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Another Yale Nobel: Robert Shiller

Robert J. Shiller, the Sterling Professor of Economics at Yale University, has been awarded a Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences. He shares the award — formally, the 2013 Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel — with Eugene F. Fama and Lars Peter Hansen from the University of Chicago. According to the Nobel committee, the three were honored “for their empirical analysis of asset prices.”

Shiller, whose name became a household word with the wide use of the Case-Shiller Home Price real estate Index, came to national prominence with the publication in 2000 of “Irrational Exuberance.” The book, which quickly became a bestseller, described speculative bubbles fueled by mass misinformation and herd instinct, and accurately predicted the dot.com implosion. As early as 2003, Shiller warned of the housing market collapse, and later wrote a precept for recovery, “Subprime Solution: How the Global Financial Crisis Happened and What to Do about It.” (more…)

Steel drum band

UD’s Price uses music to unite children of different backgrounds

Turmoil has long existed in the Middle East. Now, one University of Delaware faculty member is doing his part to help bring about peace as part of an intrepid music project. (more…)

UA Researchers Investigating How Oceans Function Without Oxygen

Studying phages, viruses that infect bacteria, can help researchers to better understand how portions of the world’s oceans function without oxygen

Though small, viruses could hold the secrets of how vast portions of the world’s oceans function without oxygen. (more…)

History of fight for rights of LGBT parents to be preserved at Yale

The Yale University Library and the Family Equality Council are partnering to preserve the history of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) parent equality movement.

It was announced on Oct. 10 that Family Equality, which represents the 3 million LGBT parents in America and their 6 million children, will deed to Yale all historical materials related to the organization and its role in the LGBT family equality movement. The agreement ensures the preservation of more than 30 years of materials related to the founding, growth, and expansion of Family Equality, and documents the organization’s ongoing efforts to advance equality for families with LGBT parents. (more…)

Want ripples on your icicles? University of Toronto scientists suggest adding salt

TORONTO, ON – Though it’s barely the beginning of autumn, scientists at the University of Toronto are one step closer to explaining why winter’s icicles form with Michelin Man-like ripples on their elongated shapes.

Experimental physicist Stephen Morris and PhD candidate Antony Szu-Han Chen were spurred to investigate by the ripples that appear around the circumference of icicles that occur naturally. It has been theorized that the ripples are the result of surface tension effects in the thin water film that flows over the ice as it forms. Their investigation revealed that the actual culprit is salt. (more…)

Mehr Naturschutz in nordrhein-westfälischen Wäldern

NABU-Vollversammlung tagte in Erkrath | Neue Waldstrategie für NRW gefordert

Düsseldorf – Rund 200 Delegierte aus 52 nordrhein-westfälischen Kreis- und Stadtverbänden des NABU NRW trafen sich am Sonntag in Erkrath zur jährlichen Landesvertreterversammlung und begrüßten unter anderem NABU-Präsident Olaf Tschimpke und MdB Bärbel Höhn, die als Schirmherrin der NABU-Stiftung Naturerbe NRW ins Bürgerhaus gekommen war. Den Erhalt vielfältiger Lebensräume mit ihrer großen Zahl heimischer Arten dauerhaft sicherzustellen, sei nach wie vor eine der großen Herausforderungen dieser Zeit, darin waren sich beide Redner einig. Die Weichen für eine zukunftsfähige Natur- und Umweltschutzpolitik müssten dazu auf Bundesebene nun aber neu gestellt werden. Landespolitisch forderten die NABU-Delegierten eine neue Waldstrategie für die nordrhein-westfälischen Wälder. (more…)

Mobile App Challenge offers innovators a chance to develop their ideas into real-world apps

The UChicago App Challenge is now open to any and all ideas from faculty, staff and students for mobile applications.

Back for a third year, the app challenge is run by IT Services, The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship, and UChicagoTech to give participants the chance to develop ideas while addressing a real problem or need.

“The app challenge has contributed to the overall environment of innovation and entrepreneurship throughout the University,” said Klara Jelinkova, senior associate vice president and chief information technology officer. “With all the great ideas circulating around this campus, the app challenge has given people without technical training a chance to join a team and create an app with high value to the entire community.” (more…)

First Step to Reduce Plant Need for Nitrogen Fertilizer Uncovered in Science Study

MU scientists say discovery could save farmers billions and protect the environment.

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Nitrogen fertilizer costs U.S. farmers approximately $8 billion each year, and excess fertilizer can find its way into rivers and streams, damaging the delicate water systems. Now, a discovery by a team of University of Missouri researchers could be the first step toward helping crops use less nitrogen, benefitting both farmers’ bottom lines and the environment. The journal Science published the research this month.

Gary Stacey, an investigator in the MU Bond Life Sciences Center and professor of plant sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources, found that crops, such as corn, are “confused” when confronted with an invasive, but beneficial, bacteria known as rhizobia bacteria. When the bacteria interact correctly with a crop, the bacteria receive some food from the plant and, simultaneously, produce nitrogen that most plants need. In his study, Stacey found that many other crops recognize the bacteria, but do not attempt to interact closely with them. (more…)