Why Can You Smell Rain?

If rainwater has no distinct scent, how do people swear they can smell it, even before it has arrived? Texas A&M assistant atmospheric sciences professor Tim Logan has an explanation. “The smell comes from the ground becoming moist,” Logan said. “This moistening forms petrichor, an earthy scent made up of organic fragrant compounds.”

The main contributors to petrichor are actinobacteria, tiny microorganisms found in cities and rural areas alike. Actinobacteria activity creates a byproduct called geosmin, a type of alcohol with a noticeable smell even at extremely low levels.

When it hasn’t rained, the decomposition rate of actinobacteria in the soil slows down, only to speed up when the air becomes more humid before a rain event. As raindrops fall and splatter, tiny particles called aerosols are generated, which help to spread the geosmin and other petrichor compounds from the ground into the air. “A heavy rainfall can send the petrichor compounds into the wind, which can carry rapidly across land and alert surrounding areas that rain is on the way,” Logan said.

Speaking in Virtual Terms

Virtual reality and wearable devices may soon be a solution for sweaty palms and nervous stutters as a new way to practice public speaking. Theodora Chaspari, assistant professor of computer science and engineering, is collaborating with Amir Behzadan, associate professor of construction science, to study whether virtual reality scenarios have the potential to reduce public speaking anxiety.

In their yearlong study, student participants will speak to virtual, diverse audiences with varying demographic characteristics, attention levels and venue sizes while a smart wristband device records their physiological signals like heart rate, sweat levels, skin temperature and blood volume pulse.

“When we compare this data with benchmark data from the subject’s speech to a live audience, we can see how much virtual reality presentations help reduce the subject’s fear of public speaking and improve his or her speaking performance,” said Behzadan.

“Later in the study, we will train machine learning models to generate and deliver instant feedback to students talking to a live audience as their physiological data are monitored,” added Chaspari. This will enable them to make real-time improvements to their speaking skills and strategies.

Fighting Infant Opioid Addiction

Approximately every 25 minutes, a baby is born who suffers through neonatal opioid withdrawal syndrome (NOWS). However, not every infant subjected to opioids while in the womb develops an addiction—a phenomenon that Rajesh Miranda, a professor at the Texas A&M College of Medicine, wants to understand. Partnering with Ludmila Bakhireva, a professor and epidemiologist at the University of New Mexico College of Pharmacy, Miranda will study why some infants are prone to developing NOWS while others do not.

“We hope to identify biomarkers to predict which opioid-exposed infants are likely to undergo NOWS before they exhibit any symptoms,” Miranda said. “In previous research related to fetal alcohol spectrum disorders, we found that tiny epigenetic markers called micro-RNAs circulating in the mother’s blood can help predict which children will have disorders. We then started wondering if the same might be true for the effects of other drugs, like opioids, on the infant.”

Testing the blood from infants’ umbilical cords, the research team will assess for micro-RNAs in hopes of determining which ones can predict the occurrence and severity of NOWS before withdrawal symptoms begin. If successful, the team’s findings could be a step forward in fighting the nation’s current opioid crisis.