University of Sydney Australia

Photons on demand now possible on hair's width optical chip

A breakthrough in photonics that will help create extremely compact optical chips, a hair's width in size and delivering a photon at a time, has been achieved by researchers from the University of Sydney.

"This result has applications in the development of complex quantum technologies, including completely secure communications, quantum measurement, the simulation of biological and chemical systems and of course quantum computing," said Dr Alex Clark, leader of the research team from the Australian Research Council Centre of Excellence for Ultrahigh Bandwidth Devices for Optical Systems (CUDOS).

Carried out at the University of Sydney's School of Physics, the research is published in Nature Communications.

See more at http://sydney.edu.au/news/84.html?newscategoryid=2&newsstoryid=12464

Université Laval Québec Canada

Des pansements de peau humaine pour soigner les ulcères cutanés

Des chercheurs de la Faculté de médecine de l’Université Laval et du CHU de Québec viennent de démontrer qu'il est possible de soigner des ulcères veineux réfractaires aux traitements courants en utilisant des pansements faits de substituts de peau cultivés in vitro. Une étude publiée dans un récent numéro de la revue scientifique Advances in Skin and Wound Care montre que cette approche a permis de soigner les ulcères veineux de personnes aux prises depuis des mois avec de telles plaies au niveau des jambes

En savoir plus : http://www.relationsmedias.ulaval.ca/comm/2013/octobre/des-pansements-peau-humaine-pour-soigner-3362.html

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University of Washington

UW researchers helped draft international assessment of climate change

The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change late last week released its summary for policy-makers, the Cliffs Notes version of the massive international assessment released about every six years.

The full text of the fifth IPCC report was released today, and University of Washington atmospheric science professors Dennis Hartmann and Chris Bretherton were among 209 researchers from 39 countries who were lead authors on the 900-page report.

“Warming is unequivocal,” Hartmann said Friday at a news conference in Sweden. He was a coordinating lead author for Chapter 2, Observations of Atmosphere and Surface, which reviews the evidence for global warming in temperature records. Hartmann also helped draft the technical summary and the summary for policymakers, and was in Stockholm last week for the final line-by-line reviews of the 36-page summary document.

See more at http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/09/30/uw-researchers-helped-draft-international-assessment-of-climate-change/

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Université du Québec à Montréal

Sur les berges du Rhône

Camille Larivée-Gauvreau, étudiante en histoire de l'art, raconte son séjour d'étude à Lyon.

« Un mois s’est écoulé depuis mon arrivée à Lyon, le 2 septembre dernier, et ce fut un mois intense ! Les deux premières semaines ont été particulièrement éprouvantes, car je devais dénicher rapidement un appartement, une tâche toujours ardue. Après avoir effectué plusieurs recherches, j'ai finalement trouvé un charmant petit studio en périphérie de Lyon.  Situé dans un jardin luxuriant, il appartient à un couple de Lyonnais extrêmement accueillant et sympathique. Une fois installée, il fallait que j'organise ma vie quotidienne et j'ai dû régler mille et un détails, comme obtenir un certificat de scolarité auprès du Service des relations internationales de l'Université Lyon 2 Lumière, ouvrir un compte bancaire français, me procurer un cellulaire, etc.

Quelques jours après mon arrivée, je suis allée à une réunion d’accueil des étudiants étrangers. L'Université Lyon 2 Lumière compte environ 500 étudiants étrangers, inscrits pour un trimestre ou deux. Plusieurs d'entre eux viennent perfectionner leur français, car Lyon 2 Lumière a développé un important Département de langues. Afin de faciliter notre intégration, le Service des relations internationales de l'université a organisé plusieurs activités culturelles au cours des premières semaines, notamment une visite guidée de Lyon conçue par des étudiantes en histoire de l’art. »

See more at  http://www.actualites.uqam.ca/2013/2975-une-uqamienne-lyon-les-berges-rhone

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University of Wisconsin La Crosse

Nobel Prize Winner gives public lecture Oct. 10

A recent Nobel Prize Winner who studies a mysterious world where particles don’t behave according to the classic laws of physics will visit UW-La Crosse in October.

David Wineland, 2012 Nobel Prize Winner in physics, will give a public lecture “Superposition, Entanglement and Raising Schrodinger’s Cat” at 5 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 10, in  Skogen Auditorium A, room 1400 Centennial Hall. He’ll also present a physics seminar, join students in physics classes and meet with faculty and staff.

Wineland will share his career path in physics, which began in graduate school.

“I hope I can convey a bit that this is fun — certainly the physics part has never felt like work for me,” he says. Secondly, he tries to show students that he’s a lot like them.

“There is not any magic to having won the prize,” he says. “I found something I liked and I worked hard at it.”

Wineland studies the branch of physics called quantum mechanics where the uncertainty and randomness of tiny particles of light and matter have perpetually puzzled scientists. An example of the mystery is the phenomena of superposition where a quantum particle — such as an electrically charged atom or ion — can be in two different places at once. Such a state is difficult to imagine in the macroscopic world.

