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Slinky Science Inspires African School Children

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2012Educationafrican school children, biological photonics, class, cosmetics, exeter, fundamental scientific ideas, glass prisms, interactive demonstration, iridescent butterflies, light sticks, malawi, mzuzu university, natural photonics, paper applications, pete vukusic, physicist, poorest area, pupils and teachers, slinky springs, southern africa, spring, teaching methods, university

A University of Exeter physicist has inspired hundreds of African school children to engage with science during a whirlwind outreach tour to Malawi.

Professor Pete Vukusic used simple interactive demonstrations including slinky springs, glass prisms, light sticks and iridescent butterflies to enthral large classes of pupils and teachers in underprivileged rural schools.

The charismatic lecturer combined use of the demos and an interactive and engaging teaching style to explain fundamental and modern science principles to students who are used to formal instructional teaching methods. Professor Vukusic hopes his visit will both help to inspire science learning in these schools and help their teachers adapt to more modern techniques that engage young people more effectively. (more…)

The Teacher’s Apple

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2012Education, Technologyclassroom technology, education technology, innovation in education, teachers apple

A decade ago, electronics and cell phones in the classroom were considered little more than a distraction. Today, new devices such as tablet computers and smartphones are changing this perception. Educators are finding innovative ways to supplement their lectures with the newest technology, and students are beginning to see their devices as essential components of their college experience.

Naturally, major device manufacturers are now battling for dominance in the field. Below, we explore how Apple is winning the battle for education technology and what gives them the edge over the sizable competition in the market. (more…)

Bright Stars to Black Holes: UA Astronomer Awarded for Her Research

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2012Scienceblack holes, collapsed stars, collision of cloud, galactic center, invisible objects, neutron stars

In addition to being selected as one of 50 scholars awarded fellowships each year at the prestigious Radcliffe Institute at Harvard University, the UA’s Feryal Ozel has won the 2013 American Physical Society’s Maria Goeppert Mayer Award for her cutting-edge research on neutron stars

Feryal Ozel studies two things most people don’t think about everyday: neutron stars and black holes. (more…)

How Proper Body Language Can Help You Make the Right Impression while Traveling Abroad

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012Culture, Holidays 'n Travelsbody language, dining behaviour, holidays, right impression, rules of behaviour, travelling abroad

In everyday life the way we express ourselves with our body language is very important. This is equally important when travelling abroad and when you may be coming into contact with people who have different cultures and customs. Follow our tips below for how to behave during your holiday. (more…)

Climate Warming Unlikely to Cause Near-Term Extinction of Ancient Amazon Trees, Study Says

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012Environmentamazon tree species, carbon emission scenarios, climate warming, early pliocene epoch, global air temperatures, global warming scenarios, human influence, risk of drought

ANN ARBOR — A new genetic analysis has revealed that many Amazon tree species are likely to survive human-caused climate warming in the coming century, contrary to previous findings that temperature increases would cause them to die out. (more…)

Got Food Allergies? Thanks to UCLA, You Can Test Your Meal on the Spot Using a Cell Phone

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012Health, Technologyahmet f coskun, allergen concentration, allergens, allergic, almonds, andrew tey, aydogan ozcan, bioengineering, cell phone, colorimetric assay, data, delaram khodadadi, detect, eggs, electrical engineering, food allergies, food samples, function, geographic information, gluten, hazelnuts, itube, justin wong, peanuts, richie nagi, sensitivity, smart phone application, statistical allergy database, test tube

Are you allergic to peanuts and worried there might be some in that cookie? Now you can find out using a rather unlikely source: your cell phone.

A team of researchers from the UCLA Henry Samueli School of Engineering and Applied Science has developed a lightweight device called the iTube, which attaches to a common cell phone to detect allergens in food samples. The iTube attachment uses the cell phone’s built-in camera, along with an accompanying smart-phone application that runs a test with the same high level of sensitivity a laboratory would. (more…)

‘House Hunters Walrus’

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012Environment, Nature3d reconstruction, alaska, arctic basin, Arctic sea ice, bering sea, calibration, camera reconfiguration, camera system, chandra kambhamettu, chukchi sea, database, delaware, german research vessel, homes for walrus, ice floes, infrared backscatter, lidar, map, marine mammal, metric data, parallax, pixel resolution, polar bear cub, polar bears, polarstern, rohith kumar, russia, satellites, scott sorensen, sea ice thickness, stereo pair, surface topography, triangulation, university, vims, visual texture, walrus habitat, walrus weight

UD camera system records sea ice, identifies ideal walrus habitats

About the video: A University of Delaware research team led by Chandra Kambhamettu has developed a novel camera system to map the surface topography of Arctic sea ice, identifying the best “homes” for walrus.

Walrus use sea ice as a reproductive, migration and resting habitat. However, as sea ice melts and recedes, this marine mammal increasingly is threatened. (more…)

Exploding Star Missing From Formation of Solar System

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012ScienceChicago, cosmic cloud, decay, energetic atom, exploding star, formation, gas, haolan tang, iron 60, meteorite, NASA, nicolas dauphas, notion, radioactive isotope, solar system, solar system material, spitzer space telescope, stellar explosion, supernova, time, university

A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system.

In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed. (more…)

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