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iPods in Classroom can Boost Academic Time and Resources for English Language Learners

AUSTIN, Texas — Providing English language learners (ELLs) with iPod Touches, or similar handheld devices, can increase learning time and motivation, according to a study from The University of Texas at Austin’s College of Education.

To find out how ELL students and teachers would use iPods and how they would feel about using the devices for educational purposes, Min Liu, a professor in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction, examined elementary, middle and high school classes in a Central Texas school district. She found the devices might be useful tools in closing the achievement gap between ELLs and their English-speaking peers. Qualitative and quantitative data gathered during the 2010-12 school years revealed that students enjoyed educational benefits from the devices’ mobility, flexibility, connectivity and multimedia capabilities.

College of Education graduate students Cesar Navarrete, Erin Maradiegue and Jennifer Wivagg assisted Liu in this study. (more…)

Researchers Share Surprising Discovery about Coral Reef Ecology

Environment, Nature

Researchers at the UH Manoa School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST) made a discovery that challenges a major theory in the field of coral reef ecology.

The general assumption has been that the more flexible corals are, regarding which species of single-celled algae (Symbiodinium) they host in coral tissues, the greater ability corals will have to survive environmental stress. In their paper published August 29, 2012, however, scientists at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology (HIMB) at SOEST and colleagues documented that the more flexible corals are, the more sensitive to environment disturbances they are. (more…)

Storm-chasing Spacecraft

Science

A U-led experiment flies on a NASA mission to Earth’s radiation belts

The story goes that when Earth’s Van Allen Radiation Belts were first discovered, scientists were so amazed by the intensity of radiation, they thought they’d stumbled onto a Soviet nuclear test. (more…)

Tigers Take the Night Shift to Coexist with People

Nature

EAST LANSING, Mich. – Tigers aren’t known for being accommodating, but a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences indicates that the carnivores in Nepal are taking the night shift to better coexist with humans.

The revelation that tigers and people are sharing exactly the same space – the same roads and trails – of Chitwan National Park flies in the face of long-held convictions in conservation circles. It also underscores how successful conservation efforts need sciences that takes into account both nature and humans.

“As our planet becomes more crowded, we need to find creative solutions that consider both human and natural systems,” said Jianguo “Jack” Liu, the director of the Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability at Michigan State University. “Sustainability can be achieved if we have a good understanding of the complicated connections between both worlds. We’ve found something very interesting is happening in Nepal that holds promise for both humans and nature to thrive.” (more…)

African-American Males Most Likely to Lose Academic Scholarships, MU Study Finds

Culture, Education, General

MU researcher recommends a “holistic” approach to student scholarship retention

COLUMBIA, Mo. — College student retention and low graduation rates are the most significant problems associated with state-provided financial aid. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that African-American males are the most likely to lose state lottery-funded scholarships with academic stipulations. Charles Menifield, a professor in the Truman School of Public Affairs at MU, found that more than 50 percent of African-American males lost state-funded scholarships over the course of a four-year academic career.

“Race turns out to be one of the best predictors of scholarship retention rates,” Menifield said. “This research strongly suggests that colleges and universities that desire to maintain diversity should at minimum target minority students, particularly African-American males, and determine how best to improve academic success.” (more…)

The Flying Swords of Dragon Gate

Entertainment

Synopsis

Three years after the disappearance of the enigmatic innkeeper Jade and the massive fire that consumed the Inn, a new Dragon Inn has risen from the ashes, staffed by a band of marauders. Masquerading as law-abiding citizens by day, they use the cover of night to continue their true calling as fortune hunters. (more…)

NASA, Texas Astronomers Find First Multi-Planet System Around a Binary Star

Science

FORT DAVIS, Texas — NASA’s Kepler mission has found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star, characterized in large part by University of Texas at Austin astronomers using two telescopes at the university’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas. The finding, which proves that whole planetary systems can form in a disk around a binary star, is published in today’s issue of the journal Science.

“It’s Tatooine, right?” said McDonald Observatory astronomer Michael Endl. “But this was not shown in Star Wars,” he said, referring to the periodic changes in the amount of daylight falling on a planet with two suns. Measurements of the star’s orbits showed that daylight on the planets would vary by a large margin over the 7.4-Earth-day period as the two stars completed their mutual orbits, each moving closer to, then farther from, the planets (which are themselves moving). (more…)

Researchers Develop New, Less Expensive Nanolithography Technique

Science

Researchers from North Carolina State University have developed a new nanolithography technique that is less expensive than other approaches and can be used to create technologies with biomedical applications.

“Among other things, this type of lithography can be used to manufacture chips for use in biological sensors that can identify target molecules, such as proteins or genetic material associated with specific medical conditions,” says Dr. Albena Ivanisevic, co-author of a paper describing the research. Ivanisevic is an associate professor of materials science and engineering at NC State and associate professor of the joint biomedical engineering program at NC State and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Nanolithography is a way of printing patterns at the nanoscale. (more…)