See more at http://news.uwlax.edu/nobel-prize-winner-gives-public-lecture-oct-10/

Grand Valley State University, Allendale, Michigan

Engineering students retrofit well-known musical fountain

A group of Grand Valley engineering students designed and installed an updated program that operates the 50-year-old musical water fountain in Grand Haven.  
The project began when Terry Stevens, adjunct professor of engineering, was contacted by the City of Grand Haven to retrofit the fountain. Stevens performed the first fountain upgrade 30 years ago and thought the project would be a good opportunity for students in his manufacturing controls class.
During the 12-week summer course, students worked in groups to create new control panel designs that would allow old songs and functionality to be used in a new system. A group’s design was chosen, and pieces and concepts from other students’ designs were incorporated in the final plan. -

See more at

http://www.gvsu.edu/gvnow/index.htm?articleId=2E1E4489-F38E-772A-4FC3372A6D3CB64D

University of Alberta Canada

New vision of Venus takes shape at UAlberta

The Re-birth of Venus: Fashion and the Venus Kallipygos, an exhibition in the U of A Department of Human Ecology, explores the influence of art on fashion using the mythical icon, whose curvy likeness is immortalized in everything from paintings to carved statues. The show also brings together the varied research of graduate students who co-curated their shared vision with assistant professor Anne Bissonnette.

See more at

http://news.ualberta.ca/newsarticles/2013/october/new-vision-of-venus-takes-shape-at-ualberta

UNSW Australia -University of New South Wales

Sunswift set to begin World Solar Challenge

The UNSW solar racing car will begin its 3000-kilometre journey from Darwin to Adelaide on Sunday 6 October, marking the start of the 2013 World Solar Challenge.

Thirty-two UNSW engineering and business students comprise the Sunswift team that built the sleek new vehicle.  

The UNSW car will start the race at 5am and will travel roughly 600 kilometres each day, making scheduled overnight stops at Katherine (6 Oct), Tennant Creek (7 Oct), Alice Springs (8 Oct), Coober Pedy (9 Oct) and Port Augusta (10 Oct) and finishing in Adelaide.

See more at

http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/technology/sunswift-set-begin-world-solar-challenge

Université Concordia Montréal Canada

How to stay sharp in retirement

Motivation is a key factor in preserving brainpower later in life, Concordia researchers show

Since October is Canada’s Healthy Workplace Month, it’s timely to ask: How does someone stay mentally fit after the 40-hour workweek is traded in for a gold watch?

The answer: The more you want to use your brain — and the more you enjoy doing it — the more likely you are to stay sharp as you age. This is according to findings recently published in the Journals of Gerontology: Psychological Sciences by a team of Concordia researchers.

The new study presents three major findings that can help forecast cognitive ability in one’s golden years.

See more at

http://www.concordia.ca/news/releases/2013/10/01/how-to-stay-sharpinretirement.html

Grand Valley State University

Hundreds of students from several Grand Valley State University-authorized charter schools got to have a hands-on experience making whispering poetry tubes at ArtPrize education days, hosted by the Grand Valley Charter Schools Office.

See more at http://www.gvsu.edu/gvnow/

Alabama state university

A new academy at ASU will enhance security at nuclear, electric and green-energy power installations across the nation.

Alabama State University has teamed with industry leader Total Protection Services (TPS) to launch a nuclear protection academy (the Academy or NuclearPro) to train and educate nuclear and energy facility security professionals worldwide.

The ASU and TPS public/private sector partnership was announced today by ASU Board of Trustees chairman Elton N. Dean after the vote and approval of the Board. This is a first-of-its-kind initiative to provide comprehensive training for current and future security professionals who will offer infrastructure protection services to nuclear, electric and green-energy power installations.

See more at http://www.alasu.edu/news/news-details/index.aspx?nid=1374

Université de Sherbrooke

Découverte majeure : les protéines alternatives

Les protéines répertoriées chez l’humain sont largement sous-estiméesDes chercheurs de l’UdeS ajoutent un degré de profondeur à notre compréhension des mécanismes moléculaires et démontrent que le nombre de protéines répertoriées chez l’humain est largement sous-estimé. L’équipe du biochimiste Xavier Roucou, de la Faculté de médecine et des sciences de la santé, a détecté de nouvelles protéines nommées «protéines alternatives» qui pourraient jouer un rôle dans de nombreuses maladies dont l’ataxie spinocérébelleuse de type 1, une maladie neurodégénérative.

See more at http://www.usherbrooke.ca/medias/communiques/2013/septembre/communiques-detail/c/22905/

Energy Supply Problem 2.0

A UA engineering professor hopes to swap rare-earth minerals withe more abundant substitutes.

For all the guff given traditional energy technology for relying on an ever-dwindling supply of oil and coal, emerging green energy technology faces a similar supply problem, just direr.

