Technology

Wild Pockets: Girl Geek Leads 3-D Gamer Revolution

*Shanna Tellerman is on her game as CEO of BizSpark One startup Wild Pockets.*

REDMOND, Wash. — Wild Pockets, a BizSpark One startup, is building the future of open source gaming.

Shanna Tellerman had no intention of becoming the CEO of a high-tech company. In college, she was intent on pursuing a career in art. It wasn’t until she took a course that combined art and technology at Carnegie Mellon University that she had the idea that she could marry the two fields. While at Carnegie Mellon, Tellerman worked on a project that used video game technology as a training method for first responders in emergency situations. The result was a drag-and-drop user interface that let people set up almost any kind of firefighting scenario. Her solution was so easy to use that it quickly became popular with fire departments across the U.S. (more…)

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The War on Microbes

The outbreak of a new foodborne bacterial strain wreaking havoc in Germany is a reminder of the fast-changing nature of microbes and the dangers they pose to society. UA researchers are developing innovative strategies to fight emerging germs threatening the food and health-care industry. (more…)

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

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…)

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Study Reveals Important Aspects of Signalling Across Cell Membranes in Plants

*Plant receptors use different signalling method than do animal receptors*

Every living plant cell and animal cell is surrounded by a membrane. These cellular membranes contain receptor molecules that serve as the cell’s eyes and ears, and help it communicate with other cells and with the outside world.

The receptor molecules accomplish three basic things in the communication process: 1) recognize an outside signal, 2) transport that signal across the cell’s membrane and 3) initiate the reading of the signal inside the cell and then initiate the cell’s response to that signal. These steps are collectively known as transmembrane signaling. (more…)

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Yale to Receive Kissinger Papers and Establish the Johnson Center for the Study of American Diplomacy

President Richard C. Levin today announced that Dr. Henry A. Kissinger will donate his papers to Yale University. The collection, which consists of approximately one million documents and objects covering Dr. Kissinger’s extraordinary life as a diplomat, scholar, teacher, and private citizen, will enhance Yale’s existing strengths as an archival repository for major 20th century American leaders. Yale already holds the papers of renowned former diplomats and alumni Henry Stimson (Class of 1888), Dean Acheson (Class of 1915), and Cyrus Vance (Class of 1939, LAW ’42), as well as those of President Woodrow Wilson’s most influential adviser, “Colonel” Edward House. (more…)

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Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone Severely Impairs Reproduction in Atlantic Croaker, Researchers Find

AUSTIN, Texas — Atlantic croaker living in the large Gulf of Mexico “Dead Zone” exhibit severe reproductive impairment with potential long-term impacts on the fish’s population abundance, researchers from The University of Texas at Austin’s Marine Science Institute have found.

Males and females were found to produce dramatically fewer sperm and eggs. In addition, females in the hypoxic Dead Zone waters were masculinized — some 20 percent actually produced sperm in their ovaries. The sex ratio was also heavily skewed toward males in the hypoxic area. (more…)

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IBM Turns 100

Chairman and CEO Samuel J. Palmisano Says Managing for the Long Term Will Drive Growth for Next 100 Years

ARMONK, N.Y., – 16 Jun 2011: IBM today is marking the 100th anniversary of its founding on June 16, 1911. To celebrate the milestone, the company is releasing a book, “Making the World Work Better: The Ideas That Shaped a Century and a Company,” debuting a new film, “Wild Ducks,” and ringing the Opening Bell at the New York Stock Exchange. (more…)

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