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European Engagement on Entertainment Sites Grows 10 Percent in the Past Year

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2011TechnologyComscore, dailymotion, european markets, Facebook, france, german prosiebensat1, Germany, Google, internet usage in europe, italy, Microsoft, poland, russian federation, russian social network, spain, top european web property, turkey, united kingdom, vevo, vkontakte, YouTube

*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for August 2011*

LONDON, UK, 11 October 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 372.1 million unique visitors went online in August 2011 for an average of 25.4 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated under the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Among the reportable markets, the United Kingdom showed the highest engagement with users spending an average of nearly 35 hours online in the past month, up 1.5 hours from the previous month. (more…)

IBM STUDY: Digital Era Transforming CMO’s Agenda, Revealing Gap In Readiness

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2011Technologyblogs, carolyn heller baird, cfos, chief financial officers, chief marketing officers, cmos, Facebook, four ps, global markets, ibm, ibm institute for business value, ibm study, key market forces, marketing organizations, markets and technology, nature of customer relationships, place, price, products, promotion, return on investment, roi, social media, social platforms, top marketing executives, Twitter, YouTube

*Most chief marketers admit they are not sufficiently plugged into real-time conversations about their brands*
*CMOs struggling to prove the return on marketing investments*

ARMONK, N.Y. – 11 Oct 2011: A new IBM study of more than 1,700 chief marketing officers from 64 countries and 19 industries reveals that the majority of the world’s top marketing executives recognize a critical and permanent shift occurring in the way they engage with their customers, but question whether their marketing organizations are prepared to manage the change.

At the same time, the research shows that the measures used to evaluate marketing are changing. Nearly two-thirds of CMOs think return on marketing investment will be the primary measure of the marketing function’s effectiveness by 2015. But even among the most successful enterprises, half of all CMOs feel insufficiently prepared to provide hard numbers. (more…)

Smarter Toxins Help Crops Fight Resistant Pests

By Guest PostOctober 11, 2011Scienceb rogers leonard, bacillus thuringiensis, bacterium, beneficial insects, bruce tabashnik, bt, bt cotton, bt toxins, cadherin, cadherin mutations, caterpillars, change in molecular structure, crop protecting proteins, david heckel, fangneng huang, genetic engineering, Germany, jena, lady bugs, manduca sexta, max planck institute for chemical ecology, mukti ghimire, pectinophora gossypiella, pests, pink bollworm, rna interference, tobacco hornworm

*A slight change in molecular structure introduced by genetic engineering gives crop-protecting proteins called Bt toxins a new edge in overcoming resistance of certain pests, a UA-led team of researchers reports in Nature Biotechnology.*

One of the most successful strategies in pest control is to endow crop plants with genes from the bacterium Bacillus thuringiensis, or Bt for short, which code for proteins that kill pests attempting to eat them.

But insect pests are evolving resistance to Bt toxins, which threatens the continued success of this approach. In the current issue of Nature Biotechnology, a research team led by UA Professor Bruce Tabashnik reports the discovery that a small modification of the toxins’ structure overcomes the defenses of some major pests that are resistant to the natural, unmodified Bt toxins. (more…)

Smartphones and Tablets Drive Nearly 7 Percent of Total U.S. Digital Traffic

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2011Technologyandroid os, android platform, apple ios audience, Comscore, connected devices, digital omnivores, ipads, iphones, mark donovan, mobile, mobile media user, pandora, publisher, smartphones, tablets, us digital media consumption habits, wifi

*iOS Accounts for Largest Share of U.S. Smartphone and Tablet Devices while Driving the Majority of Non-Computer Traffic*

*comScore Releases Report, “Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits”*

RESTON, VA, October 10, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released the report Digital Omnivores: How Tablets, Smartphones and Connected Devices are Changing U.S. Digital Media Consumption Habits. The report analyzes how cross-platform consumption has created a vastly different landscape as consumers utilize a growing number of devices to consume digital content. The report also analyzes the impact these shifting consumption habits have on online visitation and engagement across the Internet. To download a complimentary copy of the report, Digital Omnivores, please visit: https://www.comScore.com/DigitalOmnivores. (more…)

Chagas Disease May Be A Threat in South Texas, Says Researcher

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2011Health, Sciencebugs, chagas disease, chagas disease in texas, chagas infections, disease, heart and digestive disorders, insects, kissing bugs, latin america, Mexico, multi layered attack, philip williamson, protozoa, sahotra sarkar, south america, south texas, texas, triatomine bugs, tropical parasitic disease, trypanosoma cruzi, university of texas at austin

AUSTIN, Texas — Chagas disease, a tropical parasitic disease that can lead to life-threatening heart and digestive disorders, may be more widespread in Texas than previously thought, according to research from The University of Texas at Austin.

“We’ve been studying this for four years now, and this year the number of disease-causing insects is quite amazing,” says Sahotra Sarkar, professor of integrative biology and philosophy at The University of Texas at Austin and lead author of a paper on the disease published in PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. (more…)

Is Chivalry the Norm for Insects?

By Guest PostOctober 10, 2011Nature, Scienceaggressive behaviour, chivalrous, current biology, digital video technology, dna fingerprinting, fertilise, gryllus campestris crickets, infra red video footage, leverhulme trust, northern spain, rolando rodríguez muñozof, tom tregenza, university of exeter, why insects stick together after mating, wild field crickets

The long-standing consensus of why insects stick together after mating has been turned on its head by scientists from the University of Exeter.

Published in Current Biology, their study shows that, contrary to previous thinking, females benefit from this arrangement just as much as males.

Instead of dominating their female partners through bullying and aggressive behaviour, males were revealed to be protective, even laying their lives on the line when their mates faced danger.

Previously, scientists assumed that male insects stay close to females after mating to stop them from taking other partners. Female insects have multiple mates and the last mate is most likely to fertilise her eggs. Therefore, by preventing females from taking other mates a male is most likely to father her offspring. (more…)

Charles P. Sonett: the Legacy of a Pioneering Space Scientist

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2011Scienceapollo program, interplanetary space, shock waves, space scientist, spacecraft missions

Charles P. Sonett, the first head of the UA’s department of planetary sciences, died at the age of 87. Sonett was involved in spacecraft missions that dramatically advanced our understanding of the solar system and beyond, including the Pioneer Program, the Explorer Program and the Apollo Program

Charles “Chuck” P. Sonett, a founding faculty member and the first department head of the University of Arizona’s department of planetary sciences, died on Sept. 30. He was 87. (more…)

Rising Carbon Dioxide Levels at End of Last Ice Age Not Tied to Pacific Ocean, As Had Been Suspected

By Guest PostOctober 9, 2011Environmentalan mix, carbon dioxide, co2 levels, coast of southwestern oregon, continental ice sheets, david lund, deep ocean, glacial times, heat trapping greenhouse gas, irvine, john southon, last ice age, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide, microscopic shells, oregon state university, paleoclimatologist, plankton, radiocarbon dating, reservoir of carbon during glacial times, sediment core, university of california, university of michigan, ventilation rate

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— After the last ice age peaked about 18,000 years ago, levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide rose about 30 percent. Scientists believe that the additional carbon dioxide—a heat-trapping greenhouse gas—played a key role in warming the planet and melting the continental ice sheets. They have long hypothesized that the source of the gas was the deep ocean.

But a new study by a University of Michigan paleoclimatologist and two colleagues suggests that the deep ocean was not an important source of carbon during glacial times. The finding will force researchers to reassess their ideas about the fundamental mechanisms that regulate atmospheric carbon dioxide over long time scales. (more…)

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