Efficient electric machines are looked to as crucial to emerging energy industries, powering green technology such as electric cars and helping wind turbines make electricity. Unfortunately, they are powered by a hard-to-process global supply of certain naturally-magnetic minerals that grow costlier as demand increases. In fact, the United States Department of Energy estimates usage of electric vehicles and offshore wind farms could create a shortage of these minerals as early as 2015.

A University of Alabama engineering professor hopes to swap these rare-earth minerals with more abundant substitutes to drive down costs and encourage swifter adoption.

See more at http://research.ua.edu/2013/07/energy-supply-problem-2-0/

Université de Sherbrooke

Le cancer du sein est le cancer le plus courant chez les femmes. L’équipe du biologiste Luc Gaudreau vient de mettre en évidence un mécanisme qui explique comment certains pesticides contribuent au développement de la maladie.

See more at :

http://www.usherbrooke.ca/medias/nouvelles/actualites/actualites-details/article/22809/

Alberta Canada, Cambridge United kingdom et USNW Australia

University of Alberta Canada

New class of drug targets heart disease

UAlberta researchers create drug that replaces key peptide linked with heart failure, diabetes and high blood pressure.

Researchers at the University of Alberta have developed a synthetic peptide that could be the first in a new class of drugs to treat heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes.

Researchers at the University of Alberta found that a deficiency in the peptide apelin is associated with heart failure, pulmonary hypertension and diabetes. They also developed a synthetic version that targets pathways in the heart and promotes blood vessel growth.

Lead author Gavin Oudit, an associate professor in the Faculty of Medicine & Dentistry, said the synthetic form of apelin is far more stable and potent than the naturally occurring peptide, making drug therapies possible.

See more at http://news.ualberta.ca/newsarticles/2013/september/new-class-of-drug-targets-heart-disease

University of Cambridge

Silent killer

Many of us are infected with a virus we’ll never clear. While we’re healthy, it’s nothing to worry about, but when our immune system is suppressed it could kill us. -

To catch the herpes virus human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) you must be exposed to someone who has it. This isn’t difficult: it is carried by around 65% of the population. Once in the body, HCMV persists for life owing to its clever ability to avoid our immune system and to go into hiding inside our cells in a latent state. Now, research is identifying changes in these cells that could lead to a new route to eradicating the virus. - See more at: http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/silent-killer#sthash.z2WVJker.dpuf

See more at http://www.cam.ac.uk/research/features/silent-killer

UNSW Australia -University of New South Wales

Home and happiness: for some it’s about the neighbours

UNSW researcher and public policy consultant Dr Ioana Ramia says happiness really is in the eye of the beholder with people’s level of education changing what contributes to their satisfaction with life.

Her study shows tertiary-educated people place more importance on satisfaction with their home and free time when assessing their wellbeing. However non-degree-qualified people place more value on the neighbourhood in which they live and satisfaction with finances and employment opportunities when ranking their overall happiness with life.

See more at http://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/home-and-happiness-some-it%E2%80%99s-about-neighbours

SAU, UW, UA

SAU mascot to be carried by two mules this season

This Saturday will be the first Mulerider home football game in more than 20 years at Southern Arkansas University that the beloved mule, Molly B, will not be carrying the mascot. It is going to take two mules to fill her shoes.

The loyal and gentle Molly B passed away on March 5, 2013, at the SAU farm. More than 100 members of the Mulerider family, including students, faculty, staff, alumni and friends, attended a memorial service at SAU this spring in honor of the iconic mule.

See more at

http://web.saumag.edu/news/2013/09/12/sau-mascot-to-be-carried-by-two-mules-this-season/

SAU Southern Arkansas University

UW :Initial positive results reported on vaccine to treat genital herpes

Initial, positive results have been reported for a therapeutic vaccine candidate for treating patients with genital herpes. This first-in-class, investigational, protein subunit vaccine, GEN-003, is under development by Genocea Biosciences Inc.

See more at

http://www.washington.edu/news/2013/09/12/initial-positive-results-reported-on-vaccine-to-treat-genital-herpes/

University de Washington, État de Washington.

New UA Lab Allows Students to Explore Science Behind Food

It’s all about food, says one University of Alabama professor. “Food is the core of nutrition, and it’s an integral part of the hospitality industry,” said Dr. Mary Kay Meyer, professor and chair of the human nutrition and hospitality management program in UA’s College of Human Environmental Sciences.

“We talk about what food does to the body, but if you can’t get the food into the body, you’ve lost the battle,” Meyer said. “I want students to be excited about food and really appreciate what you can do with food, if you have the right equipment.”

Students enrolled in food and nutrition courses should have no problem garnering some enthusiasm this semester, thanks to the recently completed $1.5 million state-of-the-art foods lab located on the ground floor of Doster Hall.

See more at
http://uanews.ua.edu/2013/09/new-ua-food-science-lab-allows-students-to-explore-science-behind-food/

University of Alabama