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Diamond Imperfections Pave the Way to Technology Gold

Berkeley Study Provides Unprecedented Details on Ultrafast Processes in Diamond Nitrogen Vacancy Centers

From supersensitive detections of magnetic fields to quantum information processing, the key to a number of highly promising advanced technologies may lie in one of the most common defects in diamonds. Researchers at the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have taken an important step towards unlocking this key with the first ever detailed look at critical ultrafast processes in these diamond defects. (more…)

Carbon hotspots: Rivers and streams leak more CO2 than thought

Environment

The amount of carbon dioxide escaping from rivers and streams into the atmosphere is much larger than previously thought, according to a new study that maps for the first time the flux of CO₂ from inland waters worldwide. Published in the journal Nature, the research reveals the major role these waterways play in the global carbon cycle, the authors said.

“This study solidifies the significance of inland waters as conduits of exchange and provides a framework for inclusion of this exchange in regional and global studies,” said lead author Peter A. Raymond, a professor of ecosystem ecology at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). “Understanding how ecosystems exchange carbon is important, as they currently offset a significant percentage of emissions caused by human activity.” (more…)

Society for Neuroscience 2013: How sleep aids visual task learning

Health, Science

At the Society for Neuroscience annual meeting in San Diego Nov. 10, 2013, Brown University scientists presented research showing what happens in the brain during sleep to lock in learning of a visually oriented “Where’s Waldo”-like task.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — As any indignant teacher would scold, students must be awake to learn. But what science is showing with increasing sophistication is how the brain uses sleep for learning as well. At the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in San Diego Nov. 10, 2013, Brown University researchers discussed new research describing the neural mechanism by which the sleeping brain locks in learning of a visual task. (more…)

Leonardo DiCaprio spendet drei Millionen US-Dollar für WWF Tigerschutz

Nature

WWF wird Tigerschutz in Nepal massiv ausbauen

Zum dritten Jahrestag des historischen Tiger-Gipfels in St. Petersburg spendet der Hollywood-Star Leonardo DiCaprio über seine Stiftung drei Millionen US-Dollar an den WWF. Ziel ist es, mit dem Geld die Zahl der wild lebenden Tiger in Nepal zu verdoppeln. DiCaprio unterstützt so die Arbeit des WWF mit der nepalesischen Regierung und der Bevölkerung im Terai-Gebiet. Jetzt können der Schutz der Kerngebiete, in denen die Tiger leben, verbessert und Patrouillen gegen Wilderei verstärkt werden. Außerdem sollen die Wanderkorridore für die Tiere zwischen den Gebieten ausgebaut und die Tigerpopulationen besser überwacht werden. (more…)

comScore MMX Ranks Top 50 U.S. Desktop Web Properties for October 2013

Technology

Halloween and October Festivities See Six Retail Subcategories in the Top 10
Political News Sites Continue Growth as Americans Keep Tabs on Government Shutdown

RESTON, VA, November 22, 2013 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released its monthly ranking of U.S. desktop web activity at the top online properties for October 2013 based on data from the comScore MMX service. Several retail subcategories were among the top-gaining in October as Halloween and other festivities took place. Americans also frequented Political News sites as major stories such as the U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling deadline made headlines. (more…)

IBM Study Finds More Than Half of Midmarket Companies Lack an Integrated Digital Strategy

Technology

Small and Midsize Businesses Outperform Competitors By Fusing the Physical with Big Data, Mobile and the Cloud

ARMONK, N.Y – 21 Nov 2013: An IBM global study of C-Suite leaders uncovers a surprising fact about small and midsize companies: they may not be as digitally savvy as they’d like.

The survey’s top findings include:

More than half of midmarket companies lack an integrated digital strategy.
65% of the midmarket C-Suite business executives recognized that the lack of a cohesive social media plan is the biggest barrier to doing more in the digital space.
More than half of respondents also cite the need to better understand how social media fits with other operational priorities, and how to measure its return on investment. (more…)

London calling

Culture

UD professor spends semester as London artist-in-residence

It was poring through archives of the Zoological Society of London that gave Virginia Bradley the idea.

She asked officials of the society, dedicated to animal conservation and research, if she could be their artist-in-residence. They accepted, and this year the UD professor of art became their first. (more…)

‘Memories of Buenos Aires,’ Edited by Max Page, Maps the Terror of Argentina’s ‘Dirty War’

Politics

AMHERST, Mass. – Throughout Central and South America, there remains the palpable awareness of the decades-long “Dirty War,” in which the military and oligarchy joined forces in brutal and relentless repression of democratic institutions, and many tens of thousands people were simply marked for disappearance. That war has retained its own emotional and physical topography in the region, especially in Argentina, where as many as 30,000 citizens were killed after the generals seized power in 1976.

Now, Max Page, professor of architecture and history at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, has edited a new book that explores that topography and serves as an interpretive guide to the terror in Argentina, invoking the memory of the disappeared, the desaparecidos, in the memorials and hidden places of torture that mark the capital. (more…)