*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for October 2011*
LONDON, UK, 9 December 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing 376.6 million unique visitors went online in October 2011 for an average of 27.8 hours per person. This study highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. The study also analysed the online behaviour of mothers, defined as females age 25 and older with children in the household, showing their heavy propensity to visit retail sites. (more…)
A U physicist will help determine if neutrinos can outrace light
Back in 2007, a physics experiment clocked elusive subatomic particles called neutrinos going faster than light.
That wasn’t supposed to happen. If the speed of light in a vacuum—denoted “c” by physicists—isn’t the universal speed limit, it would mean that Einstein put the wrong number in his famous E=mc2 equation.
University of Minnesota physicist Marvin Marshak was part of the experiment, called MINOS. It clocked beams of neutrinos shot from Fermilab, a national physics lab near Chicago, to a detector 457 miles away in the Soudan Underground Laboratory in northern Minnesota.(more…)
U of T leading centre for study of global Christianity
A century ago, 80 per cent of the world’s Christians lived in Europe and North America; today, nearly 70 per cent live in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, making Christianity a predominantly non-Western religion.
A critical mass of scholars who are looking into the implications of this shift has made the University of Toronto a leading centre for the study of global Christianity.
Christianity today has more than 2.2 billion adherents worldwide. The majority are overwhelmingly poor, displaced from rural villages into overcrowded cities in search of work, and adhere strictly to the word of Scripture, which can command their loyalty far more than state or society. (more…)
*Twitter and LinkedIn Mobile Audiences Doubled in Past Year*
LONDON, UK, 21 November 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of mobile social media usage across the five leading European markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom) from the comScore MobiLens service. The study showed that the audience for mobile social networking in the EU5 region grew 44 percent in the last year with 55.1 million mobile users in the EU5 accessing social networking sites or blogs via their mobile devices during September 2011. (more…)
One in 10 species could face extinction by the year 2100 if current climate change impacts continue.
This is the result of University of Exeter research, examining studies on the effects of recent climate change on plant and animal species and comparing this with predictions of future declines.
Published in leading journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, the study uses the well-established IUCN Red List for linking population declines to extinction risk. The research examines nearly 200 predictions of the future effects of climate change from studies conducted around the world, as well as 130 reports of changes which have already occurred. (more…)
*New research led by the University of East Anglia and the VU University Amsterdam shines new light on the little studied but politically vital practices of climate policy evaluation in Europe.*
Published in the international journal Policy Sciences, a meta-analysis by a team of researchers from across Europe offers the very first systematic cataloging of the emerging patterns of policy evaluation undertaken in different parts of the European Union.
In the last decade or so the politics surrounding the development of new policies has attracted unprecedented attention. Many new targets and policies have been adopted. But a lot less is known about what is being done to check that the resulting policies are actually delivering on their promises.(more…)
*Berkeley Lab joint report offers a variety of scenarios to reduce emissions to 80% below 1990 levels.*
Berkeley, CA — In the next 40 years, California’s population is expected to surge from 37 million to 55 million and the demand for energy is expected to double. Given those daunting numbers, can California really reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, as required by an executive order? Scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory who co-wrote a new report on California’s energy future are optimistic that the target can be achieved, though not without bold policy and behavioral changes as well as some scientific innovation.
The report, titled “California’s Energy Future—The View to 2050,” draws a series of energy system “portraits” showing how California can meet its ambitious emissions targets using a combination of measures and energy sources that may include electrification, enhanced efficiency, nuclear energy, renewable energy sources, grid modernization, and carbon capture and sequestration (CCS). (more…)
Music lovers vacationing or living in Europe this summer won’t have to wait to come back to campus for some Yale-made music; they can just drop by one of the many concerts being presented by Yale groups touring the region.
Each summer, musical groups from Yale travel the world to share their passion for music. A new website, “Yale Music in Europe, Summer 2011,” tracks the whereabouts of eight of these troupes: Yale Schola Cantorum, Redhot & Blue, Yale Glee Club, Whim ‘n Rhythm, Yale Alumni Chorus, Whiffenpoofs, The Spizziwinks(?) and Yale Baroque Ensemble. (more…)