Tag Archives: los angeles

CU Mathematicians Show How Shallow Waves May Help Explain Tsunami Power

By Guest PostSeptember 19, 2012Scienceboulder, colorado, douglas baldwin, earthquake, interaction height, Japan, los angeles, low tide, mark ablowitz, mathematical equation, Mexico, nonlinear, nonlinearity, nuevo vallarta, ocean wave, pacific ocean, physics, tsunami, university, venice beach, wave height, wave watching

While wave watching is a favorite pastime of beachgoers, few notice what is happening in the shallowest water. A closer look by two University of Colorado Boulder applied mathematicians has led to the discovery of interacting X- and Y-shaped ocean waves that may help explain why some tsunamis are able to wreak so much havoc.

Professor Mark Ablowitz and doctoral student Douglas Baldwin repeatedly observed such wave interactions in ankle-deep water at both Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico, and Venice Beach, Calif., in the Pacific Ocean — interactions that were thought to be very rare but which actually happen every day near low tide. There they saw single, straight waves interacting with each other to form X- and Y-shaped waves as well as more complex wave structures, all predicted by mathematical equations, said Ablowitz. (more…)

NASA’s Spitzer Finds First Objects Burned Furiously

By Guest PostJune 9, 2012Sciencealexander sasha kashlinsky, ancient era, big bang, cosmic fuel, cosmic infrared background, expansion, faint objects, first objects, giovanni fazio, glenn wahlgren, harvey moseley, infrared wavelengths, james webb, john mather, los angeles, massive stars, matt ashby, mysterious sources, NASA, nearby universe, new york city, pattern of light, richard arendt, sky, space telescope, spitzer space telescope, ultraviolet wavelengths, universe, voracious black holes

PASADENA, Calif. — The faint, lumpy glow given off by the very first objects in the universe may have been detected with the best precision yet, using NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope. These faint objects might be wildly massive stars or voracious black holes. They are too far away to be seen individually, but Spitzer has captured new, convincing evidence of what appears to be the collective pattern of their infrared light.

The observations help confirm the first objects were numerous in quantity and furiously burned cosmic fuel.

“These objects would have been tremendously bright,” said Alexander “Sasha” Kashlinsky of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., lead author of a new paper appearing in The Astrophysical Journal. “We can’t yet directly rule out mysterious sources for this light that could be coming from our nearby universe, but it is now becoming increasingly likely that we are catching a glimpse of an ancient epoch. Spitzer is laying down a roadmap for NASA’s upcoming James Webb Telescope, which will tell us exactly what and where these first objects were.” (more…)

Microsoft Marks E3 with “Halo 4,” New Entertainment Experiences

By Guest PostJune 4, 2012Technologye3, electronic entertainment expo, Entertainment, fable, forza, game of thrones, gears of war, halo, halo 4, los angeles, master chief, Microsoft, south park, splinter cell, windows 8 pc, xbox 360, xbox live, xbox music, xbox smartglass, yusuf mehdi

At the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in Los Angeles, Microsoft announced a robust lineup of new Xbox 360 games, including a new installment of the blockbuster Halo franchise. The company also unveiled new content and entertainment experiences for Xbox LIVE and smart devices.

LOS ANGELES – The Xbox 360 console charged into its seventh Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) today buoyed by a bundle of blockbuster game releases led by Halo 4 and a set of new entertainment experiences that will push Xbox farther into the living room, and onto PCs, tablets and phones.

Microsoft also revealed a set of new Xbox content, partners and apps – including bringing Internet Explorer to the console for the first time. The company also introduced a new music service and Xbox SmartGlass, a new app that brings an immersive entertainment experience to all devices. (more…)

New Bing, Available Today, Takes You from Searching to Doing

By Guest PostJune 1, 2012Technologyatlanta, bing, bing summer, Chicago, cody simpson, days of doing, doing, dosomething, exchange ideas, Facebook, heart, hola, impulse research, lafayette park, los angeles, Microsoft, msft, nasdaq, new york, pizza party, recreation center, searching, social network, the hunt, Twitter, web

In celebration of new search experience, Bing launches the Bing Summer of Doing with DoSomething.org.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 1, 2012 — Do you ever feel like you’re spending too much time searching and not enough time doing? If so, you’re not alone. According to a recent survey conducted by Bing and Impulse Research, nearly 75 percent of people spend more time than they would like searching for information online. Time wasted searching is a thing of the past with the new Bing design, which brings together information from the Web, experts and enthusiasts, and your friends to help you do more — available today at https://www.bing.com.

