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NASA: Climate Change May Bring Big Ecosystem Changes

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Environmentclimate change, climate model projections, ecosystem changes, melting glaciers, model projections

PASADENA, Calif. – By 2100, global climate change will modify plant communities covering almost half of Earth’s land surface and will drive the conversion of nearly 40 percent of land-based ecosystems from one major ecological community type – such as forest, grassland or tundra – toward another, according to a new NASA and university computer modeling study. (more…)

Computer Science Could Shed New Light on Dark Poem

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Technologycomputational stylistics, dark poem, literary stylistic analysis, the digital text, vocal patterns

Literary stylistic analysis gets boost from technology

Unique research that brings technology to bear on T.S. Eliot’s famous poem, The Waste Land, promises to reveal insights that human readers may not find on their own and undergraduates are part of the project. (more…)

Diamonds and Dust for Better Cement

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2011Scienceadvanced light source, als, atomic scale structure, baking limestone, basic materials, beam of x rays, bulk modulus, c s h, calcium carbonate, calcium ions, calcium silicate hydrate, calipso, carbon dioxide, clay, clinker, CO2 emissions, diamonds, diffraction patterns, durability of concrete, human activity, hydrostatic pressure, mineral tobermorite, models, nanoscale, paulo monteiro, performance of cement, portland cement, practical alternatives, pressure, quaint village, scottish isle of mull, silicates, simon clark, southern california, stiffness, structure, surface of earth, university of california at berkeley, versatile concrete, water molecules

Structural studies at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source could point to reduced carbon emissions and stronger cements

It’s no surprise that humans the world over use more water, by volume, than any other material. But in second place, at over 17 billion tons consumed each year, comes concrete made with Portland cement. Portland cement provides the essential binder for strong, versatile concrete; its basic materials are found in many places around the globe; and, at about $100 a ton, it’s relatively cheap. Making it, however, releases massive amounts of carbon dioxide, accounting for more than five percent of the total CO₂ emissions from human activity.

“Portland cement is the most important building material in the world,” says Paulo Monteiro, a professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California at Berkeley, “but if we are going to find ways to use it more efficiently – or just as important, search for practical alternatives – we need a full understanding of its structure on the nanoscale.” To this end Monteiro has teamed with researchers at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Advanced Light Source (ALS) at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. (more…)

Understanding How Cancer Spreads: Nanotech Single-Cell Monitoring Technique Could Give Insights

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Healthcancer metastasis, cancerous tumor, circulating tumor cells, genetic code, how cancer spreads, magnetic nanoparticles, personalized cancer treatment, single cancer cell

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— A technique that lets researchers monitor single cancer cells in real time as they float in liquid could help doctors study the breakaway tumor cells that cause metastasis. Metastasis is the process of the disease spreading through the body. (more…)

Yale Engineers Making Solar Power More Efficient

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Environment, Scienceandre d taylor, applied physicists, arrays, chinedum o osuji, clean energy technology, electricity, energy, engineers, flow of electrons, fraction of light, hybrid organic inorganic pv devices, lisa d pfefferle, magnetic fields, photovoltaic systems, photovoltaics, polymer coated nanowires, pv, pv systems, sohrab ismail beigi, solar cell, solar power technology, yale university

Innovations by a team of Yale University researchers could lead to improvements in basic solar power technology that result in lower-cost, higher-efficiency photovoltaic systems.

Photovoltaics (PV) directly convert sunlight into electricity. PV systems can be arrayed on rooftops to generate electricity for entire buildings, among other uses. Less expensive, more efficient systems could encourage broader use of this clean energy technology. (more…)

NASA Mars-Bound Rover Begins Research in Space

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Scienceaeroshell, astronauts, atomic and subatomic particles, boulder, cape canaveral, christian albrechts university, curiosity rover, distant supernovas, don hassler, doug mccuistion, earth, energetic particle radiation, gale crater, Germany, human missions, kiel, mars, mars science laboratory, microbes, monitoring, NASA, rad, radiation assessment detector, red planet, signs of life on mars, sources, southwest research institute, Space, space radiation, spacecraft, sun, surface of mars, trajectory

PASADENA, Calif. — NASA’s car-sized Curiosity rover has begun monitoring space radiation during its 8-month trip from Earth to Mars. The research will aid in planning for future human missions to the Red Planet.

Curiosity launched on Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., aboard the Mars Science Laboratory. The rover carries an instrument called the Radiation Assessment Detector (RAD) that monitors high-energy atomic and subatomic particles from the sun, distant supernovas and other sources. (more…)

At Kartemquin Film Screening, ‘Interrupters’ Speak About Stopping Violence

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2011Culture, Generalalex kotlowitz, ceasefire, Chicago, conflict resolution, documentary, footsteps, gangs, gary slutkin, graduations, kartemquin films, prison, ricardo cobe williams, troubled past, uchicago t shirts, ulysses floyd, violence, violence interrupter, violent crimes, woodlawn

Ricardo “Cobe” Williams isn’t shy about admitting his troubled past.

“For most of my life, I was part of the problem,” Williams told a group of students in the Master of Arts Program in the Humanities (MAPH) last month.

But Williams, who spent a combined 13-and- a-half years in prison, has dedicated his life to preventing others from following in his footsteps. (more…)

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