Author: Editorial Board
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What an Astronaut’s Camera Sees from ISS
When astronauts head to the International Space Station (ISS), Dr. Justin Wilkinson, the chief geoscientist at NASA, asks them to snap pictures of various geographical locations. From this vantage point 250 miles above the planet’s surface, he learns many things — for example, he tells Slate, “there are a lot more examples of a geographical phenomenon called an inland delta…
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Singing Mice Show Signs of Learning
Like songbirds and humans, male mice have brain circuits and behaviors they may use to learn some of their sounds. Guys who imitate Luciano Pavarotti or Justin Bieber to get the girls aren’t alone. Male mice may do a similar trick, matching the pitch of other males’ ultrasonic serenades. The mice also have certain brain…
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The “POLI” mark: New technologies for university teaching
This article is part of Media and Learning month’s newsletter, dedicated series on lecture capture. It is provided by the Lifelong Learning project REC:all, which aims to explore new ways in which lecture capture can become more pedagogically valuable and engaging, and which is investigating a variety of learning design, technical and legal issues related to lecture capture. Marta Cabedo Fabrés from…
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Amy Cuddy at TED: Your body language shapes who you are
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our…
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Hubble goes to the eXtreme to assemble the deepest ever view of the Universe
Like photographers assembling a portfolio of their best shots, astronomers have assembled a new, improved portrait of our deepest-ever view of the Universe. Called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, the photo was assembled by combining ten years of NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope observations taken of a patch of sky within the original Hubble Ultra…
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Botanist Wins Prestigious Nature Conservancy Award to Work on Grass Trees
24 September 2012. MEDIA RELEASE Botanist Todd McLay has won the 2012 prestigious Australian Conservation Taxonomy Award to delve further into the mysteries of the iconic Xanthorrhoea genus or, Australia¹s native grass trees. The Nature Conservancy and The Thomas Foundation launched the award last year to foster research by young scientists into important taxonomic works with significant implications…
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Music Underlies the Ability to Acquire Language, Theorists Propose
Contrary to the prevailing theories that music and language are cognitively separate or that music is a byproduct of language, theorists at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and the University of Maryland, College Park (UMCP) advocate that music underlies the ability to acquire language. “Spoken language is a special type of music,” said Anthony…
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Open Monograph Press 1.0 (Beta)
The Public Knowledge Project (PKP) is very pleased to announce the 1.0 (Beta) release of Open Monograph Press (OMP). OMP is an open source software platform for managing the editorial workflow required to see monographs, edited volumes, and scholarly editions through internal and external review, editing, cataloguing, production, and publication. OMP will operate, as well, as…
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Open Access Initiative policy recommendations for the next 10 years
Ten years after the release of the Budapest Open Access Initiative, OA advocates last week released updated recommendations in support of open access around the world, touching on areas including policy, licensing, sustainability, and advocacy. Of particular interest are recommendations that urge funders to require open access when they make grants: “When possible, funder policies should require libre…
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2012 Winners from the 60SecondScience Video Competition
Results from the 2012 60SecondScience Video Competition have been released. For the last two years 60SecondScience has been a global science event involving students and citizens from 40 countries. These citizen and student-created videos have been downloaded and viewed well over 700,000 times, and growing daily. The competition is sponsored by DEECD Victoria, Australia. Winners below share…
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BioGrid and Victorian Cancer BioBank Join Forces for Cancer Research
September 7 2012 Cancer research has taken a major step forward in Victoria as the Victorian Cancer BioBank and BioGrid Australia join forces to improve bowel cancer management. The collaboration allows researchers for the first time in Australia to access detailed data associated with tissue and blood samples. Maureen Turner, CEO of BioGrid Australia, said today: ³Our collaboration opens…
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Media & Learning Brussels 2012 – Conference Programme Available
[Press release] The Media & Learning Conference taking place in Brussels on 14 and 15 November 2012 is aimed at anyone who wants to find new and effective ways to use media to enhance the learning process. It has three main themes; mapping future trends and developments in media-enhanced learning in all sectors, boosting skills and competences in…
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Kepler Astronomers Find First Planetary System Around a Binary Star
NASA’s Kepler mission has found the first multi-planet solar system orbiting a binary star, characterized in large part by University of Texas at Austin astronomers using two telescopes at the university’s McDonald Observatory in West Texas. The finding, which proves that whole planetary systems can form in a disk around a binary star, is published…
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Reducing the Digital Divide: Internet Society Supports Establishment of Internet Exchange Points across Africa
[Johannesburg, South Africa –23 August 2012] – The Internet Society announced that it has been selected by the African Union (AU) to conduct community mobilization and technical aspects workshops to support the establishment of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs) in AU Member States as part of the African Internet Exchange System (AXIS) project. The AXIS project aims…