Who are you? People Yearn for Positive Perception about Themselves
ANN ARBOR, Mich.—People care about how others view them and will go to great lengths to repair negative perceptions, a new University of Michigan study found. (more…)
Author Archives: Guest Post
‘People-Centric’ Windows Phone 7.5 Update Released
*A look at the latest release of Windows Phone, previously code-named “Mango,” with Windows Phone Division president Andy Lees.*
REDMOND, Wash. – Sept. 27, 2011 – Beginning this morning, Windows Phones around the world will start to “ding” with important news: Windows Phone 7.5 is starting to roll out.
The first major release since Windows Phone 7 launched less than a year ago, the 7.5 release offers hundreds of new features and experiences designed to build on the phone’s intuitive, “people-first” foundation – multitasking, more integrated apps, primo mobile Web browsing, and powerful and personalized tools, like integrated social networking and conversation threads, for connecting with the people in our lives. (more…)
Breaking Down Plastics: New Standard Specification may Facilitate Use of Additives that Trigger Biodegradation of Oil-Based Plastics in Landfills
Despite efforts to encourage the recycling of plastic water bottles, milk jugs and similar containers, a majority of the plastic packaging produced each year in the United States ends up in landfills, where it can take thousands of years to degrade. To address that problem with traditional polyethylene, polypropylene, Styrofoam and PET products, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are working with the Plastics Environmental Council (PEC) to expand the use of chemical additives that cause such items to biodegrade in landfills. (more…)
UMD Study Finds Facebook Applications Create More Than 182,000 New U.S. Jobs Worth $12.19B+
College Park, Md. – While the U.S. jobs picture may be bleak, the proliferation of Facebook and mobile technology applications has spawned an entirely new industry dubbed the “App Economy” – that has added at least 182,000 new jobs and contributed more than $12.19 billion in wages and benefits to the U.S. economy this year, according to new research from the University of Maryland’s Robert H. Smith School of Business. Using more aggressive estimates, the Facebook App Economy created a total of 235,644 jobs, adding a value of $15.71 billion to the economy. (more…)
Exhibit: She Was an Archaeologist, Arabist, Diplomat and Spy
Gertrude Bell, a colleague of T.E. Lawrence (a.k.a. Lawrence of Arabia) and the diplomat who drew the borders of modern-day Iraq, is the focus of a new exhibition opening Monday, Sept. 26, in the Gallery at the Whitney, located within the Whitney Humanities Center, 53 Wall St.
The exhibit, titled “Gertrude Bell in Mesopotamia: Archaeologist, Arabist, Diplomat, Spy,” will be on view through Dec. 16. (more…)
Over the Hump: Ecologists Use Power of Network Science to Challenge Long-Held Theory
*Global sampling of 48 sites on five continents yields unprecedented data set*
For decades, ecologists have toiled to nail down principles explaining why some habitats have many more plant and animal species than others.
Much of this debate is focused on the idea that the number of species is determined by the productivity of the habitat.
Shouldn’t a patch of prairie contain a different number of species than an arid steppe or an alpine tundra? (more…)
Primitive Birds Shared Dinosaurs’ Fate
A new study puts an end to the longstanding debate about how archaic birds went extinct, suggesting they were virtually wiped out by the same meteorite impact that put an end to dinosaurs 65 million years ago.
For decades, scientists have debated whether birds from the Cretaceous period — which are very different from today’s modern bird species — died out slowly or were killed suddenly by the Chicxulub meteorite. The uncertainty was due in part to the fact that very few fossil birds from the end of this era have been discovered. (more…)
Aquarius Yields NASA’s First Global Map of Ocean Salinity
PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s new Aquarius instrument has produced its first global map of the salinity of the ocean surface, providing an early glimpse of the mission’s anticipated discoveries. (more…)