Tag Archives: nobel prize

UA Alumnus Wins Nobel Prize

By Guest PostOctober 6, 2011Scienceadam g riess, amount of supernovae, astronomy and physics, brian p schmidt, Chile, cosmic big crunch, cosmic explosion, dark energy, dark matter, dennis zaritsky, expansion of space, exploding star, force of gravity, giant magellan telescope, gravity, johns hopkins university, large synoptic survey telescope, lsst, nobel laureate, nobel prize, nobel prize in physics, peter strittmatter, saul perlmutter, sloan digital sky survey, Space, steward observatory, structures of galaxies, supernova, theory of the big bang, ua, universe, universe is expanding, university of arizona

*Brian P. Schmidt, who graduated from the UA in 1989 with a double major in astronomy and physics, shares this year’s Nobel Prize in Physics with two colleagues for a discovery that has rocked our understanding of the cosmos: The universe is expanding at an ever-faster pace.*

In the last years of the 20^th century, two teams of researchers set out to race each other to measure the rate of the universe’s expansion, and by extension, unveil how the universe most likely will end.

University of Arizona alumnus Brian P. Schmidt, now a professor of astronomy at Australian National University who headed one of the teams, shares the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics with Saul Perlmutter from the University of California, Berkeley, and Adam G. Riess from Johns Hopkins University and Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore. (more…)

Berkeley Lab’s Saul Perlmutter wins Nobel Prize in Physics

By Guest PostOctober 4, 2011Science2011 nobel prize in physics, accelerating expansion of the universe, adam riess, anisotropy of the cosmic microwave background radiation, astrophysicist, berkeley lab, brian schmidt, Chile, dark energy, department of energy, expansion of the universe, france, george smoot iii, gravity, high z supernova search team, international supernova cosmology project, Japan, knowledge, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, mysterious force, nature of dark energy, nobel prize, nobel prize in physics, paul alivisatos, saul perlmutter, spain, supernova cosmology project, supernovae, Sweden, swedish kroner, united kingdom, united states, university of california at berkeley

BERKELEY, CA — Saul Perlmutter, an astrophysicist at the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a professor of physics at the University of California at Berkeley, has won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physics “for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the universe through observations of distant supernovae.” Perlmutter heads the international Supernova Cosmology Project, which pioneered the methods used to discover the accelerating expansion of the universe, and he has been a leader in studies to determine the nature of dark energy.

Perlmutter shares the prize with Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess, leader of the High-z Supernova Search Team and first author of that team’s analysis, respectively, which led to their almost simultaneous announcement of accelerating expansion. (more…)

Ocean’s Harmful Low-Oxygen Zones growing, are Sensitive to Small Changes in Climate

By Guest PostJune 18, 2011Environmentatmospheric and oceanic sciences, consume nitrogen, curtis deutsch, expansion and contraction of low-oxygen zones, fluctuations in climate, global warming, kim derose, low-oxygen water, marine ecosystems, molecular oxygen, nobel prize, oscillations in climate, oxygen and nitrogen depletion, oxygen zones, oxygen-depleted environments, respiring bacteria, rising global temperatures, university of california

Fluctuations in climate can drastically affect the habitability of marine ecosystems, according to a new study by UCLA scientists that examined the expansion and contraction of low-oxygen zones in the ocean.

The UCLA research team, led by assistant professor of atmospheric and oceanic sciences Curtis Deutsch, used a specialized computer simulation to demonstrate for the first time that the size of low-oxygen zones created by respiring bacteria is extremely sensitive to changes in depth caused by oscillations in climate. These oxygen-depleted regions, which expand or contract depending on their depth, pose a distinct threat to marine life. (more…)

Study Shows Interactive Teaching Methods Double Learning in Physics Classroom

By Guest PostMay 15, 20111 commentEducationbose einstein condensate, carl wieman, carl wieman science education initiative, cognitive psychology, cu sei, cwsei, ellen schelew, eric cornell, interactive teaching methods, louis deslauriers, nobel prize, pedagogy, physics, physics class, university of colorado boulder

Interactive teaching methods significantly improved attendance and doubled both engagement and learning in a large physics class, according to a University of British Columbia study involving University of Colorado Boulder Distinguished Professor Carl Wieman that is being published today in Science.

