news from the lab


Category

Mathematics


Mathematics - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 17.06
Is there an invisible tug-of-war behind bad hearts and power outages?
Systems such as a beating heart or a power grid that depend on the synchronized movement of their parts could fall prey to an invisible and chaotic tug-of-war known as a "chimera." Sharing its name with the fire-breathing, zoologically patchy creature of Greek mythology, a chimera state arises among identical, rhythmically moving components — known as oscillators — when a few of those parts spontaneously fall out of sync while the rest remain synchronized.

Social Sciences - Mathematics - 3.06
Meeting online leads to happier, more enduring marriages
More than a third of marriages between 2005 and 2012 began online, according to new research at the University of Chicago, which also found that online couples have happier, longer marriages. - Although the study did not determine why relationships that started online were more successful, the reasons may include the strong motivations of online daters, the availability of advance screening and the sheer volume of opportunities online.

Environmental Sciences - Mathematics - 8.05
People organize daily travel efficiently
A population-level study discovers small-scale details about individuals' choices. - Studies of human mobility usually focus on either the small scale - determining the origins, destinations and travel modes of individuals' daily commutes - or the very large scale, such as using air-travel patterns to track the spread of epidemics over time.

Earth Sciences - Mathematics - 10.04
Islands in the rain
Researchers use volcanic islands to measure how rainfall sets the pace of landscape formation. - If you've ever stood on a hill during a rainstorm, you've probably witnessed landscape evolution, at least on a small scale: rivulets of water streaming down a slope, cutting deeper trenches in the earth when the rain turns heavier.

Mathematics - Psychology - 25.03
On Gun Control, Citizens Support Politicians Who Point to Big Picture, not Specific Incidents, Study Finds
AUSTIN, Texas — As the nation continues to grapple with the long-simmering issue of gun control, solutions are stymied by heated debates. To effectively influence a divided America, elected officials must take a broad perspective rather than focusing on specific incidents, according to a new psychology study from The University of Texas at Austin.

Mathematics - Computer Science/Telecom - 26.02
Computational center will study the past and future of knowledge
Templeton Foundation awards $5.2 million for Computation Institute's Metaknowledge Network - The march of science is stumbling and easily sidetracked, fraught with bias, fads and dead ends.

Mathematics - Physics/Material Science - 18.01
Penn Physicists Help Show Math Behind Growth of 'Coffee Rings'
Penn Physicists Help Show Math Behind Growth of 'Coffee Rings'
Last year, a team of University of Pennsylvania physicists showed how to undo the " coffee-ring effect ," a commonplace occurrence when drops of liquid with suspended particles dry, leaving a ring-shaped stain at the drop's edges.

Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 9.01
Penn Physicists Help Create ’Recipe Book’ for Building New Materials
Penn Physicists Help Create 'Recipe Book' for Building New Materials
By showing that tiny particles injected into a liquid crystal medium behave as predicted by existing mathematical theorems, physicists have opened the door for the creation of a host of new materials with properties that do not exist in nature.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Mathematics - 4.01
McGill honoured again in Québec Science’s breakthroughs of the year
The achievements of McGill researchers were again recognized in Québec Science's annual selection of the top discoveries, with two McGill-led breakthroughs making the top 10 list for 2012.

Astronomy - Mathematics - 19.11.2012
Human Brain, Internet, and Cosmology: Similar Laws at Work?
The structure of the universe and the laws that govern its growth may be more similar than previously thought to the structure and growth of the human brain and other complex networks, such as the Internet or a social network of trust relationships between people, according to a new paper published in the science journal Nature's Scientific Reports .

Life Sciences - Mathematics - 31.10.2012
When people worry about math, the brain feels the pain
Mathematics anxiety can prompt a response in the brain similar to when a person experiences physical pain, according to new research at the University of Chicago. - Using brain scans, scholars determined that the brain areas active when highly math-anxious people prepare to do math overlap with the same brain areas that register the threat of bodily harm—and in some cases, physical pain.

Chemistry - Mathematics - 19.09.2012
Researchers to Develop Software to Improve Discovery of Low-Cost, Sustainable Energy Materials
AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin have received a $6.2 million grant over a five-year period to develop computer software to design and discover materials for low-cost energy applications.

