Tag Archives: new york

Water Evaporated from Trees Cools Global Climate

By Guest PostSeptember 17, 2011Environmentatmosphere, central park, earth, emissions of carbon dioxide, evaporated water, evaporation, george ban-weiss, global balance of energy, global climate, global warming, govindasamy bala, greenhouse gas, julia pongratz, ken caldeira, new york, vegetation, water, water vapor

Washington, DC — Scientists have long debated about the impact on global climate of water evaporated from vegetation. New research from Carnegie’s Global Ecology department concludes that evaporated water helps cool the earth as a whole, not just the local area of evaporation, demonstrating that evaporation of water from trees and lakes could have a cooling effect on the entire atmosphere. These findings, published September 14 in Environmental Research Letters, have major implications for land-use decision making.

Evaporative cooling is the process by which a local area is cooled by the energy used in the evaporation process, energy that would have otherwise heated the area’s surface. It is well known that the paving over of urban areas and the clearing of forests can contribute to local warming by decreasing local evaporative cooling, but it was not understood whether this decreased evaporation would also contribute to global warming (more…)

USGS Releases New Assessment of Gas Resources in the Marcellus Shale, Appalachian Basin

By Guest PostAugust 24, 2011Economy, Environmentappalachian basin, geologic information, kentucky, lake erie, marcellus shale, maryland, middle devonian marcellus shale, natural gas, natural gas liquids, new york, ohio, ohio geological survey, oil and gas, onshore and offshore areas, Pennsylvania, pennsylvania geological survey, tennessee, united states, usgs, virginia, west virginia, west virginia geological and economic survey

The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS).

These gas estimates are significantly more than the last USGS assessment of the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin in 2002, which estimated a mean of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) and 0.01 billion barrels of natural gas liquids. (more…)

Marcus Garvey Movement Owes Large Debt to Caribbean Expats, UCLA Historian Finds

By Guest PostAugust 20, 2011Culture, Politicsafrica for the africans, african americans, american race, back to africa movement, belize newspaper, black star line, british guiana, caribbean identity, caribbean movement, caribbean nationals, caribbean role, charismatic jamaica native, conventional wisdom, costa rica, duke university press, garvey movement and the caribbean, jamaica, marcus garvey, negroes, new york, political and cultural environment of the harlem renaissance, racial self help, robert a hill, the caribbean diaspora, united states, unity of the african diaspora, universal negro improvement association

Conventional wisdom has long held that Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association, which advocated racial self-help and the unity of the African diaspora, grew out of the heady political and cultural environment of the Harlem Renaissance and benefited African Americans above all other black people. Any Caribbean role, according to this view, was separate and incidental to the primary legacy bequeathed to American race relations by the charismatic Jamaica native.

Now a UCLA historian argues the reverse in the first book of a multi-volume series on the Garvey movement and the Caribbean. From the UNIA’s organizational structure to its most valuable foot soldiers during its first half-decade, Garvey’s Caribbean links were indispensable to the movement’s success, and the region ultimately proved to be its most important theater, contends Robert A. Hill in “The Marcus Garvey and Universal Negro Improvement Association Papers: The Caribbean Diaspora 1910–1920.” (more…)

Mr. Fusion Helps Students Build a Nuclear Reactor

By Guest PostAugust 18, 2011Science, Technologyalbert babb, brian greene, carl greninger, farnsworth hirsch fusor, garage, glassification of nuclear waste, high end suv, iec 9000, jayce glenn, microsoft employee, microsoft it operations, microsoft research science fair, new york, nuclear reactor, physicist, physics, thermonuclear reactor, united states operates 104 nuclear reactors, voila fusion, x ray machine

*Microsoft employee Carl Greninger helped a team of young students build a working nuclear reactor in his garage. He hopes the project can inspire a passion for physics in students around the country.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Sometimes you have to smash a few atoms to excite people about science.

So says Carl Greninger, a program manager in Microsoft IT Operations by day and full-fledged physics fanatic by night. That’s why he decided to help some young students get hands-on experience with something they couldn’t find in their classrooms: a working thermonuclear reactor.