Only Bing brings together the best search with people from social networks, including Facebook and Twitter. In celebration of this new search experience, Bing is joining forces with DoSomething.org to launch the Bing Summer of Doing, designed to inspire people to do amazing things, including giving back to their communities. (more…)

Brighter, Smaller Probes to Uncover the Secret Lives of Proteins

By Guest PostMay 10, 20121 commentSciencealexis ostrowski, andrew mueller, berkeley lab, bruce cohen, cellular mechanism, daniel gargas, delia milliron, disease, elan katz, emory chan, erbium, function, gang han, imagine tracking, james schuck, lanthanide, live cell, los angeles, molecule, nanocrystal, nanoparticle, nayf4, photobleach, protein, radio transmitter, sodium yttrium fluoride, vistamar school, wanda robot, ytterbium

Berkeley Lab scientists create nanoparticle probes that may lead to a better understanding of diseases

Imagine tracking a deer through a forest by clipping a radio transmitter to its ear and monitoring the deer’s location remotely. Now imagine that transmitter is the size of a house, and you understand the problem researchers may encounter when they try to use nanoparticles to track proteins in live cells.

Understanding how a protein moves around a cell helps researchers understand the protein’s function and the cellular mechanisms for making and processing proteins. This information also helps researchers study disease, which at a cellular level may mean that a protein is malfunctioning, stops being made, or is sent to the wrong part of the cell. But nanoparticle probes that are too big can disrupt a protein’s normal activities. (more…)

Yahoo! Board of Directors Forms Special Committee to Review CEO Academic Credentials

By Guest PostMay 8, 2012Technologyacademic credentials, alfred amoroso, bird, board of directors, boxer, ceo, drooks, john hayes, licenberg, los angeles, marella, nessim, scott thompson, sec, shareholders, terry bird, thomas mcinerney, wolpert, Yahoo

SUNNYVALE, Calif. –– The Board of Directors of Yahoo! Inc. today announced that it has formed a special committee to conduct a thorough review of CEO Scott Thompson’s academic credentials, as well as the facts and circumstances related to the review and disclosure of those credentials in connection with Thompson’s appointment as CEO.

The special committee is chaired by Alfred Amoroso, an independent director who joined the Board in February of this year. The other members of the special committee are John Hayes and Thomas McInerney, independent directors who joined the Board in April of this year. (more…)

Guidelines for Prostate Screening Widely Ignored, Study Finds

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Healthberkshire hathaway, blood test, cancer specific mortality, ceo, controversial decision, data, dezheng huo, diagnosis, jim hu, john easton, los angeles, michael drazer, nhis, prostate cancer, prostate specific antigen, psa, psa screening, recommendation, sandip prasad, scott eggener, treatment, university of california, university of chicago, warren buffett

2008 recommendations from federal task force had no impact

New research confirms that the controversial decision by Warren Buffett – the 81-year-old CEO of Berkshire Hathaway – to undergo a blood test screening for prostate cancer despite his age is hardly unusual. Despite recommendations in 2008 from the United States Preventive Services Task Force against testing for prostate cancer in men aged 75 years or older, almost half of men in that age group continue to get screening tests.

In 2005, before the recommendations were released, 43 percent of men age 75 and above elected to take the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test. In August 2008, the Task Force stated it “recommends against the service,” arguing “there is moderate or high certainty the service has no net benefit or that the harms outweigh the benefits.” (more…)

Microsoft Announces Largest Cloud Customer Ever: All India Council for Technical Education to Reach 7 Million With Live@edu

By Guest PostApril 12, 2012Technologyaicte, all india council, anthony salcito, cloud computing, Economy, Google, ibm, India, los angeles, Microsoft, microsoft live, microsoft lync online, microsoft office, population, ppp model, s s mantha, sanket akerkar, technical education, web apps

*AICTE adopts cloud to improve technical education and prepare students for the workforce of tomorrow.*

NEW DELHI and REDMOND, Wash. — Microsoft Corp. and All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE) announced today that AICTE is deploying Microsoft Live@edu over the next three months to more than 10,000 technical colleges and institutes throughout India. The cloud deployment will expand students’ access to high-quality technical education and collaboration.

Live@edu is a hosted communication and collaboration service that offers email, Microsoft Office Web Apps, instant messaging and storage to AICTE’s more than 7 million students and nearly 500,000 faculty members, for a total reach of 7.5 million users — roughly double the size of the Los Angeles population — making AICTE Microsoft’s largest cloud customer ever. Live@edu is the first step in AICTE’s deployment of Microsoft cloud computing for education. AICTE also plans to deploy Microsoft Office 365 for education when it becomes available later this year, providing access to Microsoft Exchange Online email and calendar, Microsoft SharePoint Online, Microsoft Lync Online and Microsoft Office Professional as the technical infrastructure to support member colleges and institutes. (more…)