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El Zotz Masks Yield Insights into Maya beliefs

A team of archaeologists led by Stephen Houston has made a new discovery at the Maya archaeological site in El Zotz, Guatemala, uncovering a pyramid believed to celebrate the Maya sun god. The structure’s outer walls depict the god in an unprecedented set of images done in painted stucco. In 2010, the team uncovered a royal tomb filled with artifacts and human remains at the same site. Researchers believe the pyramid was built to link the deceased lord to the eternal sun.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — A team of archaeologists led by Brown University’s Stephen Houston has uncovered a pyramid, part of the Maya archaeological site at El Zotz, Guatemala. The ornately decorated structure is topped by a temple covered in a series of masks depicting different phases of the sun, as well as deeply modeled and vibrantly painted stucco throughout.

The team began uncovering the temple, called the Temple of the Night Sun, in 2009. Dating to about 350 to 400 A.D., the temple sits just behind the previously discovered royal tomb, atop the Diablo Pyramid. The structure was likely built after the tomb to venerate the leader buried there. (more…)

comScore and Facebook Release European Insights About Earned and Paid Media Reach and Effectiveness

Facebook Paid Advertising Generated 130 Percent Uplift in Purchase Behaviour on Asos.com in 4-Week Period Following Campaign Exposure

London, UK, 18 July 2012 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, and Facebook today released the third white paper in The Power of Like series, The Power of Like Europe: How Social Marketing Works for Retail Brands, focusing on European retail brands such as ASOS, H&M, La Redoute, Topshop and Zara. This research illustrates how these popular consumer brands are utilising Facebook to deliver media impressions at scale, achieve brand amplification and resonance, and ultimately drive desired behaviours among key customer segments. The analysis leverages data and insights from the comScore Social Essentials™ and comScore AdEffx™ products. To download a complimentary copy of the report, please visit: www.comscore.com/likeEU.

“The findings from this study offer several valuable insights to brand marketers and advertisers who want to better understand the marketing effectiveness of their paid and earned media campaigns on Facebook,” said Mike Shaw, Director of Marketing Solutions at comScore. “With a framework for measuring the value and impact of paid and earned media campaigns, brands will gain the insights needed to optimize their social marketing efforts. While every campaign is unique and may vary in its ultimate effectiveness, this research demonstrates how Facebook marketing can be effective in reaching consumers and influencing their actual purchase behaviour.” (more…)

More than Matters of the Heart

A team of researchers, including Mary-Frances O’Connor at the UA, has found a genetic variability linked to stress and inflammation that may impact the health of some widows and widowers

The death of a spouse can be one of life’s most distressing events, and for many years bereavement researchers have noted increased mortality risk in some widows and widowers. This has been called the “widowhood effect.” (more…)

Thieving Rodents: Did They Save Tropical Trees?

Rodents may have taken over seed-dispersal role of now-extinct mammals

Big seeds produced by tropical trees such as black palms were probably once ingested and then left whole by huge mammals called gomphotheres.

Gomphotheres weighed more than a ton and dispersed the seeds over large distances.

But these Neotropical creatures disappeared more than 10,000 years ago. So why aren’t large-seeded plants also extinct? (more…)

Solar Storm Protection

Warning system to protect astronauts from solar storms

Massive explosions on the sun unleash radiation that could kill astronauts in space. (more…)

Not Your Typical Summer Job for High School Students

The iCLEM Program Gives Students Hands-On Science Experience and a Salary

When we think of high school summer jobs what typically comes to mind are images of lawn-mowing, camp-counseling, life-guarding at a swimming pool, and baby-sitting. But for eight high school students from the East Bay Area, a job this summer means a lab coat and safety glasses, working in a state-of-the art microbiology research facility on the next-step in bioenergy. (more…)

Mobile Retail Commerce Rises While Social Shopping Drops in Second Quarter, Reports IBM

Consumers Buy More Per Online Transaction

Armonk, N.Y. – 16 Jul 2012: Mobile shopping rose while social media sales fell, providing an indication of where US retailers may invest in order to capture the attention and loyalty of the digital consumer, according to a new report from IBM. The IBM Retail Online Index, a cloud-based analysis of the online retail sector reported that retailers experienced 15 percent growth in sales from mobile devices but saw a 20 percent decline in sales traced to social media based on a much smaller base over this three-month period.

This report follows today’s news from the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Census Bureau which announced its estimates of U.S. retail and food services sales. According to the findings, retail sales fell 0.5 percent in June from May, the third straight month sales have been down from the month before. On a positive note, June 2012 sales were 3.8 percent above the pace of June 2011. (more…)

Largest Analysis of Public Opinions at Outbreak of World War I Challenges Popular Myth

A groundbreaking book presents new evidence that challenges the way we understand British and Irish responses to the outbreak of the First World War in 1914.

Almost 100 years since its outbreak, A Kingdom United presents the first ever fully-documented study of British and Irish popular reactions to the outbreak of the First World War. University of Exeter historian Dr Catriona Pennell has explored UK public opinion of the time and successfully challenges the myth of British ‘war enthusiasm’ and Irish disengagement.

Treating the UK as the state that it was in 1914 – the United Kingdom of Britain and Ireland – the research is based on a vast array of contemporary diaries, letters, journals and newspaper accounts from across the country. The book explores what people felt and how they acted in response to an unanticipated and unprecedented crisis. (more…)