Led by Louis Deslauriers, a post-doctoral researcher at UBC’s Carl Wieman Science Education Initiative, or CWSEI, the study compared the amount of learning students experienced when taught by traditional lecture and by using interactive activities based on research in cognitive psychology and physics education. The teaching took place for three hours over one week. (more…)

IBM Honors the 25th Anniversary of High-Temperature Superconductivity

By Guest PostApril 18, 2011Technologyalex muller, CERN, dutch physicist, electrotechnology, georg bednorz, heike kamerlingh onnes, ibm scientists, Large Hadron Collider, magnetic resonance imaging scanners, meissner effect, microelectronics, mri, nobel prize, oxide material, physics, superconductivity, superconductor

*IBM scientists, J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Muller, discovered the first successful high-temperature superconductor using a breakthrough ceramic material*

ZURICH – 18 Apr 2011: Twenty-five years ago IBM scientists, J. Georg Bednorz and K. Alex Muller altered the landscape of physics when they observed superconductivity in an oxide material at a temperature 50 percent higher(1), (-238 deg C, -397 deg F) than what was previously known. This discovery opened an entirely new chapter in the field of physics and earned them the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1987.

Their now seminal paper titled, “Possible High Tc Superconductivity in the Ba – La – Cu – O System”(2) was received by the peer-reviewed journal Zeitschrift fur Physik B on 17 April 1986. (more…)

Think Globally, but Act Locally When Studying Plants, Animals, Global Warming, Researchers Advise

By Guest PostMarch 22, 2011Environment, Natureagriculture, air pollution, butterfly, camille parmesan, climate, climate change, climate change impacts, effects of climate change, extinctions, global scale, global warming, greenhouse gas, habitat fragmentation, human activities, invasive species, los angeles, mediterranean geraniums, michael singer, multiple factors, natural changes, nobel prize, plants and animals, policy makers, quino checkerspot butterfly, san diego, southern california, species, united states, urban sprawl

AUSTIN, Texas — Global warming is clearly affecting plants and animals, but we should not try to tease apart the specific contribution of greenhouse gas driven climate change to extinctions or declines of species at local scales, biologists from The University of Texas at Austin advise.

Camille Parmesan, Michael C. Singer and their coauthors published their commentary online this week in Nature Climate Change.

“Yes, global warming is happening. Yes, it is caused by human activities. And yes, we’ve clearly shown that species are impacted by global warming on a global scale,” says Parmesan, associate professor of integrative biology. (more…)

‘Nightmare’ Economy Still a Source of Restless Nights, says Krugman

By Guest PostNovember 11, 2010Economyben bernacke, China, columnist, economist, Economy, federal reserve, global markets, Great depression, japan worriers, japanese economy, martin luther king, microeconomic, new york times, nobel prize, obama administration, paul krugman, richard c levin, sprague hall, united states

Paul Krugman. Image credit: Yale University

Nobel Prize-winning economist and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman had some generally dismal news for the near capacity audience that came to Sprague Hall on Tuesday for his Jackson Institute-sponsored town hall meeting.

The gathering, aimed at undergraduates, was held in conjunction with Krugman’s visit to Yale to receive the Henry E. Howland Memorial Prize, one of the highest honors that the University bestows.

Krugman was introduced by President Richard C. Levin; the two were briefly colleagues in Yale’s Department of Economics in the 1970s. He kicked off the Q&A with background on the current economic situation. (more…)

New 3-D Model of RNA ‘Core Domain’ of Enzyme Telomerase May Offer Clues to Cancer, Aging

By Guest PostNovember 6, 2010Health, Scienceaging, cancer, cells, chromosomes, DNA, dna damage, enzyme, helical extension, juli feigon, medicine, nmr, nobel prize, nuclear magnetic resonance, physiology, proteins, pseudoknot, qi zhang, rna, spectroscopy, telomerase, telomeres, virus

A model representation of telomerase's RNA "core domain," determined by Juli Feigon, Qi Zhang and colleagues in Feigon's UCLA laboratory. Image credit: Juli Feigon, UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry/PNAS

Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. In the absence of telomerase activity, every time our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter. This is part of the natural aging process, as most cells in the human body do not have much active telomerase. Eventually, these DNA-containing telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, become so short that the cells die.

But in some cells, such as cancer cells, telomerase, which is composed of RNA and proteins, is highly active and adds telomere DNA, preventing telomere shortening and extending the life of the cell.

UCLA biochemists have now produced a three-dimensional structural model of the RNA “core domain” of the telomerase enzyme. Because telomerase plays a surprisingly important role in cancer and aging, understanding its structure could lead to new approaches for treating disease, the researchers say. (more…)