Author Archives: Guest Post

Texans Not Eager to Change Gun Laws, UT/Texas Tribune Poll Shows

AUSTIN, Texas — Although a large majority of Texans support background checks for all gun purchases, they are not eager to change existing gun laws in Texas, according to a University of Texas at Austin/Texas Tribune poll.

Seventy-eight percent of Texans support requiring criminal and mental health background checks on all gun purchases in the United States, including at gun shows and for private sales. However, 52 percent think that gun control laws should either be left as they are now (36 percent) or made less strict (16 percent). Forty-four percent said gun control laws should be stricter. (more…)

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New Opportunities for Crystal Growth

Berkeley Lab Facility Provides Unique Capabilities for the Synthesis of New Crystals and Materials

Talk with material scientist Edith Bourret-Courchesne about what it takes to grow and develop useful crystals and a word you will hear repeated often is “patience.” As the leader of a unique crystal growth facility at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) dedicated to the synthesis of crystals and new materials, patience is more than a virtue, it’s a necessity.

“The growth of every crystal is unique, like the formation of a snowflake, and since we work with compounds that have never before been crystallized the processes by which we grow our crystals are also unique,” she says. “As a result, a lot of our research is aimed at understanding why something didn’t work.” (more…)

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Physicists Demonstrate the Acceleration of Electrons by a Laser in a Vacuum

Accelerating a free electron with a laser has been a longtime goal of solid-state physicists.

David Cline, a distinguished professor in the UCLA Department of Physics and Astronomy, and Xiaoping Ding, an assistant researcher at UCLA, have conducted research at Brookhaven National Laboratory in New York and have established that an electron beam can be accelerated by a laser in free space.

This has never been done before at high energies and represents a significant breakthrough, Cline said, adding that it also may have implications for fusion as a new energy source. (more…)

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TechForum Demos Reveal New World of ‘Intelligent Technology’

Get a behind-the-scenes look at futuristic technology demos showing how big data, machine learning and natural user interfaces are helping to bring about a new world of “intelligent technology.”

REDMOND, Wash. – March 4, 2013 – Microsoft’s strategic and technical vision for the future was discussed this week at TechForum, an annual event hosted by Craig Mundie, senior advisor to the CEO, and Eric Rudder, Microsoft’s chief technical strategy officer.

Mundie and Rudder were joined by Interactive Entertainment Business President Don Mattrick, Online Services Division President Qi Lu, Skype Division President Tony Bates, Microsoft Office Division President Kurt DelBene, Chief Research Officer Rick Rashid and others in discussing and demonstrating how the company is approaching this evolution in computing. (more…)

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Vortex Loops Could Untie Knotty Physics Problems

University of Chicago physicists have succeeded in creating a vortex knot—a feat akin to tying a smoke ring into a knot. Linked and knotted vortex loops have existed in theory for more than a century, but creating them in the laboratory had previously eluded scientists.

Vortex knots should, in principle, be persistent, stable phenomena. “The unexpected thing is that they’re not,” said Dustin Kleckner, a postdoctoral scientist at UChicago’s James Franck Institute. “They seem to break up in a particular way. They stretch themselves, which is a weird behavior.” (more…)

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Children’s Books

UD alumna, educator writes books to help children deal with challenges

After Stephanie Guzman graduated from the University of Delaware’s College of Education and Human Development in 2001 as an early childhood education major, her first position was as a second grade teacher at a Title I school.

While Title I schools are designed to improve the academic proficiency for children from disadvantaged areas, Guzman found her students had character issues that needed to be addressed as well.  (more…)

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Yoga: How true it reduces heart disease risk

The most common form of heart disease affecting humans is the Coronary Artery Disease (CAD). The disease portrays acute build-up of cholesterol in the layers of the arteries constituting the heart. The blockage induces a phenomenal slowed down blood circulation. The left auricle functions in generating the signals dubbed as heart beats. (more…)

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