Tag Archives: russia

First Data from Daya Bay: Closing in on a Neutrino Mystery

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2011Scienceantineutrinos, basic physics, berkeley lab, big bang, China, china guangdong nuclear power group, cosmic rays, daya bay reactor neutrino experiment, dubbed θ13, electron, evolution of basic kinds of matter, flavors of neutrinos, hong kong, kam biu luk, lawrence berkeley national laboratory, liquid scintillator, mixing angles, muon, neutrinos, nuclear reactors, photomultiplier tubes, russia, southern china, taiwan, tau neutrinos, the czech republic, theta one three, united states, william edwards

*Berkeley Lab researchers are leaders in an international effort to close in on neutrino mass*

Some of the most intriguing questions in basic physics focus on neutrinos. How much do the different kinds weigh and which is the heaviest? The answers lie in how the three “flavors” of neutrinos – electron, muon, and tau neutrinos – oscillate or mix, changing from one to another as they race virtually without interruption through unbounded reaches of matter and space.

Three mathematical terms known as “mixing angles” described the process, and the Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment has just begun taking data to establish the last, least-known mixing angle to unprecedented precision. China and the United States lead the international Daya Bay Collaboration, including participants from Russia, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. U.S. participation is led by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab). (more…)

UF Study Shows Tundra Fires Could Accelerate Climate Warming

By Guest PostJuly 31, 2011Environmentanaktuvuk river fire, arctic carbon cycle, arctic fires, arctic tundra, atmosphere, atmospheric carbon dioxide, canada, carbon, city of miami, ecologist, ecosystem ecology, global climate, global climate warming, greenhouse gases, michelle mack, Nature, north slope of alaska brooks range, organic matter, permafrost, radiocarbon dating, russia, smoke, soil bound carbon, ted schuur, terry chapin, tundra, university of alaska, university of florida, wildfires

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — After a 10,000-year absence, wildfires have returned to the Arctic tundra, and a University of Florida study shows that their impact could extend far beyond the areas blackened by flames.

In a study published in the July 28 issue of the journal Nature, UF ecologist Michelle Mack and a team of scientists including fellow UF ecologist Ted Schuur quantified the amount of soil-bound carbon released into the atmosphere in the 2007 Anaktuvuk River fire, which covered more than 400 square miles on the North Slope of Alaska’s Brooks Range. The 2.1 million metric tons of carbon released in the fire — roughly twice the amount of greenhouse gases put out by the city of Miami in a year — is significant enough to suggest that Arctic fires could impact the global climate, said Mack, an associate professor of ecosystem ecology in UF’s department of biology. (more…)

Germany Leads Europe in Online Video Viewing

By Guest PostJune 14, 2011Technologybbc sites, Comscore, comscore video metrix, dailymotion, european countries, Facebook, france, Germany, Google, italy, mike read, online video viewing, prosiebensat1 sites, russia, spain, turkey, uk, YouTube, youtube channel

*Internet Users in Germany, Turkey, Spain and UK Watch Average of At Least 30 Minutes a Day of Online Video*

LONDON, UK, 14 June, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released April 2011 data from the comScore Video Metrix service, showing that Germany leads in online video viewing across several reporting metrics for the European countries currently reported in comScore Video Metrix (France, Germany, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey and UK).

“Online video is beginning to compete with traditional television viewing for people’s attention, and Internet users in several European countries are leading the way,” said Mike Read, comScore SVP of Europe. “Germany is not only the largest European market for online video viewing but also the most engaged at nearly 20 hours per viewer per month, while several other countries are not far behind.” (more…)

With Global Warming, Arctic Access Will Diminish By Land But Improve By Sea

By Guest PostMay 31, 2011Environmentalaskan coastal town, anticipated temperature, Arctic, arctic transportation networks, baltic sea, bathurst inlet, bering strait, canada, climate change, commercial shipping, diamond road, dutton books, finland, fishing, geography, global shipping, global warming, greenland, history channel, ice road, ice road truckers, Iceland, john a agnew, laurence c smith, Netherlands, nome, north pole route, northern sea route, norway, panama canal, rotterdam, russia, scott stephenson, sea, shipping, stephenson and smith, strait of malacca, suez canal, Sweden, tibbitt contwoyto, tibbitt contwoyto winter road, tourism, type a vessels, united states, yellowknife

Global warming over the next 40 years will cut through Arctic transportation networks like a double-edged sword, limiting access in certain areas and vastly increasing it in others, a new UCLA study predicts.

