Tag Archives: university

CU-Boulder Team Develops Swarm of Pingpong Ball-Sized Robots

By Guest PostDecember 19, 2012Science, Technology20 robots, behaviors, career, collaborating cells, colorado boulder, droplets, dustin reishus, fictional nanomorphs, intelligent robotic devices, joseph tanner, liquid that thinks, nick farrow, nikolaus correll, pattern recognition, pingpong ball, robot, robotic building block, robotics, sensor based motion, terminator films, university

University of Colorado Boulder Assistant Professor Nikolaus Correll likes to think in multiples. If one robot can accomplish a singular task, think how much more could be accomplished if you had hundreds of them.

Correll and his computer science research team, including research associate Dustin Reishus and professional research assistant Nick Farrow, have developed a basic robotic building block, which he hopes to reproduce in large quantities to develop increasingly complex systems.

Recently the team created a swarm of 20 robots, each the size of a pingpong ball, which they call “droplets.” When the droplets swarm together, Correll said, they form a “liquid that thinks.” (more…)

Slinky Science Inspires African School Children

By Guest PostDecember 17, 2012Educationafrican school children, biological photonics, class, cosmetics, exeter, fundamental scientific ideas, glass prisms, interactive demonstration, iridescent butterflies, light sticks, malawi, mzuzu university, natural photonics, paper applications, pete vukusic, physicist, poorest area, pupils and teachers, slinky springs, southern africa, spring, teaching methods, university

A University of Exeter physicist has inspired hundreds of African school children to engage with science during a whirlwind outreach tour to Malawi.

Professor Pete Vukusic used simple interactive demonstrations including slinky springs, glass prisms, light sticks and iridescent butterflies to enthral large classes of pupils and teachers in underprivileged rural schools.

The charismatic lecturer combined use of the demos and an interactive and engaging teaching style to explain fundamental and modern science principles to students who are used to formal instructional teaching methods. Professor Vukusic hopes his visit will both help to inspire science learning in these schools and help their teachers adapt to more modern techniques that engage young people more effectively. (more…)

‘House Hunters Walrus’

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012Environment, Nature3d reconstruction, alaska, arctic basin, Arctic sea ice, bering sea, calibration, camera reconfiguration, camera system, chandra kambhamettu, chukchi sea, database, delaware, german research vessel, homes for walrus, ice floes, infrared backscatter, lidar, map, marine mammal, metric data, parallax, pixel resolution, polar bear cub, polar bears, polarstern, rohith kumar, russia, satellites, scott sorensen, sea ice thickness, stereo pair, surface topography, triangulation, university, vims, visual texture, walrus habitat, walrus weight

UD camera system records sea ice, identifies ideal walrus habitats

About the video: A University of Delaware research team led by Chandra Kambhamettu has developed a novel camera system to map the surface topography of Arctic sea ice, identifying the best “homes” for walrus.

Walrus use sea ice as a reproductive, migration and resting habitat. However, as sea ice melts and recedes, this marine mammal increasingly is threatened. (more…)

Exploding Star Missing From Formation of Solar System

By Guest PostDecember 16, 2012ScienceChicago, cosmic cloud, decay, energetic atom, exploding star, formation, gas, haolan tang, iron 60, meteorite, NASA, nicolas dauphas, notion, radioactive isotope, solar system, solar system material, spitzer space telescope, stellar explosion, supernova, time, university

A new study published by University of Chicago researchers challenges the notion that the force of an exploding star prompted the formation of the solar system.

In this study, published online last month in Earth and Planetary Science Letters, authors Haolan Tang and Nicolas Dauphas found the radioactive isotope iron 60 — the telltale sign of an exploding star—low in abundance and well mixed in solar system material. As cosmochemists, they look for remnants of stellar explosions in meteorites to help determine the conditions under which the solar system formed. (more…)

Congress Works Better Than Many Think, New Research Shows

By Guest PostDecember 15, 2012Politicscambridge university press, colorado boulder, conflict, congress, congressional productivity, democrat, factor, fiscal cliff, gridlocked institution, house, legislative agenda, Media, policy change, political friction, political science, president, republican, scott adler, senate, university, Washington

The perception of Congress as a gridlocked institution where little happens is overblown, according to new research by scholars at the University of Colorado Boulder and the University of Washington.

