Technology

Analysis of Greenland Ice Cores Adds to Historical Record and May Provide Glimpse into Climate’s Future

The International North Greenland Eemian Ice Drilling (NEEM) project results indicate that melting of Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea level rise than melting of the Greeland ice sheet some 100,000 years ago

A new study that provides surprising details on changes in Earth’s climate from more than 100,000 years ago indicates that the last interglacial–the period between “ice ages”–was warmer than previously thought and may be a good analog for future climate, as greenhouse gases increase in the atmosphere and global temperatures rise.

The research findings also indicate that melting of the massive West Antarctic ice sheet may have contributed more to sea-level rise at that time than melting of the Greenland ice sheet. (more…)

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IBM Delivers New Services to Help Clients Move Enterprise Applications to the Cloud

Financial, healthcare, government and electronics clients tap IBM SmartCloud Enterprise+;
IBM SmartCloud for SAP Applications now available globally

ARMONK, N.Y. – 29 Jan 2013: IBM today announced global availability for its cloud service on five continents—plus a new center opening in Spain—based on its industry-leading sourcing business to host SAP® applications and other core operations. Now clients can turn to cloud computing for enterprise applications while reducing the overall cost of IT and at the same time, expanding online access and investing in innovative analytics, social business and mobile computing.

Many organizations are eager to leverage the economic advantages of cloud computing to run their critical applications on the cloud. These applications require deep technical expertise, around-the-clock customer service, tight security and ongoing maintenance – features typically found in IT sourcing arrangements but not in the “one-size-fits-all” model of self-service clouds. (more…)

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Tests Conducted on Israel’s Ariel Sharon Reveal Significant Brain Activity

Scientists use new methods developed by UCLA’s Martin Monti

A team of American and Israeli brain scientists tested former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to assess his brain responses, using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). Surprisingly, Sharon showed significant brain activity.

The team consisted of Martin Monti, an assistant professor of psychology and neurosurgery at UCLA, professors Alon Friedman, Galia Avidan and Tzvi Ganel of the Zlotowski Center for Neuroscience at Israel’s Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, and Dr. Ilan Shelef, head of medical imaging at Israel’s Soroka University Medical Center. (more…)

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Student’s Curiosity Produces Ecological Buzz

Students studying what they love is a well-established principle at Brown. For Tyler Coverdale, that meant the outdoors, the environment, and, ultimately, some provocative research on Cape Cod salt marshes through GIS-assisted analysis of historical aerial photography. He loves it.

Tyler Coverdale’s newly published study in Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment on the collapse of salt marsh habitats along Cape Cod tells an intriguing, if unfortunate, tale of how three different human activities spanning 70 years finally added up to a problem that no one anticipated. The story of how he made the discovery — which is generating some buzz in ecology — while a Brown undergraduate is a tale of happier serendipities. (more…)

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Vocabulary Instruction Failing U.S. Students

Vocabulary instruction in the early years is not challenging enough to prepare students for long-term reading comprehension, argues a study led by a Michigan State University education researcher.

The study, which appears in Elementary School Journal, analyzed commonly used reading curricula in U.S. kindergarten classrooms. It found that, generally, the programs do not teach enough vocabulary words; the words aren’t challenging enough; and not enough focus is given to make sure students understand the meaning of the words. (more…)

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