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X-Ray Telescope Finds New Voracious Black Holes in Early Universe

By Guest PostJune 17, 2011Sciencebig bang, black holes, cdfs, chandra, chandra deep field south, chandra x ray observatory, cosmic dawn, cosmic fog, early universe, eric gawiser, ezequiel treister, galaxies, giant black holes, Hubble Space Telescope, kevin schawinski, marta volonteri, massive black holes, NASA, neutral hydrogen, new jersey, optical and infrared images, photons, physics, priya natarajan, quasars, reionization, Rutgers University, supermassive black holes, university of hawaii, university of michigan, x ray image, yale university, young black holes

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Using the deepest X-ray image ever taken, a University of Michigan astronomer and her colleagues have found the first direct evidence that massive black holes were common in the early universe. This discovery from NASA’s Chandra X-ray Observatory shows that very young black holes grew more aggressively than previously thought, in tandem with the growth of their host galaxies.

By pointing Chandra at a patch of sky for over six weeks, astronomers obtained what is known as the Chandra Deep Field South (CDFS). When combined with very deep optical and infrared images from NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope, the new Chandra data allowed astronomers to search for black holes in 200 distant galaxies, from when the universe was between about 800 million and 950 million years old. (more…)

‘Dead’ Galaxies Aren’t So Dead After All

By Guest PostJune 1, 2011Sciencealyson ford, astronomers, constellation leo, dead galaxies, elliptical galaxies, ellipticals, galaxies, Hubble Space Telescope, joel bregman, messier 105, Milky Way, million light years, old galaxies, spiral galaxies, star clusters, ultraviolet images, university of michigan, wide field camera 3, young stars

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— University of Michigan astronomers examined old galaxies and were surprised to discover that they are still making new stars. The results provide insights into how galaxies evolve with time.

U-M research fellow Alyson Ford and astronomy professor Joel Bregman presented their findings May 31 at a meeting of the Canadian Astronomical Society in London, Ontario. (more…)

Persuasive Speech: The Way We, Um, Talk Sways Our Listeners

By Guest PostMay 18, 2011Culture, Scienceinstitute for social research, isr, james earl jones, jessica broome, jose benki, julia child, larynx, national science foundation, pitch, psychology of language, speech characteristics, telephone interviewers, university of michigan, variation in the pitch, voice box

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Want to convince someone to do something? A new University of Michigan study has some intriguing insights drawn from how we speak.

The study, presented May 14 at the annual meeting of the American Association for Public Opinion Research, examines how various speech characteristics influence people’s decisions to participate in telephone surveys. But its findings have implications for many other situations, from closing sales to swaying voters and getting stubborn spouses to see things your way. (more…)

Firms Use Media Coverage to Influence Merger Negotiations

By Guest PostApril 29, 2011Economy, Mediacompanies, corporate press releases, denis sosyura, kenneth ahern, merger negotiations, merger talks, positive effect on stock returns, ross school, stock exchange ratio, stock issues, stock prices, stock trading, strategic use of media, university of michigan, who writes the news

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Companies involved in merger talks manipulate their stock prices during negotiations by releasing more news than usual, according to a University of Michigan study.

“Media coverage has a significant effect on stock trading and returns,” said Kenneth Ahern, assistant professor of finance at U-M’s Ross School of Business. “Even stale news, if widely publicized, can dramatically raise short-term returns and influence prices of large and widely followed stocks in the S&P 500.”

In their study, “Who Writes the News? Corporate Press Releases during Merger Negotiations,” Ahern and Ross School colleague Denis Sosyura examined more than 500 completed stock mergers of large U.S. publicly traded firms from 2000 to 2008. They studied the frequency and content of news releases issued by acquiring firms, and analyzed more than 617,000 articles in 421 newspapers and newswires worldwide. (more…)

Melting Ice on Arctic Islands a Major Player in Sea Level Rise

By Guest PostApril 25, 2011Environmentalaska, alex gardner, Antarctica, canadian arctic, canadian arctic archipelago, canadian arctic islands, climate, earth, gravimetry, gravitational field, greenland, ice caps, lake erie, melting glaciers, melting of glacier ice, mountain glaciers, numerical simulation, patagonia, sea-level rise, temperatures, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Melting glaciers and ice caps on Canadian Arctic islands play a much greater role in sea level rise than scientists previously thought, according to a new study led by a University of Michigan researcher.

The 550,000-square-mile Canadian Arctic Archipelago contains some 30,000 islands. Between 2004 and 2009, the region lost the equivalent of three-quarters of the water in Lake Erie, the study found. Warmer-than-usual temperatures in those years caused a rapid increase in the melting of glacier ice and snow, said Alex Gardner, a research fellow in the Department of Atmospheric, Oceanic and Space Sciences who led the project. The study is published online in Nature on April 20. (more…)

Researchers Inject Nanofiber Spheres Carrying Cells into Wounds to Grow Tissue

By Guest PostApril 25, 2011Health, Sciencebiodegradable nanofibers, biodegradable polymers, cell carrier, cell matrix, cells, donor tissue, nanofiber spheres, natural environment, peter ma, university of michigan, wounds

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— For the first time, scientists have made star-shaped, biodegradable polymers that can self-assemble into hollow, nanofiber spheres, and when the spheres are injected with cells into wounds, these spheres biodegrade, but the cells live on to form new tissue.

Developing this nanofiber sphere as a cell carrier that simulates the natural growing environment of the cell is a very significant advance in tissue repair, says Peter Ma, professor at the University of Michigan School of Dentistry and lead author of a paper about the research scheduled for advanced online publication in Nature Materials. Co-authors are Xiaohua Liu and Xiaobing Jin. (more…)

Invasive Mussels Causing Massive Ecological Changes in Great Lakes

By Guest PostApril 23, 2011Environmentalgal production, diporeia, donald scavia, ecosystem, food web, gary fahnenstiel, great lakes, great lakes food web, huron, lake huron, lake michigan, lake superior, mary anne evans, michigan, mussels, non native mussels, quagga, silica levels, university of michigan, zebra, zebra mussels

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The ongoing spread of non-native mussels in the Great Lakes has caused “massive, ecosystem-wide changes” throughout lakes Michigan and Huron, two of the planet’s largest freshwater lakes, according to a new University of Michigan-led study.

The blitzkrieg advance of two closely related species of mussels—the zebra and quagga—is stripping the lakes of their life-supporting algae, resulting in a remarkable ecological transformation and threatening the multibillion-dollar U.S. commercial and recreational Great Lakes fisheries. (more…)

Readability of Annual Reports Affects Accuracy of Analyst Forecasts

By Guest PostApril 15, 2011Economy10-k reports, accounting review, analyst behavior, earnings reports, less readable disclosures, university of michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich.—Stock analysts’ earnings forecasts for companies with hard-to-read annual financial reports are more informative, but less accurate, say University of Michigan researchers.

A new journal article in the May issue of Accounting Review shows that sell-side financial analysts expend greater effort to generate earnings forecasts of publicly traded firms with less readable 10-K filings. This increased effort by analysts results in earnings reports to investors that contain more information—but less accuracy and greater uncertainty. (more…)

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