Author Archives: Guest Post

Startup Success

T3D goes beyond Hen Hatch, places among top collegiate startups worldwide

T3D Nanotech, LLC, a high technology startup company spun off from patent pending nanotech research at the University of Delaware, was recently awarded $1,000 in UD’s Hen Hatch competition. But that award was preceded by another honor: selection to participate in the 2012 Rice Business Plan Competition (RBPC).

As the world’s largest and richest business plan competition, the RBPC supports the creation of new startup companies and brings together business and engineering students from the world’s top educational institutions with successful venture capital investors, entrepreneurs and business leaders.

Out of a pool of 1,600 applicants, T3D gained entry to the top 2.6 percent of just 42 teams invited to compete for more than $1.5 million in prizes. (more…)

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UCLA Scientists Unlock Mystery of How ‘Handedness’ Arises

The overwhelming majority of proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking molecular characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, like your right hand and left hand. Surprisingly, each of our bodies prefers only one of these molecular forms. (more…)

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Ecosystem Effects of Biodiversity Loss Could Rival Impacts of Climate Change, Pollution

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Loss of biodiversity appears to impact ecosystems as much as climate change, pollution and other major forms of environmental stress, according to a new study from an international research team.

The study is the first comprehensive effort to directly compare the impacts of biological diversity loss to the anticipated effects of a host of other human-caused environmental changes.

The results highlight the need for stronger local, national and international efforts to protect biodiversity and the benefits it provides, according to the researchers, who are based at nine institutions in the United States, Canada and Sweden. (more…)

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ABC’s Revenge, Lexus and Yahoo!’s IntoNow Team Up to Reward Fans Watching the Remaining Two Thrilling Episodes of the Season

For The First Time Primetime Show Fans Can Win A Sweepstakes Getaway Via Innovative Second Screen Experience

SUNNYVALE, Calif. & NEW YORK — ABC’s Revenge and Yahoo! announced a new way to engage fans during live viewing of the hit series using IntoNow from Yahoo! — audiences will have an opportunity to enter to win a one-week getaway, coinciding with the July 4th weekend, at an oceanfront house in the Hamptons, Grayson-style, presented by Lexus.

With over 80 percent of tablet owners using their devices while watching TV, ABC and Yahoo! are teaming up for an industry-first, interactive experience during the last two episodes of this season’s hottest primetime show airing on WEDNESDAY, MAY 16 and WEDNESDAY, MAY 23 ( 10:00-11:00 p.m., ET.) Viewers will have the chance to engage with the show in new and compelling formats and be rewarded in the process. (more…)

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Brighter, Smaller Probes to Uncover the Secret Lives of Proteins

Berkeley Lab scientists create nanoparticle probes that may lead to a better understanding of diseases

Imagine tracking a deer through a forest by clipping a radio transmitter to its ear and monitoring the deer’s location remotely. Now imagine that transmitter is the size of a house, and you understand the problem researchers may encounter when they try to use nanoparticles to track proteins in live cells.

Understanding how a protein moves around a cell helps researchers understand the protein’s function and the cellular mechanisms for making and processing proteins. This information also helps researchers study disease, which at a cellular level may mean that a protein is malfunctioning, stops being made, or is sent to the wrong part of the cell. But nanoparticle probes that are too big can disrupt a protein’s normal activities. (more…)

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Scientists Measure Communication between Stem Cell-Derived Motor Neurons, Muscle Cells

In an effort to identify the underlying causes of neurological disorders that impair motor functions such as walking and breathing, UCLA researchers have developed a novel system to measure communication between stem cell–derived motor neurons and muscle cells in a Petri dish.

The study provides an important proof of principle that functional motor circuits can be created outside the body using these neurons and cells and that the level of communication, or synaptic activity, between them can be accurately measured by stimulating the motor neurons with an electrode and then tracking the transfer of electrical activity into the muscle cells to which the neurons are connected. (more…)

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comScore Reports $44.3 Billion in Q1 2012 U.S. Retail E-Commerce Spending, Up 17 Percent vs. Year Ago

comScore Chairman Gian Fulgoni to Present Update on Q1 2012 E-Commerce Trends in Upcoming Webinar

RESTON, VA, May 9, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its Q1 2012 U.S. retail e-commerce sales estimates, showing that online retail spending reached $44.3 billion for the quarter, up 17 percent versus year ago. This represents the tenth consecutive quarter of positive year-over-year growth and sixth consecutive quarter of double-digit growth. (more…)

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UA Studies Social Dynamics in Post-Katrina New Orleans

Gifting during Mardi Gras in New Orleans fostered social cohesion, researchers found in a study.

In the immediate aftermath of a natural disaster, the focus is on physical repair and reestablishment of the market economy.

“But the moral economy – the relationships between people – also needs repair. In the case of Hurricane Katrina, residents’ sense of New Orleans as a connected community was damaged,” said Soldwedel Professor of Marketing Melanie Wallendorf of the University of Arizona Eller College of Management. (more…)

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