What do you look for when you buy wine? Is price the main consideration? Or do you notice quality logos, region of production or alcohol content? Researchers at the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture are studying how these attributes affect your decision. Their goal is to identify attributes Tennessee residents and visitors prefer when evaluating wines produced in the state.

 

In 2024, a research team from the UTIA Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics received a grant from the USDA Agricultural Marketing Service to examine how wineries utilize social media marketing to promote their wines and vineyards. In 2026, the research team received an additional $189,000 in funding to extend the original study for two years. The expansion allows the team to collect additional data to examine how wine buyers value the new Tennessee Quality Assurance Program (QAP) logo, the alcohol content of the product, and whether the wine originated from grapes from an American Viticultural Area (AVA) in Tennessee.

Created by Georgia Tech researchers, DraftMarks reveals how AI shapes the writing process and offers a new way to assess learning in the age of generative AI.

Did you know that cancers in the head and neck area, including the mouth, throat, nasal cavity and voice box, account for about 4% of all new cancers diagnosed in U.S. each year? Major risk factors include smoking cigarettes as well as the use of smokeless tobacco (chewing tobacco and vaping) and alcohol. People with the human papilloma virus (HPV) are also at higher risk of developing head and neck cancer. Symptoms of the disease include a lump or sore in the mouth that doesn’t go away, difficulty swallowing and swelling of the chin or around the jawbone. Although there is no standard screening for head and neck cancers, dentists usually check the mouth for signs of cancer during routine appointments. The Alliance for Clinical Trials in Oncology and the Alliance Foundation Trials have several active trials specifically poised to help people with head and neck cancers.

A study reported in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on April 20 shows how physical disabilities in the animal world can be overcome through behavioral innovation. The report features an endangered kea parrot in captivity at New Zealand’s Willowbank Wildlife Reserve named Bruce who is missing his entire upper beak.  While earlier reports had described his unique use of pebbles as self-care tools, the new findings show how he uses a novel beak jousting technique to turn his disability into social dominance.