And the way much of Congress’ work gets done is through self-manufactured crises like the “fiscal cliff,” say political science professors Scott Adler of CU-Boulder and John Wilkerson of UW.

“Yes, Congress has taken on a more partisan tone in recent decades,” Adler said. “We do hear a lot about the conflicts between Democrats and Republicans on key pieces of legislation. But we’re also seeing Congress exceeding public expectations. Congress does govern.” (more…)

Monitoring Hurricanes: Georgia Tech Engineers Assist NASA with Instrument for Remotely Measuring Storm Intensity

By Guest PostDecember 14, 2012Environment, Scienceairborne system, analog beam former, aperture, array antenna, data, electromagnetic energy, electromagnetic radiation, fan beams, flight center, georgia, gigahertz range, glenn hopkins, global hawk, gtri, high winds, hirad, hurricane imaging radiometer, in the system, innovation research, jim maloney, knowledge, marshall, massachusetts, michigan, microwave, microwave radiation, minimizing noise, NASA, next generation system, noaa, numerical modeling, ocean waves, orbit, pacific frontal system, polarized array, project, prosensing, radiometer, rain rate, research institute, satellite, sbir, sea foam, sensitivity, small business, Space, spatial resolution, storm, surface wind speeds, synthetic, tech, timothy miller, university, wind direction

A device designed by engineers at the Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) is part of the Hurricane Imaging Radiometer (HIRAD), an experimental airborne system developed by the Earth Science Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

Known as an analog beam-former, the GTRI device is part of the radiometer, which is being tested by NASA on a Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle. The radiometer measures microwave radiation emitted by the sea foam that is produced when high winds blow across ocean waves. By measuring the electromagnetic radiation, scientists can remotely assess surface wind speeds at multiple locations within the hurricanes. (more…)

After the Storm, Haiti’s Food Situation Looks Bleak

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Economy, Environment, Politicsafter the storm, aftermath, agriculture, athena kolbe, bleak outlook, chronic underdevelopment, destruction, economic efforts, Economy, education, employment, farmers, financial assistance, food crisis, food insecurity, haiti leaders, households, hurricane sandy, marie puccio, michigan, natural disaster, natural disasters, political scienc, rain triggered mudslides, robert muggah, southern haiti, university, urban center, village market, violent crime

ANN ARBOR — The aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, which ripped through southern Haiti in October, will extend beyond destruction and injury. The current and future food security looks bleak barring significant intervention during the next year, according to a University of Michigan report.

Rain-triggered mudslides throughout the country from the hurricane has not only washed out homes, but also roadways and bridges—bringing transportation to a near standstill, says Athena Kolbe, the report’s lead author and a U-M doctoral candidate in social work and political science. The natural disaster compounded Haiti’s long struggles to transport enough produce from the countryside to village markets and major urban centers. (more…)

Crowdsourcing Site Compiles New Sign Language for Math and Science

By Guest PostDecember 11, 2012Education, Scienceamerican sign language, asl, asl stem forum, byte, caroline solomon, crowdsourcing, dictionary, eukaryote, Europe, google corp, harry lang, kyle rector, lexicon of science, light year, multimedia feature, national science foundation, new york times, organism, photosynthesis, raja kushalnagar, richard ladner, science signs lexicon, sign language, united states, university, urban dictionary, Washington, Wikipedia

A multimedia feature published this week in the New York Times, “Pushing Science’s Limits in Sign Language Lexicon,” outlines efforts in the United States and Europe to develop sign language versions of specialized terms used in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The article shares newly defined signs for terms like “light-year,” “organism” and “photosynthesis.” It also describes a successful crowdsourcing effort started at the University of Washington in 2008 that lets members of the deaf and hard-of-hearing community build their own guide to the evolving lexicon of science.

“It’s not a dictionary,” explained Richard Ladner, a UW professor of computer science and engineering. “The goal of the forum is to be constantly changing, a reflection of the current use.” (more…)