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New Path to More Efficient Organic Solar Cells Uncovered at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source

By Guest PostJanuary 12, 2013Environmentacceptor, advanced light source, affordable, als, als beamlines, amount, berkeley lab, brian collins, christopher mcneill, convert, crystallinity, donor, earth, efficient, electricity, eliot gann, energy use, exciton journey, fossil fuels, fullerene solar film, harald ade, john tumbleston, land mass, nanometers, north Carolina, organic cell, photovoltaic cells, photovoltaic devices, physicist, polymer, r soxs, research, resonant soft, silicon based, size matters, solar cell, solar energy, solvent diiodooctane, state university, stxm, sunlight, ultraviolet light beams, volume, x ray, x ray scattering, zhe li

Why are efficient and affordable solar cells so highly coveted? Volume. The amount of solar energy lighting up Earth’s land mass every year is nearly 3,000 times the total amount of annual human energy use. But to compete with energy from fossil fuels, photovoltaic devices must convert sunlight to electricity with a certain measure of efficiency. For polymer-based organic photovoltaic cells, which are far less expensive to manufacture than silicon-based solar cells, scientists have long believed that the key to high efficiencies rests in the purity of the polymer/organic cell’s two domains – acceptor and donor. Now, however, an alternate and possibly easier route forward has been shown.

Working at Berkeley Lab’s Advanced Light Source (ALS), a premier source of X-ray and ultraviolet light beams for research, an international team of scientists found that for highly efficient polymer/organic photovoltaic cells, size matters. (more…)

When People Worry About Math, the Brain Feels the Pain

By Guest PostNovember 3, 2012Sciencebrain, brain activation, brain scans, Chicago, doing math, english word, female student, fmri scanner, ian lyons, math anxious, mathematics anxiety, mathematics equation, neural region, people, phobia, physical pain, research, sian beilock, tissue, university

Mathematics anxiety can prompt a response in the brain similar to when a person experiences physical pain, according to new research at the University of Chicago.

Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the same brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm—and in some cases, physical pain. (more…)

Diana Davis dances her Ph.D.

By Guest PostOctober 20, 2012Education, Sciencebouw moeller, candidate, complex, dance, dance your phd, diana davis, graduate student, language, math category, math research, mathematics, pattern, ph d, prize, pure mathematics, question, research, sequences, surfaces, symbolic dynamics, thesis, veech surfaces, words

What if the Ph.D. research becomes too complex for words? Dozens of candidates turned to the language of dance in the fifth annual national contest sponsored by Science Magazine. Diana Davis, a graduate student in mathematics, won the first-ever “Dance Your Ph.D.” prize in pure mathematics.

Math graduate student Diana Davis studies the symbolic dynamics that arise from cutting sequences on Veech surfaces and Bouw-Möller surfaces.

No idea what that means? It’s OK. She can show you. (more…)

Doctors Wary of Studies Funded by Pharmaceutical Industry, Study Shows

By Guest PostOctober 8, 2012General, Healthaaron kesselheim, arizona, biomedical research, christopher robertson, clinical trial, doctor, fda, federal budget, good drug, good science, high quality, method, methodological rigor, nih, pharmaceutical company, physician, quality, research, trust, university

Physicians are about half as willing to prescribe drugs tested in pharmaceutical-industry funded trials than those in NIH-funded studies, a new study finds.

Physicians are less likely to trust the results of clinical trials when they know those trials were funded by pharmaceutical companies, regardless of the quality of the research, a recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine shows.