“As sea ice continues to melt, accessibility by sea will increase, but the viability of an important network of roads that depend on freezing temperatures is threatened by a warming climate,” said Scott Stephenson, a UCLA graduate student in geography and the study’s lead author. (more…)

Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

By Guest PostMay 22, 2011Culture, Economyamerican housing system, american model, credit card debt, fannie mae, free market economy, home ownership, homeowners, housing the new russia, jane zavisca, metaphor, mortgage, russia, russian government, russians, sociologist, soviet era, soviet era housing, soviet union, university of arizona

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)

Evolution of Human ‘Super-Brain’ Tied To Development of Bipedalism, Tool-Making

By Guest PostApril 22, 2011Scienceafrica, ants, archaeological evidence, archaeologist, Arctic, bees, bipedalism, don river, Europe, evolution of human mind, fossil, france, Germany, honeybees, human ancestors, human brain, human mind, john hoffecker, kostenk, lucy, modern mind, moscow, russia, social insects, stone tools, super brain, university of colorado boulder, waggle dance

Scientists seeking to understand the origin of the human mind may want to look to honeybees — not ancestral apes — for at least some of the answers, according to a University of Colorado Boulder archaeologist.

CU-Boulder Research Associate John Hoffecker said there is abundant fossil and archaeological evidence for the evolution of the human mind, including its unique power to create a potentially infinite variety of thoughts expressed in the form of sentences, art and technologies. He attributes the evolving power of the mind to the formation of what he calls the “super-brain,” or collective mind, an event that took place in Africa no later than 75,000 years ago. (more…)

comScore Releases Study “Natural Born Clickers in Russia” Showing that Only 10 Percent of Russian Online Population Clicks on Display Ads in a Month

By Guest PostApril 14, 2011Technologyclick-through behavior, Comscore, ctrs, display ad, ecosystem, heavy clickers, mike shaw, natural born clickers, online advertising campaigns, online display ads, online display advertising campaigns, russia, russian digital media, russian internet audience, russian online population

*Online Behaviour of Clickers Does Not Reflect Desired Audience for Most Advertisers*

Moscow, Russia, April 14, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today announced the release of a report entitled “ Natural Born Clickers in Russia – Understanding How Display Advertising Works,” which indicates that a very small group of Internet users who are not representative of the total Russian online population is accountable for the vast majority of display ad click-through behaviour. The report includes findings from several studies of the view-through effectiveness of online display advertising and highlights key implications for stakeholders in the Russian digital media ecosystem. (more…)

Retail Websites Now Reach 75 Percent of European Internet Audience Each Month

By Guest PostMarch 21, 2011Technologyalbert heijn, bing ciao, Comscore, Europe, european markets, france, Germany, groupe ppr, henk pleiter, internet sessions, ireland, Netherlands, online audience, online shopping, otto gruppe, retail category, retail sites, russia, shopzilla sites, turkish visitors, united kingdom

*U.K., France, Germany, Ireland, and the Netherlands Lead in Retail Site Visitation and Engagement*

LONDON, UK, March 21, 2011 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released results from a study of online shopping in Europe. In January 2011, 270.6 million unique visitors in Europe visited sites in the Retail category, representing a market penetration of 74.5 percent of Internet users, up 8.5 percentage points versus last year. Retail sites also showed high penetration in individual markets, reaching at least 75 percent of the total online audience in 7 out of 18 European markets. In 2010, approximately one out of every ten Internet sessions in Europe included a visit to a retail site.

Retail Penetration and Engagement Growth in Europe

In the United Kingdom, the Retail category reached 89.4 percent of the total online audience (up 6.3 points from last year), the highest penetration of any European market. France ranked second with a reach of 87 percent (up 10.5 points), followed by Germany at 82.1 percent (up 9.0 points). Ireland and the Netherlands round out the list of markets with highest penetration, with Retail reaching 80.7 percent in Ireland (up 15.8 percentage points) and 80.2 percent in the Netherlands (up 4.9 percentage points). (more…)