For the past year, a group of local students – some as young as 13 years old – have met at Greninger’s garage every Friday night to build a type of fusion reactor known as a Farnsworth–Hirsch Fusor. Dubbed IEC-9000, their machine has been fusing atoms and producing neutrons since May. It cost about as much as a high-end SUV, weighs 1,400 pounds, and generates temperatures hotter than the surface of the sun. (more…)

Yahoo! Sports and Gow Broadcasting Hit the Radio Airwaves with Yahoo! Sports Radio

By Guest PostAugust 1, 2011Technologyadrian wojnarowski, Chicago, chris childers, dan wetzel, david gow, digital media company, gow broadcasting, ken fuchs, mike silver, mission media group, national sports radio network, new york, rivals radio, sirius satellite radio, steve czaban, Yahoo, yahoo sports radio

*No. 1 online sports destination announces new relationship with leading sports radio network*

SUNNYVALE, Calif.– Yahoo!, the premier digital media company, and Gow Broadcasting, LLC (formerly Mission Media Group, LLC), today announced the launch of Yahoo! Sports Radio. The new, national sports radio network can be heard on over 180 affiliate radio stations across the country, Sirius Satellite Radio, and a number of digital and mobile partners. This partnership enables Yahoo! Sports — the No. 1 destination for online sports with more than 50 million monthly unique users — to reach its avid fans in the largest local sports markets across the country.

“Yahoo! Sports Radio builds on our leadership as the No. 1 sports site online and creates a national and local outlet for our brand and talent,” said Ken Fuchs, VP Yahoo! Media Network. “As Yahoo! Sports covers the biggest events, stories and athletes on and off the field, our partnership with Gow Broadcasting will provide more access to our users and solutions to our advertising partners that want to connect with them wherever they consume sports.” (more…)

Dream Chasers: Winners of 2011 Imagine Cup Announced in New York City

By Guest PostJuly 13, 2011Technology9th annual imagine cup, aine conaghan, azure, Bangladesh, bill and melinda gates, brazil, calum cawley, denmark, dream chasers, embedded development contest, eva longoria, fernanda fonteles, france, game design, geekologic, Greece, imagine cup, ireland, james mcnamara, jean sebastien duchene, korea, lincoln center, Microsoft, microsoft technologies, mike bloomberg, new york, new york city, new york city mayor, newkrean, northwestern irish city, nthucs, onebeep, poland, romania, silverlight, sligo, sql server, taiwan, team hermes, team rapture, thirdeye, winners of 2011 imagine cup, xbox category

*Teams from Ireland, Taiwan, France, Poland, Brazil, Greece, Korea, Denmark and Romania today took home the nine top awards at Microsoft’s 9th annual Imagine Cup. Microsoft also announced a $3 million grant program to help Imagine Cup participants solve the world’s toughest challenges.*

NEW YORK CITY – July 13, 2011 – Student projects that tackle global problems such as improving road and fire safety, eradicating poverty, and creating a more sustainable environment took top honors at the Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York on Wednesday.

Ireland’s Team Hermes won the competition’s premier Software Design category and $25,000 (U.S.) with their project that combined embedded technology, mobile devices and cloud computing technology to change driving habits and reduce road deaths. (more…)

Microsoft Announces Finalists for Global Student Technology Competition

By Guest PostMay 23, 2011Technologyczech republic, digital media, game design, geographical information assistant, hand for help europe, imagine cup, microsoft imagine cup, microsoft imagine cup 2011, new york, team gina, windows 7 touch challenge, worldwide finals

*More than 400 students invited to showcase their technology to solve the world’s toughest problems at Microsoft Imagine Cup 2011 Worldwide Finals in New York.*

NEW YORK — May 23, 2011 — In July, more than 400 of the brightest young minds from around the world will travel to New York to showcase their innovative ideas for using technology to solve the world’s toughest problems. As the winners of regional, national and online Imagine Cup competitions, these high school and university students represent the pinnacle of innovation, creativity and entrepreneurialism from 73 countries and regions around the globe. (more…)

Asteroids Collide at 11,000 Miles Per Hour; Scientists Study Debris

By Guest PostApril 30, 2011Science596 scheila, asteroid, collision of asteroids, david jewitt, dust plumes, earth, empire state building, evolution of the solar system, history of astronomy, hubble data, Hubble Space Telescope, jupiter, mars, NASA, new york, scheila, swift ultraviolet optical telescope, uvot

Scientists have captured and studied the collision of two asteroids for only the second time in the history of astronomy. In the May 20 edition of the Astrophysical Journal Letters (currently online), UCLA’s David Jewitt and colleagues report on observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope of a large asteroid that was hit by a much smaller one.

On Dec. 11, 2010, astronomers noticed that an asteroid known as (596) Scheila had unexpectedly brightened and was sporting short-lived dust plumes. Data from NASA’s Swift satellite and Hubble Space Telescope showed that these changes likely occurred after Scheila was struck by a much smaller asteroid, probably in late November or early December. The shape, evolution and content of the plumes enabled the scientists to reconstruct what occurred. (more…)