Life Sciences - Mathematics - 28.08.2012
A Model for Development
A Model for Development
Caltech biologists create the first predictive computational model of gene networks that control the development of sea-urchin embryos - As an animal develops from an embryo, its cells take diverse paths, eventually forming different body parts—muscles, bones, heart.

Mathematics - Life Sciences - 13.08.2012
Computation can predict group conflict
Computation can predict group conflict
When conflict breaks out in social groups, individuals make strategic decisions about how to behave based on their understanding of alliances and feuds in the group. - Researchers studied fighting among captive pigtailed macaques for clues about behavior and group conflict.

Chemistry - Mathematics - 22.06.2012
New technique allows simulation of noncrystalline materials
Multidisciplinary team develops mathematical approach that could help in simulating materials for solar cells and LEDs. - A multidisciplinary team of researchers at MIT and in Spain has found a new mathematical approach to simulating the electronic behavior of noncrystalline materials, which may eventually play an important part in new devices including solar cells, organic LED lights and printable, flexible electronic circuits.

Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 20.06.2012
Kamalika Chaudhuri: Quantifying the Price of Privacy
The data avalanche brought about by the digital revolution has made it possible to harness vast datasets for everything from statistical analysis to teaching machines to recognize patterns and respond in 'intelligent' ways.

Mathematics - Pedagogy/Education Science - 18.06.2012
Early grasp of fractions, long division predicts high school math achievement
A fifth-grader's understanding of fractions and long division predicts their knowledge of algebra and overall math achievement in high school, according to new research published in the journal Psychological Science .

Mathematics - Social Sciences - 15.06.2012
Fractions are the key to math success, new study shows
ANN ARBOR, Mich.-What part of math success comes from knowing fractions? More than you might think, according to a new study that analyzed long-term data on more than 4,000 children from both the United States and the United Kingdom.

Mathematics - Psychology - 13.06.2012
Learning about spatial relationships boosts understanding of numbers
Children who are skilled in understanding how shapes fit together to make recognizable objects also have an advantage when it comes to learning the number line and solving math problems, research at the University of Chicago shows.

Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 5.06.2012
Stanford physicists make new form of matter
The laser-cooled quantum gas opens exciting new realms of unconventional superconductivity. - By Max McClure - Within the exotic world of macroscopic quantum effects, where fluids flow uphill, wires conduct without electrical resistance and magnets levitate, there is an even stranger family of "unconventional" phenomena.

Mathematics - 22.05.2012
Time Bender
Notions about number and time learned rather than innate - Time lines and number lines -so familiar, so basic, they're taken for granted. But if you think that the way you think about these fundamental concepts is hardwired, you might want to think again, says UC San Diego cognitive scientist Rafael Núñez.

Mathematics - Social Sciences - 25.04.2012
Twist to the Story of the Number Line
Yupno of Papua New Guinea provide clues to the concept's origins - and suggest familiar notion of time may not be straightforward, either - Confirming a Yupno participant's understanding of numbers.

History/Archeology - Mathematics - 13.04.2012
History Channel’s Titanic documentary features UW engineers
History Channel's Titanic documentary features UW engineers
A hundred years ago this Sunday, a luxury ocean liner billed as “unsinkable” hit an iceberg on its maiden voyage. The Titanic sank to the bottom of the North Atlantic, leaving more than 1,500 passengers and crew dead.

Mathematics - 26.03.2012
Reintegration of work life remains an important issue for Canadian mothers and public policy
Study considers effects of motherhood on employment across generations of Canadian women - Both childless women and mothers of an only child have seen their likelihood of re-entering the labour market after a first work interruption increase across generations, according to a new study.

Medicine/Pharmacology - Mathematics - 14.03.2012
Anti-smoking campaigns have saved over 800,000 lives
More than 800,000 lives were saved in the United States between 1975 and 2000 thanks to anti-smoking measures, according to a new study that used a Yale mathematical model to quantify for the first time the impact of anti-smoking measures on lung cancer.

