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Little Things Mean A Lot

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Apr 27, 2010

Hey! You! Get Off Of My Cloud Computing!

Cloud computing is a buzzword among tech cognoscenti these days. Its proponents say that it can give people and institutions access to greater computer power than they could otherwise afford by running their programs in a collection of computers and servers located, well, somewhere else. But there are risks too – not least ofwhich…

2010年4月26日

Don’t Thank Your (Un)lucky Stars

This is an election year, and the fact that there was a surge in voting by young people in the last election has been lost on nobody. Conventional wisdom, and some studies, say that celebrities can help encourage young people to become politically active. But while celebrities may (or may not) be able toget…

Apr 23, 2010

Trash May Be (Energy) Treasure Trove

Earlier this month, a New York Times article highlighted the fact that European countries are burning garbage as a renewable source of energy – but that similar efforts in the United States are lagging behind. The article cites a 2009 study which “came down strongly in favor of waste-to-energy (WTE) plants over landfills asthe…

Apr 22, 2010

“Mom, watching music videos is my homework!”

Let’s face it: This generation of students absorbs information different than past generations. They are fed a constant stream of information – outside the classroom – through sites like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. So, is there any wonder they have a hard time being engaged in a static classroom? Teachers and school administrators understandthat…

Apr 21, 2010

强调宠物和Helpful Vets – Ongoing Clinical Trials at NC State

数控Veterin学院ary Medicine is constantly conducting clinical trials that are aimed at treating everything from stressed-out dogs and cats to more serious diseases such as epilepsy and cancer. To see a list of current clinical trials and to find out if your pet may qualify, gohere.

Apr 21, 2010

The Buzz On Bees

The plight of honeybees has been the focus of a lot of media attention, as bee populations around the country have plummeted due to colony collapse disorder and other factors. But Dr. David Tarpy, whose research focuses on improving bee health and productivity, is doing something about it. Tarpy, an entomology professor at NC State和…

Apr 20, 2010

Get Smart

Agent 86 would be proud. Dr. Jay Narayan led the way in the development of “smart sensors,” integrating a sensor material called vanadium oxide with silicon chips to create sensors that can manipulate and respond to information (it has to do with something called “domain matching epitaxy”). These sensors are used in a varietyof…

Apr 20, 2010

Note to Teachers: Stay in School

Retaining beginning teachers is a continuing problem in the United States – and around the world. Approximately one-third of all new teachers leave the profession within their first three years of teaching, increasing to nearly 50 percent after the first five years. Scary figures considering the importance great teachers make in the lives ofour…

Apr 19, 2010

Take Two … and Lose a Liver

Wouldn’t it be great if you knew that Tylenol – or some other drug – was bad for your health before you took it? To study ways of predicting drug toxicity to humans, Dr. David Threadgill, professor and head of genetics, examined mouse genes. Threadgill and colleagues published a paper in Genome Research thatfound…

Apr 19, 2010

The Physics of Falling Fruit

Picture this – you’re at the store, in a hurry, and you just need to grab a couple of apples, so you head over to the produce section and pluck a likely looking specimen from the pile…only to watch in horror as the entire pyramid of golden delicious topples at your feet. If you’veever…

Apr 19, 2010

Little Things Mean A Lot

It is widely thought that advances in the use of engineered nanoscale materials will have significant impacts on fields ranging from medicine to electronics – but how do we get there from here? We are talking about manufacturing and manipulating things so small it’s difficult to conceptualize what we’re talking about. After all, WilliamPowell…