Author Archives: Guest Post

Got Up On The Wrong Side of the Bed? Your Work Will Show It

COLUMBUS, Ohio – A new study of telephone customer service representatives shows just how important it is for employees to start the workday in a good mood.

Researchers found that employees’ moods when they clocked in tended to affect how they felt the rest of the day. Early mood was linked to their perceptions of customers and to how they reacted to customers’ moods. (more…)

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Report Provides NASA with Direction for Next 10 Years of Space Research

*MU vice chancellor led committee that focused on fundamental physics research projects*

COLUMBIA, Mo. ­— During the past 60 years, humans have built rockets, walked on the moon and explored the outer reaches of space with probes and telescopes. During these trips in space, research has been conducted to learn more about life and space. Recently, a group of prominent researchers from across the country published a report through the National Academy of Sciences that is intended as a guide as NASA plans the next 10 years of research in space. Rob Duncan, the University of Missouri Vice Chancellor for Research, led the team that developed a blueprint for fundamental physics research in space for the next 10 years. (more…)

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comScore Releases March 2011 U.S. Online Video Rankings

*Google Sites Nears 2 Billion Content Viewing Sessions*

RESTON, VA, April 12, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released data from the comScore Video Metrix service showing that 174 million U.S. Internet users watched online video content in March for an average of 14.8 hours per viewer. The total U.S. Internet audience engaged in more than 5.7 billion viewing sessions during the course of the month. (more…)

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Actions and Personality, East and West

People in different cultures make different assumptions about the people around them, according to an upcoming study published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The researchers studied the brain waves of people with Caucasian and Asian backgrounds and found that cultural differences in how we think about other people are embedded deep in our minds. Cultural differences are evident very deep in the brain, challenging a commonsense notion that culture is skin deep. (more…)

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Imagine Cup Winner’s Vision Tool Could Help Millions

A project that helps students with low vision take notes wins the U.S. Imagine Cup’s preeminent software design category

REDMOND, Wash. – April 12, 2011 – When David Hayden’s team won the U.S. Imagine Cup’s prestigious category Monday, it was a victory for him as a student with low vision, and for all students with reduced vision across the world. (more…)

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Study Finds Public Relatively Unconcerned About Nanotechnology Risks

A new study finds that the general public thinks getting a suntan poses a greater public health risk than nanotechnology or other nanoparticle applications. The study, from North Carolina State University, compared survey respondents’ perceived risk of nanoparticles with 23 other public-health risks.

The study is the first to compare the public’s perception of the risks associated with nanoparticles to other environmental and health safety risks. Researchers found that nanoparticles are perceived as being a relatively low risk. (more…)

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Yellowstone’s Electrical Conductivity Hints Volcano Plume is Bigger Than Thought

WASHINGTON — Geophysicists have made the first large-scale picture of the electrical conductivity of the gigantic underground plume of hot and partly molten rock that feeds the Yellowstone supervolcano. The image suggests that the plume beneath the volcanically active area—renowned today for geysers and hot springs—is even bigger than it appears in earlier images made with earthquake waves. 

“It’s like comparing ultrasound and MRI in the human body; they are different imaging technologies,” says geophysics Professor Michael Zhdanov of the University of Utah in Salt Lake City. Zhdanov is  principal author of the new study and an expert on measuring magnetic and electrical fields on Earth’s surface to find oil, gas, minerals and geologic structures underground. (more…)

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