Even if you did not have the opportunity to attend the panel on “Unrest in the Middle East and North Africa,” you can slearn what four experts on the history and political affairs of the Middle East had to say about the causes of the unrest in the region in this video of the panel, […]
WASHINGTON —The extreme rain events that have caused flooding across northern Australia may become an increasingly familiar occurrence, new research suggests. The study uses the growth patterns in near-shore corals to determine which summers brought more rain than others, creating a centuries-long rainfall record for northern Australia.
“This reconstruction provides a new insight into rainfall in northeast Queensland,” says Janice Lough, climate scientist of the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) in Townsville, Queensland, who authored the study. “These coral samples, which date from 1639 to 1981, suggest that the summer of 1973–1974 was the wettest in 300 years. This summer is now being compared with that record-setting one.” (more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— College students who arrange with friends to “get their backs” are less likely to engage in risky spring break behavior, according to a new study.
The University of Michigan study, published this month in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, says about 60 percent of more than 650 college freshmen surveyed reported having an understanding with their friends about using alcohol during spring break. (more…)
*Nadella brings deep engineering and online services knowledge to $15 billion business*
REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 9, 2011 — Microsoft Corp. today promoted Senior Vice President Satya Nadella to president of Microsoft’s Server and Tools Business.
“We’re already making strong traction across our Server and Tools Business by embracing cloud services,” said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer. “Satya has deep experience in both our server business and online services, which will help accelerate our momentum while setting the course to deliver the cloud computing scenarios of the future.” (more…)
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Government regulators could more realistically assess the value of improving food safety if they considered the fact that consumers typically want to avoid getting sick – even if it means they have to pay a little extra for safer food, researchers say.
In the world of food regulation, cost-benefit analyses are a primary tool for assessing the societal benefits of mandating more stringent – and more expensive – processing practices. In most cases, regulators determine a dollar value associated with pursuing new rules by estimating how many illnesses and deaths the safer processing would prevent. (more…)
Washington, D.C.— Surprising new research shows that, contrary to conventional belief, remains of chitin-protein complex—structural materials containing protein and polysaccharide—are present in abundance in fossils of arthropods from the Paleozoic era. Previously the oldest molecular signature of chitin-protein complex was discovered in 25 million year old Cenozoic fossils and remnants of structural protein have also been discovered in 80 million-year-old Mesozoic fossils. Carnegie’s George Cody and an international team of scientists discovered relicts of protein-chitin complex in fossils of arthropods from the Paleozoic era. Their findings, published online by Geology, could have major implications for our understanding of the organic fossil record. (more…)
*Mobile tagging technology offers instant reader interaction with ads in national magazines for “Bridesmaids,” a new comedy from producer Judd Apatow and director Paul Feig*
REDMOND, Wash. — Feb. 8, 2011 — Microsoft Tag and Universal Pictures today announced a new campaign to promote “Bridesmaids,” the new comedy from producer Judd Apatow (“Knocked Up,” “Superbad”) and director Paul Feig (“Freaks and Geeks”).
Further establishing the studio as a market leader in mobile marketing, Universal, through the Tag campaign, will enable smartphone users to interact with full-page ads that will run in several magazines, including Cosmopolitan, InStyle, People StyleWatch and Us Weekly. When the Tags are scanned by the free Tag Reader app, users will be able to watch the “Bridesmaids” trailer and access additional movie information and content. With this campaign, Universal becomes the first major film studio to use Tag technology to promote a first-run, nationally released movie. (more…)
Do smarter people live longer and better lives? Are certain personality types more prone to premature death than are others? As our population continues to age in dramatic numbers, these questions become increasingly relevant. A new report in Psychological Science in the Public Interest, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, provides an overview of research on possible associations between intelligence and personality traits and various health outcomes.
Although there is not much evidence to date that links intelligence with cancer, low intelligence has been shown to be related to increased risk of hospital admission and death due to cardiovascular disease. In addition, lower intelligence is associated with a greater incidence of accidents and risk of death by homicide than is higher intelligence. (more…)