Mathematics - 20.02.2012
The beat goes on: the geometry that makes music pleasing
Researchers uncover mathematical formula for rhythm and suggest our brains may be hardwired to respond to it - Whether it's Bach or Brubeck, a new study shows that composers repeat rhythmic patterns in their works in such a way that the part is a copy of the larger whole.

Mathematics - Administration/Government - 8.02.2012
Statistical model may unlock fingerprint evidence in court
Statistical model may unlock fingerprint evidence in court
An assistant professor at Penn State has created a new statistical model that may enable fingerprint evidence to withstand greater scrutiny in court. Currently, some fingerprints that could be key pieces of evidence in court are not being considered because of shortcomings in the way this evidence is reported.

Mathematics - 12.01.2012
Bowlers strike with a hot hand, too
Is the so-called "hot hand" phenomenon in sports a reality or just an illusion based on misperception of random sequences? For the second time in recent months, a Yale study supports the notion that it is real.

Life Sciences - Mathematics - 14.11.2011
Dramatic diversity of columbine flowers explained by a simple change in cell shape
Dramatic diversity of columbine flowers explained by a simple change in cell sha
To match pollinators' probing tongues, cells in floral spurs elongate, driving rapid speciation - : Caroline Perry , (617) 496-1351 - - Columbine flowers are recognizable by the long, trailing nectar spurs that extend from the bases of their petals, tempting the taste buds of their insect pollinators.

Mathematics - Life Sciences - 17.10.2011
Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations
Computers learn to turn biological processes into equations - First it was chess. Then it was Jeopardy. - Now computers are at it again, but this time they are trying to automate the scientific process itself.

Mathematics - Life Sciences - 9.08.2011
Gut coils with help from its elastic neighbor
Medicine/Pharmacology - Mathematics - 8.07.2011
How best to excite brain cells
Mathematics - 5.07.2011
The Mathematics of Insurgency
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 28.06.2011
The math of the Rubik’s cube
Pedagogy/Education Science - Mathematics - 14.06.2011
Learning to count not as easy as 1, 2, 3
Mathematics - Psychology - 26.05.2011
Inside the infant mind
Law/Forensics - Mathematics - 28.03.2011
Demographics cloud optimism on black violent crime decrease
Mathematics - Computer Science/Telecom - 3.01.2011
Mathematical model shows how groups split into factions
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 8.12.2010
Geotagging reveals not only where you are, but also people you might know
Mathematics - Physics/Material Science - 27.09.2010
Fungal spores travel farther by surfing their own wind
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 14.09.2010
Researchers improve wireless location-detection systems
Psychology - Mathematics - 25.08.2010
Preschoolers use statistics to understand others
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 5.08.2010
Shape-shifting robots
Law/Forensics - Mathematics - 28.07.2010
Is DNA evidence enough An interview with David Kaye
Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 11.05.2010
Researchers find a way to calculate the effects of Casimir forces
Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 25.02.2010
Scientists find an equation for materials innovation
Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 23.02.2010
Seven awarded Sloan Research Fellowships
Medicine/Pharmacology - Mathematics - 6.01.2010
Study finds H1N1 virus spreads easily by plane
Physics/Material Science - Mathematics - 7.05.2009
Refined Hubble Constant Narrows Possible Explanations For Dark Energy

Science Wire

Mathematics - Mechanical Engineering/Mechanics - 19.03
Can control theory make software better?
Astronomy - Mathematics - 19.11.2012
Failed explosions explain most peculiar supernovae
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 13.11.2012
Speeding algorithms by shrinking data
Environmental Sciences - Mathematics - 17.10.2012
Applied Mathematics Professor Tiffany Shaw Named Packard Fellow
Environmental Sciences - Mathematics - 4.10.2012
The mathematics of leaf decay
Mathematics - Computer Science/Telecom - 12.09.2012
Popularity versus Similarity: A Balance that Predicts Network Growth
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 2.08.2012
Writing graphics software gets much easier
Life Sciences - Mathematics - 24.07.2012
Decoding the secrets of balance
Computer Science/Telecom - Mathematics - 23.07.2012
Computers not yet able to understand human speech