Tag Archives: united states

Digital Defenses

Cybersecurity expert Hathaway discusses risks of modern digital world

The near future of digital technology could allow citizens to turn on their toaster ovens via the Internet from just about anywhere, but these developments could pose serious threats to individuals’ safety, according to a cybersecurity expert.

Melissa Hathaway, a former senior director for cyberspace in the National Security Council, highlighted examples of the threats the Internet has created for both national and personal security during a University of Delaware Global Agenda speaker series presentation on Wednesday night, April 11, in Mitchell Hall. (more…)

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Nearly Half of European Online Audience Visit Sports Sites

*comScore Releases Overview of European Internet Usage for February 2012*

LONDON, UK, 12 April 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of internet usage in Europe, showing that 386.6 million Europeans went online in February 2012 for an average of 28.2 hours per person. This release highlights internet usage in 49 European markets aggregated into the European region and provides individual reporting on 18 markets. Amongst its findings, the study also showed that 46 percent of Europeans visit Sports sites, with Turkey and Ireland having the highest penetration at approximately 70 percent in February 2012. (more…)

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IBM Sets the Stage for the Next Era of Computing

– Deep integration points to new ‘Scale-In’ approach to system design from IBM
– Built-in ‘expertise’ makes new family of systems simple to run and manage
– Gives enterprises the ability to change the economics of IT

ARMONK, N.Y. – 11 Apr 2012: IBM today announced a major step forward in a new, simpler era of computing with the introduction of a new category of “expert integrated systems.” This new family is the first with built-in expertise based on IBM’s decades of experience running IT operations for tens of thousands of clients in 170 countries.

IBM’s expert integrated systems family – PureSystems – is the result of $2 billion in R&D and acquisitions over four years, an unprecedented move by IBM to integrate all IT elements, both physical and virtual. The new systems family offers clients an alternative to today’s enterprise computing model, where multiple and disparate systems require significant resources to set up and maintain. (more…)

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U.S. Students Need New Way of Learning Science

EAST LANSING, Mich. — American students need a dramatically new approach to improve how they learn science, says a noted group of scientists and educators led by Michigan State University professor William Schmidt.

After six years of work, the group has proposed a solution. The 8+1 Science concept calls for a radical overhaul in K-12 schools that moves away from memorizing scientific facts and focuses on helping students understand eight fundamental science concepts. The “plus one” is the importance of inquiry, the practice of asking why things happen around us – and a fundamental part of science. (more…)

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Many Young People Would Rather Surf the Web than Drive a Car

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— More young adults today would rather hit the information highway than the open highway, say University of Michigan researchers.

In a new study in the journal Traffic Injury Prevention, Michael Sivak and Brandon Schoettle of the U-M Transportation Research Institute found that having a higher proportion of Internet users was associated with lower licensure rates among young persons.

And this is just not in the United States; it’s happening in other countries, too. (more…)

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Yale Center for British Art to partner with Google on expanded Art Project

The Yale Center for British Art is partnering with the Google Art Project to share the museum’s renowned collections with viewers around the world. The collaboration is part of a major global expansion of the pioneering Art Project, which now consists of 151 partners in 40 countries.

The Yale Center for British Art — which houses the largest collection of British art outside the United Kingdom — is one of only six university museums in the world to collaborate with Google. It is one of only 29 institutions in the United States and is the only museum in Connecticut to participate. (more…)

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Seeing Double: 1 in 30 Babies Born in U.S. is a Twin

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Women having children at older ages and the growing availability of fertility treatments has led to a marked increase in the birth of twins: In 2009, one in every 30 babies born in the United States was a twin compared with one in every 53 in 1980.

The findings, presented by Michigan State University’s Barbara Luke this week at the 14th Congress of the International Society of Twin Studies in Florence, Italy, have important health implications, including greater morbidity and mortality risks and higher health care costs. (more…)

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Mapping Grasslands for Biofuel Potential

USGS scientists have developed a new method for mapping grasslands that demonstrate high potential for growing biofuel crops with relatively little energy input and environmental impact.

The pioneering investigation used remote sensing data from satellites to identify detailed areas of the Greater Platte River Basin (most of Nebraska, parts of adjacent states) that are best suited for producing cellulosic (from the cell walls of plants) biofuel derived from hardy switchgrass, a native plant that grows wild or is easily cultivated. (more…)

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