Read the improbable story of a Microsoft employee who twice turned down a traditional tech sector job so he could teach high school students, and then landed his dream job.
REDMOND, Wash. — Kevin Wang could have followed his career.
Instead, he chose to follow his calling.
It was the early 2000s, and Wang had just graduated from Berkeley with a degree in computer science and electrical engineering. He was trying to decide which tech company he should offer his services to, when a high school came calling. (more…)
COLUMBIA, Mo. — Crocodilians have nerves on their faces that are so sensitive, they can detect a change in a pond when a single drop hits the water surface several feet away. Alligators and crocodiles use these “invisible whiskers” to detect prey when hunting. Now, a new study from the University of Missouri has measured the nerves responsible for this function, which will help biologists understand how today’s animals, as well as dinosaurs and crocodiles that lived millions of years ago, interact with the environment around them. (more…)
Ecologists are wary of non-native species, but along the shores of Cape Cod where grass-eating crabs have been running amok and destroying the marsh, an invasion of a predatory green crabs has helped turn back the tide in favor of the grass. The counter-intuitive conclusions appear in a new paper in the journal Ecology.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Long vilified, invasive species can sometimes become an ecosystem asset. New Brown University research published online in the journal Ecology reports exactly such a situation in the distressed salt marshes of Cape Cod. There, the invasive green crab Carcinus maenas is helping to restore the marsh by driving away the Sesarma reticulatum crabs that have been depleting the marsh grasses. (more…)
The adolescent age is very much critical phase of life. Every teenage girl and boy when they enter in this age tends to behave differently, which has to be understood very well by the parents, elders and teenagers. This can help everyone including the teenager to grow in a healthy atmosphere, which can help them to imbibe positive values in their lives along with averting them to tread wrong paths. If you fail to understand people of this age, you may end up seeing your adolescent boy or girl going in a wrong direction. Hence knowing the dos and don’ts are important both for parents and teenagers as well. Let’s check out the do’s and don’ts evident in this critical phase of life.(more…)
Unlike most organisms, they don’t need iron, but they crave manganese
Scientists have confirmed that the pathogen that causes Lyme Disease—unlike any other known organism—can exist without iron, a metal that all other life needs to make proteins and enzymes. Instead of iron, the bacteria substitute manganese to make an essential enzyme, thus eluding immune system defenses that protect the body by starving pathogens of iron.
To cause disease, Borrelia burgdorferi requires unusually high levels of manganese, scientists at Johns Hopkins University (JHU), Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), and the University of Texas reported. Their study, published March 22, 2013, in TheJournal of Biological Chemistry, may explain some mysteries about why Lyme Disease is slow-growing and hard to detect and treat. The findings also open the door to search for new therapies to thwart the bacterium by targeting manganese. (more…)
Fishes residing near oil platforms in southern California have similar contaminant levels as fishes in nearby natural sites, according to two recent reports by the U.S. Geological Survey, which were conducted to assist the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) in understanding potential consequences of offshore energy development.(more…)
UCLA researchers have used a brain-imaging tool and stroke risk assessment to identify signs of cognitive decline early on in individuals who don’t yet show symptoms of dementia.
The connection between stroke risk and cognitive decline has been well established by previous research. Individuals with higher stroke risk, as measured by factors like high blood pressure, have traditionally performed worse on tests of memory, attention and abstract reasoning. (more…)
Diversity training programs lead people to believe that work environments are fair even when given evidence of hiring, promotion or salary inequities, according to new findings by psychologists at the University of Washington and other universities.
The study also revealed that participants, all of whom were white, were less likely to take discrimination complaints seriously against companies who had diversity programs. (more…)
