*UD art professor creates sculptures from baking flour, aluminum*
There’s a quality to David Meyer’s art that’s both conceptual and ephemeral, sort of like watching the clouds roll by.
You see with your mind, not your eyes. And even then, as with clouds, shapes move. Things change.
There’s art in distortion. (more…)
*Study implicates “arms race” between genes and germs*
Biologists have found new evidence of why mice, people and other vertebrate animals carry thousands of varieties of genes to make immune-system proteins named MHCs–even though some of those genes make vertebrate animals susceptible to infections and to autoimmune diseases.
“Major histocompatibility complex” (MHC) proteins are found on the surfaces of most cells in vertebrate animals. They distinguish proteins like themselves from foreign proteins, and trigger an immune response against these foreign invaders. (more…)
*Report Offers Insights on Key Trends from 2011 and What They Mean for the Coming Year*
RESTON, VA, February 9, 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the 2012 U.S. Digital 
Future in Focus report. This annual report examines how the prevailing trends in social media, search, online video, digital advertising, mobile and e-commerce are defining the current marketplace and what these trends mean for the year ahead.
“2012 promises to be an exciting year for the digital media industry as the explosion of available content and proliferation of web-enabled devices drive the evolution of the digital consumer, creating new opportunities and challenges for the entire digital ecosystem,” said Linda Abraham, comScore CMO and EVP of Global Product Development. “In order to be successful in this new paradigm, digital marketers must understand the key trends shaping the current marketplace and what that means for the future of their businesses.” (more…)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Immigrants to Maryland contribute significantly to the state’s economy, and were vital to its workforce expansion in both technical and less-skilled occupations from 2000 to 2010, concludes a new report by a Maryland commission. During this period, immigrants mostly complemented rather than competed with U.S.-born state residents for jobs, it adds.
The Commission to Study the Impact of Immigrants in Maryland, a state panel coordinated by the University of Maryland, evaluated the economic contributions of the state’s foreign-born and the cost of government services for them. It also studied the education experience of the children of immigrants, immigration law enforcement issues facing local communities, and the use of the federal E-Verify system to verify workers’ immigration status. (more…)
Researchers at Yale School of Medicine have, for the first time, described the genetic basis of endometriosis, a condition affecting millions of women that is marked by chronic pelvic pain and infertility. The researchers’ discovery of a new gene mutation provides hope for new screening methods. (more…)
What began as an assignment for an English course has now captured international attention. Senior Malcolm Burnley shares details about a little known piece of Brown history: a 1961 visit to campus by African American icon Malcolm X.
Brown senior Malcolm Burnley calls the experience “serendipitous.”
Enrolled in Elizabeth Taylor’s narrative writing course last semester, Burnley had an assignment: Write a historical narrative based on something that really happened. The students were instructed to use the University Archives at the John Hay Library. (more…)
The High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) camera on NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter recorded a scene on Jan. 29, 2012, that includes the first color image from orbit showing the three-petal lander of NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Spirit mission. Spirit drove off that lander platform in January 2004 and spent most of its six-year working life in a range of hills about two miles to the east.
Another recent image from HiRISE, taken on Jan. 26, 2012, shows NASA’s Phoenix Mars Lander and its surroundings on far-northern Mars after that spacecraft’s second Martian arctic winter. Phoenix exceeded its planned mission life in 2008, ending its work as solar energy waned during approach of its first Mars winter. (more…)
*Microsoft’s U.S.-based employees helped raise over US$100 million for thousands of nonprofits during the 2011 Microsoft Giving Campaign, the largest total in company history.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Microsoft employees raised a record-breaking US$100.5 million in 2011, topping last year’s total with donations to more than 18,000 community organizations across the United States and around the world.
Giving was up across the board in 2011—more employees participated, donating more time and money than ever before, which surprised some after 2010’s record year. (more…)
