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A cheaper drive to ‘cool’ fuels

By Guest PostJune 22, 2013Environmentbismuth, carbon monoxide, fischer tropsch process, pepto bismol, renewable energy, synthetic fuel production, synthetic petroleum

UD scientists pioneer inexpensive catalyst to drive synthetic fuel production

University of Delaware chemist Joel Rosenthal is driven to succeed in the renewable energy arena. (more…)

Whirlpools on the Nanoscale Could Multiply Magnetic Memory

By Guest PostJune 22, 2013Scienceadvanced light source, als, als beamline, berkeley lab, billionths, brno university, czech republic, dynamics, electron spin, magnetic contrast, magnetic memory, magnetic states, magnetic vortices, meter, nanoscale, peter fischer, polarity, san diego, spin orientation, Technology, university of california, vojtech uhlir, whirlpools, xray optics

At the Advanced Light Source, Berkeley Lab scientists join an international team to control spin orientation in magnetic nanodisks

“We spent 15 percent of home energy on gadgets in 2009, and we’re buying more gadgets all the time,” says Peter Fischer of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). Fischer lets you know right away that while it’s scientific curiosity that inspires his research at the Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), he intends it to help solve pressing problems.

“What we’re working on now could make these gadgets perform hundreds of times better and also be a hundred times more energy efficient,” says Fischer, a staff scientist in the Materials Sciences Division. As a principal investigator at the Center for X-Ray Optics, he leads ALS beamline 6.1.2, where he specializes in studies of magnetism. (more…)

Particle Accelerator That Can Fit on a Tabletop Opens New Chapter for Science Research

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013Scienceaustin, charged particles, conventional accelerator, electrons, Environment, factor, gev, gev electron beam, gigaelectronvolts, laser plasma accelerator, laser pulse, mike downer, motorboat, multi gigaelectronvolt, particle accelerator, physicist, physicists, puff of gas, science research, space charge fields, tabletop, Technology, texas petawatt laser, toshiki tajima, university of texas, xray source

AUSTIN, Texas — Physicists at The University of Texas at Austin have built a tabletop particle accelerator that can generate energies and speeds previously reached only by major facilities that are hundreds of meters long and cost hundreds of millions of dollars to build.

“We have accelerated about half a billion electrons to 2 gigaelectronvolts over a distance of about 1 inch,” said Mike Downer, professor of physics in the College of Natural Sciences. “Until now that degree of energy and focus has required a conventional accelerator that stretches more than the length of two football fields. It’s a downsizing of a factor of approximately 10,000.” (more…)

Understanding the How-To of Effective Communication in Small Groups

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013Technologyblogs, brockport, decision making groups, effective communication, formulaic, group based communication, internal constraints, jennifer ervin, joseph bonito, lego robotics, monica everett haynes, naqc, new york, north american quitline, question, rachel baughman, small group communication, small groups, state university, text to quit, understanding, university of arizona

UA researcher Joseph Bonito is investigating the communication habits of decision-making groups, including North American Quitline staff members and youth involved in Lego robotics teams, to advance what is known about small group communication.

It is likely a daily occurrence: People hold well-intentioned meetings that ultimately turn out to be ineffective.

Why? The list of variables can be astonishingly long, said Joseph Bonito, a University of Arizona communication professor who specializes in small group communication. (more…)

The rhythm of everything

By Guest PostJune 21, 2013General, Health, Scienceadolescents, approximately a day, automobile accidents, blood pressure, body temperature, breast cancer rates, brown university, cancer epidemiology, chronic insomnia, chronobiology international, circa diem, circadian cycle, circadian gene, circadian rhythms, clock, DNA, electric lights, epigenetic changes, estrogen level, feedback loop, habitual fatigue, heart rate, human body, jet lag, key issue, kidneys, logic, molecular autoregulatory, mutation, mysterious, natural processes, physiological phenomena, probably carcinogenic, regulatory genes, rhythm of everything. biological changes, richard g stevens, scientists, seasonal affective disorder, transcriptional activators, ultraviolet light, winter blues, yong zhu

Dawn triggers basic biological changes in the waking human body. As the sun rises, so does heart rate, blood pressure and body temperature. The liver, the kidneys and many natural processes also begin shifting from idle into high gear. Then as daylight wanes and darkness descends, these processes likewise begin to subside, returning to their lowest levels again as we sleep.

These internal biological patterns are tightly linked to an external cosmic pattern: the earth’s rotation around the sun once every 24 hours. This endless loop of light and darkness and the corresponding synchrony of internal and external clocks, are called circadian rhythms, from “circa diem,” Latin for “approximately a day.” Circadian rhythms influence almost all living organisms, from bacteria to algae, insects, birds and, as is increasingly understood by science, humans beings. (more…)

QONQR triumphs in fierce mobile games market

By Guest PostJune 20, 2013Technologyandy pickett, conquer, donn felker, jeff diercks, jessy houle, justin peck, microsoft bizspark, microsoft sql azure, microsoft technologies, minneapolis, mobile games market, player in tokyo, qonqr, scott davis, twin cities startup, windows phone marketplace

Microsoft BizSpark startup combines an inspired gaming premise, rigorous execution and progressive business choices to rise above competition.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 20, 2013 — Mobile users can choose from a vast array of games, so how can game makers stand out in the saturated competitive market?

Typically, success comes either from spending a fortune on marketing or from simply getting lucky, according to QONQR CEO Scott Davis. QONQR (pronounced “conquer”) has crafted a third path: Making a number of contrarian choices that helped lift the startup to profitability and gain a growing base of rabidly enthusiastic customers. (more…)

At home in her environment

By Guest PostJune 20, 2013Educationcitizen member, hometown bubble, kate knuth, outdoors in minnesota, world class university

Kate Knuth blends a love of the outdoors with a life of public service

When Kate Knuth proclaims that she loves Minnesota and is dedicated to living and working here, you can hardly accuse her of living in a hometown bubble. (more…)

Scientists Find Possible Solution to an Ancient Enigma

By Guest PostJune 20, 2013Environmentamoeba, ancient enigma, anna mcintyre wressnig, calcium carbonate, cat scans, ciliates, clotted stones, coastal sediment, colchicine, disappearance, earth history, evolution, extinction of dinosaurs, foraminifera, geobiologist, highborne cay, hypotheses, joan bernhard, layered rocks, life on earth, meteorite, microbes, microbial ecologist, microfabric, minerals, multicellular life, oceanic sediments, paleontologists, photosynthetic cyanobacteria, proterozoic eon, protozoa, remote valleys, rrna, scientists, sediment, solution, stromatolites, thecate, thrombolites, velociraptors, virginia edgcomb, whoi

The widespread disappearance of stromatolites, the earliest visible manifestation of life on Earth, may have been driven by single-celled organisms called foraminifera.

The findings, by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI); Massachusetts Institute of Technology; the University of Connecticut; Harvard Medical School; and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, were published online the week of May 27 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. (more…)

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