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Virtual Workout Partners Spur Better Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Can’t find anyone to exercise with? Don’t despair: New research from Michigan State University reveals working out with a virtual partner improves motivation during exercise.

The study led by Deborah Feltz, chairperson of MSU’s Department of Kinesiology, is the first to investigate the Kohler effect on motivation in health video games; that phenomenon explains why inferior team members perform better in a group than they would by themselves. (more…)

Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

Culture, Economy

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)

Researchers Discover Way to ‘Amp Up’ Power of Killer T Cells in Immune System

Health

Researchers at UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have discovered a way to “amp up” the power of killer T cells known as CD8 cells in the immune system, making them more functional for longer periods of time and boosting their ability to multiply and expand within the body to fight melanoma. (more…)

MU Archeologist Finds Oldest 3-D Statue In Western Hemisphere

Culture, Science

Statue at temple in Peru helps us understand ancient culture, myths

COLUMBIA, Mo. – A University of Missouri archeologist has found a 4,000-year-old statue in Peru that gives new insight into an ancient agricultural society. (more…)

Women, Minority Writers Still Face Obstacles in Hollywood

Culture, Entertainment, Media

A new report prepared by a UCLA sociology professor for the Writers Guild of America–West reveals that diverse writers continue to face significant obstacles to employment in Hollywood, particularly in light of the recession.

Darnell Hunt, who is also director of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, writes that “the current recession has clearly done little to help women, minority and older writers move ahead in the Hollywood industry, relative to their male, white and younger counterparts.” (more…)

After Japan Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: How Much Radioactivity in the Oceans?

Environment

National Science Foundation awards rapid-response grants to establish ocean radionuclide levels from Fukushima

Among the casualties of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan was the country’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (more…)

Kartchner Caverns: A Living Microbe Laboratory

Science

In the first extensive genetic survey of microbes living in Kartchner Caverns, UA doctoral candidate Marian Ortiz has shown that some of the cave-dwelling microbes may have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties

In a hole in the ground, there lives a microbe. Actually, there live several microbes. What are they and how do they survive in conditions practically devoid of resources or other forms of life? (more…)

NASA Telescope Helps Confirm Nature of Dark Energy

Science

PASADENA, Calif. — A five-year survey of 200,000 galaxies, stretching back seven billion years in cosmic time, has led to one of the best independent confirmations that dark energy is driving our universe apart at accelerating speeds. The survey used data from NASA’s space-based Galaxy Evolution Explorer and the Anglo-Australian Telescope on Siding Spring Mountain in Australia.

The findings offer new support for the favored theory of how dark energy works — as a constant force, uniformly affecting the universe and propelling its runaway expansion. They contradict an alternate theory, where gravity, not dark energy, is the force pushing space apart. According to this alternate theory, with which the new survey results are not consistent, Albert Einstein’s concept of gravity is wrong, and gravity becomes repulsive instead of attractive when acting at great distances. (more…)