The study, led by Dr. Aaron Kesselheim of the Harvard Medical School in Boston and co-authored by University of Arizona associate professor of law Christopher Robertson, evaluated physicians’ confidence in the results of drug trials conducted with a high, medium or low level of methodological rigor. It then looked at how their confidence in those same results changed when a trial’s funding source was revealed as either the National Institutes of Health or a company in the pharmaceutical industry, versus when no funding source was disclosed. (more…)

UF Biologist Discovers Mammal with Salamander-like Regenerative Abilities

By Guest PostSeptember 29, 2012Natureafrican, african mammal, amphibian biology, ashley seifert, biopsy, blastema like, cartilage, damaged tissue, florida, hair follicles, human biology, ken muneoka, Kenya, lost limbs, model, mpala, nairobi, regenerative medicine, regrow, research, research centre, salamander, skin, skin autotomy, spiny mouse, structure, tissue regeneration, university, wound healing

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — A small African mammal with an unusual ability to regrow damaged tissues could inspire new research in regenerative medicine, a University of Florida study finds.

For years biologists have studied salamanders for their ability to regrow lost limbs. But amphibian biology is very different than human biology, so lessons learned in laboratories from salamanders are difficult to translate into medical therapies for humans. New research in the Sept. 27 issue of the journal Nature describes a mammal that can regrow new body tissues following an injury. The African spiny mouse could become a new model for research in regenerative medicine. (more…)

Playing the Odds to Your Favor

By Guest PostApril 25, 2012Educationamerica, applied stochastic processes, area, average, China, chinese native, energy, evaluation, flinn scholarship, galileo circle, ireland, jason xu, kevin lin, knowledge, mathematical statistics, mathematics, ming xu, monte carlo method, physics, population, probability distribution, queen's university belfast, random sample, research, tucson, ua student, university of arizona, Wuhan

UA student Jason Xu has been recognized by the College of Science for his undergraduate research.

Wuhan, China and Tucson, Ariz.: These cities are thousands of miles apart, but they have one commonality – University of Arizona student Jason Xu.

A Chinese native and mathematics senior in the Honors College, Xu was selected as the recipient of this year’s Excellence in Undergraduate Research award by the UA College of Science at its Galileo Circle reception event.

The award “is a huge honor and means a lot to me. I feel really good to be representing the math department,” Xu said. (more…)

Dressing for the Future: Microsoft Duo Breaks Through with Wearable Technology Concept

By Guest PostAugust 3, 2011Technology3d projects for microsoft, asta roseway, best concept and best in show, black and white rice paper, catwalk, designer for analog labs, electricfoxy, electronic entertainment expo, fashion, incubation for xbox technology, iswc, lady gaga poster, martin small, Microsoft, microsoft designers, microsoft research, old fashioned typewriter keys, prototype, research, san francisco, sheridan martin small, symposium on wearable computers, Technology, the printing dress, ugly things, xbox, xbox incubation

*Microsoft designers create “The Printing Dress,” an award-winning wearable technology creation that’s turning heads in design circles.*

REDMOND, Wash. – Aug. 3, 2011 – Microsoft and fashion aren’t often mentioned in the same breath – until now. In the heart of Microsoft Research is a dress that’s turning heads without ever being worn on a catwalk.

“The Printing Dress,” a project created by Microsoft Research’s Asta Roseway and Xbox’s Sheridan Martin Small, is one of the first pieces of fashion technology to emerge from the company. The women and their dress won Best Concept and Best in Show at the 15th annual International Symposium on Wearable Computers (ISWC) in San Francisco this June. (more…)

Are You Alarmed or Dismissive? Americans’ Latest Views on Climate Change Fall Into One of ‘Six Americas’

By Guest PostJuly 1, 2011Environmentalarmed and concerned, americans, anthony leiserowitz, climate and energy policies, climate change, dismissive, doubtful, global warming, renewable energy sources, research, six americas, solar power, united states, wind, yale project on climate change communication, yale university project on climate change communication

In a new report, researchers have found that Americans have a wide range of attitudes and beliefs when it comes to climate change, yet also show some surprising similarities. The report, which is the latest in a series from the Yale University Project on Climate Change Communication, demonstrates how Americans fall into one of six categories called the “Global Warming’s Six Americas,” each reflecting different attitudes and behaviors when it comes to climate change. (more…)

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