Berkeley – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

A Closer Look at the Perfect Fluid

By Guest PostJanuary 1, 2015ScienceBerkeley, big bang, density, elementary particles, hira peracha, mps, mps disorders, mucopolysaccharidosis, quark gluon plasma, quarks, ratio, shunji tomatsu, viscosity

Researchers at Berkeley Lab and their collaborators have honed a way to probe the quark-gluon plasma, the kind of matter that dominated the universe immediately after the big bang.

By combining data from two high-energy accelerators, nuclear scientists have refined the measurement of a remarkable property of exotic matter known as quark-gluon plasma. The findings reveal new aspects of the ultra-hot, “perfect fluid” that give clues to the state of the young universe just microseconds after the big bang. (more…)

Obesity-Related Gut Bacteria Higher in People in Northern Climes

By Guest PostFebruary 19, 2014Healthbacteroidetes, Berkeley, evolutionary biology, firmicutes, geographic regions, gut bacteria, healthy microbiota, human gut, michael worobey, northern climes, obesity linked bacteria, obesity related, people, taichi suzuki, university of arizona, university of california

People living in northern latitudes have more gut bacteria linked to obesity compared with people living in southern latitudes, a new study has found.

People living in cold, northern latitudes have bacteria in their guts that may predispose them to obesity, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Arizona and the University of California, Berkeley. (more…)

Puzzling Question in Bacterial Immune System Answered

By Guest PostFebruary 6, 2014Sciencebacterial enzyme, bacterial immune system, bacterial microbes face, Berkeley, berkeley lab, cas9, cas9 enzyme, crispr associated, crrna molecule, eric greene, genomic dna, jennifer doudna, martin jinek, nucleic acid, pam, pam sequences, plasmids, protospacer adjacent motif, puzzling question, rna, samuel sternberg, short dna sequence, sy redding, synthetic biology, uc, university of california

Berkeley Researchers Uncover the Key to Self-Awareness in Genome Editor

A central question has been answered regarding a protein that plays an essential role in the bacterial immune system and is fast becoming a valuable tool for genetic engineering. A team of researchers with the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California (UC) Berkeley have determined how the bacterial enzyme known as Cas9, guided by RNA, is able to identify and degrade foreign DNA during viral infections, as well as induce site-specific genetic changes in animal and plant cells. Through a combination of single-molecule imaging and bulk biochemical experiments, the research team has shown that the genome-editing ability of Cas9 is made possible by the presence of short DNA sequences known as “PAM,” for protospacer adjacent motif. (more…)

Cool heads likely won’t prevail in a hotter, wetter world

By Guest PostAugust 21, 2013Environmentarchaeology, australia, Berkeley, brazil, China, climate, cool heads, crime, criminology, critical factors, domestic violence, Economics, ethnic minority, ethnic violence, Europe, hotter, human conflict, human history, India, land invasions, marshall burke, middle ages europe, Netherlands, personal violence, point of violence, precipitation, princeton university, psychology, solomon hsiang, somalia, south asia, Tanzania, temperature, united states, university of california, wetter world

Should climate change trigger the upsurge in heat and rainfall that scientists predict, people may face a threat just as perilous and volatile as extreme weather — each other.

Researchers from Princeton University and the University of California-Berkeley report in the journal Science that even slight spikes in temperature and precipitation have greatly increased the risk of personal violence and social upheaval throughout human history. Projected onto an Earth that is expected to warm by 2 degrees Celsius by 2050, the authors suggest that more human conflict is a likely outcome of climate change. (more…)

More women pick computer science if media nix outdated ‘nerd’ stereotype

By Guest PostJuly 13, 2013TechnologyBerkeley, big bang theory, caitlin handron, cbs, computer science, lauren hudson, Media, nerd stereotype, psychologist, sapna cheryan, sex roles, stem careers, stereotypical characteristic, university of california, university of washington, victoria plaut, women, world of warcraft

Parents and teachers like to tell children they can be whatever they want to be when they grow up. But are there inaccurate stereotypes in the media that nudge them away from certain careers?

University of Washington psychologist Sapna Cheryan wanted to know if gendered stereotypes had any effect on young women’s interest in becoming computer scientists. Specifically, she and colleagues studied whether the stereotypical view of the geeky male nerd so often portrayed in the media, most recently in CBS’s “The Big Bang Theory,” discouraged women from pursuing computer science degrees. (more…)

Using IBM’s Crowdsourced Supercomputer, Harvard Rates Solar Energy Potential of 2.3 Million New Compounds

By Guest PostJune 24, 2013Technologyaids, alan aspuru guzik, america, basic materials data, Berkeley, boinc, bright idea, cancer, carbon compounds, cepdb database, clean energy project, crowdsourced supercomputer, cyrus wadia, diseases, harvard, harvard rates, ibm, linux computer, mac, malaria, mgi, new york university, organic, organic semiconductors, plastic bags, rare earth elements, solar cells, solar energy materials, solar energy potential, sunlight into electricity, university of california, viktors berstis, White House, windows, world community grid

White House Applauds Citizen Science, Big Data Initiative

CAMBRIDGE, MA – 24 Jun 2013: The search for more versatile and less expensive materials for solar energy received a boost today as Harvard launched a free database that catalogues the suitability of 2.3 million organic, carbon compounds for converting sunlight into electricity.

Harvard’s Clean Energy project — which screened the molecules using World Community Grid, an IBM-managed virtual supercomputer that harnesses the surplus computer power donated by volunteers — is believed to be the most extensive investigation of quantum chemicals ever performed. (more…)

UA Grows Gourmet Mushrooms That Recycle Waste

By Guest PostJune 15, 2013Sciencebarry pryor, Berkeley, blue oyster, cancer, carbon dioxide, CO2, commercial mushroom grower, dementia, gourmet mushrooms, kingdom fungi, lauren jackson, maitakes, man, molds, mushroom based, mushrooms, mycologist, oysters, parker evans, pink oyster mushrooms, pizza boxes, recycle waste, recycling program, regeneration of soil, shitakes, start up company, substrate, tumors, university of arizona

UA plant scientists are growing gourmet mushrooms on coffee grounds, landscape waste, even pizza boxes – and reducing that waste to compost.

The University of Arizona class is called “Mushrooms, Molds and Man.” Intrigued, undergraduate Lauren Jackson decided to learn about “Kingdom Fungi” and its impact on the world.

He was hooked in a heartbeat. Barely into the course, “I just raised my hand and asked about research opportunities.” That week he started working in the lab with UA mycologist Barry Pryor. (more…)

Mathematics of Popping Bubbles in a Foam

By Guest PostJune 5, 2013Sciencealgorithms, beer, Berkeley, berkeley lab, bicycle helmets, bubble cluster, cappuccino, cell clusters, evolution, foam, industrial processes, james a sethian, liquids mix, mathematics, metal, mixing of foams, nersc, new materials, partial differential equations, plastic foams, popping bubbles, robert i saye, small scale, soapy dishwater, surface dynamics, university of california, wobbly foams

Bubble baths and soapy dishwater, the refreshing head on a beer and the luscious froth on a cappuccino. All are foams, beautiful yet ephemeral as the bubbles pop one by one. Now, two researchers from the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) and the University of California, Berkeley have described mathematically the successive stages in the complex evolution and disappearance of foamy bubbles, a feat that could help in modeling industrial processes in which liquids mix or in the formation of solid foams such as those used to cushion bicycle helmets. (more…)

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