Author Archives: Guest Post

IBM Big Data Technology Helps South Korea’s Meteorological Administration Increase Accuracy of Weather Forecasting

South Korea’s most powerful data storage system helps tackle weather’s data deluge

Seoul, SOUTH KOREA – 27 Feb 2013: South Korea’s Meteorological Administration (KMA) and IBM today announced a project to help KMA and its affiliate, the National Meteorological Satellite Center (NMSC), tackle Big Data for better, more accurate and predictive environmental forecasting.

As South Korea’s national meteorological organization, KMA’s mission is to protect citizens’ lives and property from natural disasters and support economic activities sensitive to environmental conditions. (more…)

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A Dual Look at Photosystem II Using the World’s Most Powerful X-Ray Laser

Berkeley Lab and SLAC Researchers Demonstrate Room Temperature Simultaneous Diffraction/Spectroscopy of Metalloenzymes

From providing living cells with energy, to nitrogen fixation, to the splitting of water molecules, the catalytic activities of metalloenzymes – proteins that contain a metal ion – are vital to life on Earth. A better understanding of the chemistry behind these catalytic activities could pave the way for exciting new technologies, most prominently artificial photosynthesis systems that would provide  clean, green and renewable energy. Now, researchers with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE)’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have taken a major step towards achieving this goal.

Using ultrafast, intensely bright pulses of X-rays from SLAC’s Linac Coherent Light Source (LCLS), the world’s most powerful X-ray laser, the researchers were able to simultaneously image at room temperature the atomic and electronic structures of photosystem II, a metalloenzyme critical to photosynthesis. (more…)

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UCLA Scientists Develop New Therapeutics that Could Accelerate Wound Healing

In “before” and “after” photos from advertisements for wound-healing ointments, bandages and antibiotic creams, we see an injury transformed from an inflamed red gash to smooth and flawless skin.

What we don’t appreciate is the vital role that our own natural biomolecules play in the healing process, including their contribution to the growth of new cells and the development of new blood vessels that provide nutrients to those cells. (more…)

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Underwater Robot

New remotely operated vehicle to aid UD marine research efforts

UD researchers discuss a new underwater robot that will assist in marine research.

An underwater robot made a splash at a University of Delaware swimming pool recently in a test of the new equipment, which will soon be used in field research by College of Earth, Ocean and Environment (CEOE) scientists.

The device, called a remotely operated vehicle (ROV), can dive deep below the ocean surface to record video, create sonar images and retrieve objects. (more…)

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Around the World with Windows Store Apps

From a physics Ph.D. student-turned-app builder to chimps launching an indie game studio, app builders across the globe are bringing amazing experiences to Windows 8 and enjoying success along the way.

REDMOND, Wash. – Feb. 26, 2013 – This week, thousands have descended upon Barcelona, Spain, for Mobile World Congress, the world’s premier mobile industry event. In honor of this international gathering, we’re celebrating Windows Store apps from around the world, along with stories of the people working behind the scenes to bring those apps to life on Windows 8. (more…)

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Human Cognition Depends Upon Slow-Firing Neurons

Good mental health and clear thinking depend upon our ability to store and manipulate thoughts on a sort of “mental sketch pad.” In a new study, Yale School of Medicine researchers describe the molecular basis of this ability — the hallmark of human cognition — and describe how a breakdown of the system contributes to diseases such as schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s disease.

“Insults to these highly evolved cortical circuits impair the ability to create and maintain our mental representations of the world, which is the basis of higher cognition,” said Amy Arnsten, professor of neurobiology and senior author of the paper published in the Feb. 20 issue of the journal Neuron. (more…)

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‘Most Verbose’: Meet Microsoft’s Original MVP

Twenty years ago, Calvin Hsia created a list of the “Most Verbose People” on a CompuServe forum that became Microsoft’s Most Valuable Professional program.

REDMOND, Wash. – It’s 1993, and you need technical support. Who you gonna call?

Most techies at the time would plug in their modems and dial up CompuServe. In the days before Twitter, Facebook and broadband, CompuServe’s forums were a gathering place for geeks to talk shop and get answers to burning questions. (more…)

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