Children with Williams Syndrome are delightful and engaging, with elfin-like features and often-extraordinary verbal skills but severe spatial deficits, and a new University of Delaware study may reveal the cognitive impacts of the rare genetic disorder.
The cold, barren crust of Mars conceals ancient remnants of its fiery youth 4 billion years ago, when an "active dynamo" in the red planet's interior hummed with magnetism, much like Earth, researchers report April 30 in Science. Like faded tattoos on an aging space sailor, magnetic stripes now adorn the Martian crust, perhaps where sea floors spread apart.
It's sort of like "Road Rules" with a purpose. That's how two new University of Delaware graduates describe their plans to live in some of the country's poorest areas over the next six months, filming their journey along the way.
NEW ORLEANS, LA.--With a tip just 25 microns in diameter, a new microelectrode sheds light on the complex natural chemistry of "swamp scum and sea slime"--including the corrosive ocean "biofilms" that damage boats, docks and off-shore platforms, a University of Delaware researcher reported today during the National Association of Corrosion Engineers (NACE) meeting.
HOUSTON, TEXAS--Boosting the octane number of gasoline just got easier, thanks to new software that lets engineers and scientists build a model of the naphtha reforming process in hours, rather than months, University of Delaware researchers reported March 13 during the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) meeting. EMBARGOED: 4:00 p.m., Thursday, March 13, 1997.
Using a specially prepared chemical "key," University of Delaware researchers have set the stage to unlock the secrets of five unique compounds derived from red sea algae, according to an April 14 presentation at the American Chemical Society meeting. EMBARGOED: 9:00 a.m. PT, Monday, April 14, 1997
University of Delaware research might someday help computer companies "grow" next-generation semiconductors faster while also achieving greater control over material properties, chemist Douglas J. Doren reported April 14 during the American Chemical Society meeting. EMBARGOED: 4 p.m. EST, Monday, April 14, 1997
By revealing exactly how oxygen and various organometallic molecules interact, fundamental studies at the University of Delaware may someday support the development of improved organometallic catalysts for making a variety of molecules--from plastics to hydrocarbon fuels, researchers reported April 15 during the American Chemical Society meeting. EMBARGOED: 5 p.m. EST, Tuesday, April 15, 1997
How can one jury set O.J. Simpson free and another find him libel for the same crime? What does one jury see and hear when it acquits the police officers who beat Rodney King while another finds them guilty? "CBS Reports" wants to know; so on Wednesday, April 16, it will run a two-hour documentary titled, "Enter the Jury Room," which follows jury deliberations in three trials in an attempt to uncover how jurors think and act. For the documentary, the news crew turned to Valerie Hans, a University of Delaware professor of criminal justice who is nationally known for her expertise on how jurors interact. She is one of the experts interviewed by Ed Bradley for Wednesday's program.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA--New information, based on molecular-scale studies of different metals in soils, may help environmental engineers immobilize these contaminants more effectively, University of Delaware researchers reported April 14 during the American Chemical Society meeting. At the soil's surface, key industrial metals including nickel, copper, chromium, cobalt and zinc--but not lead--form mixed metal compounds that dramatically diminish their mobility in the natural environment, says Donald L. Sparks. EMBARGOED: 11:00 a.m. EST, Monday, April 14, 1997
University of Delaware researchers at the American Chemical Society's 213th national meeting April 13-17 will describe: 1- immobilizing metal contaminants in soils, 2- unlocking the secrets of natural compounds derived from red sea algae, 3- improving the "growth" of computer chips from chemical vapors, 4- new catalysts for oxidizing fuels and plastics, and 5- educational strategies to help science teachers interact effectively with both girls and boys. EMBARGOED: Monday, April 14, 1997
A new device may help researchers better understand environmental events such as global warming by measuring individual aerosol particles as small as 10 nanometers--roughly one order of magnitude smaller than existing transportable instruments, say University of Delaware researchers who recently filed a patent disclosure. The instrument analyzes particles "at the critical early stages of their growth," before they accumulate in clouds, says Anthony S. Wexler, associate professor of mechanical engineering.
Across a range of media, women and girls are more likely to be depicted as concerned with romance and dating than work or school, and their appearance is frequently a focus of attention. Yet, females in the media also often are shown using intelligence and exerting independence, a UD researcher reported.
Just as wintergreen candy sparkles when crunched in a darkened room, many different crystalline materials can change shape and flash under pressure--if they lack symmetry or contain structural anomalies, researchers from Towson State University and the University of Delaware report in this month's Chemistry of Materials, scheduled for release May 15.
Despite 1960s-era predictions of a color-blind society, "the blacks who are worse off have taken a giant step backward," and racism persists because "people find psychological solace in elevating themselves at the expense of others," a University of Delaware researcher says.
Solar wind--those hot, charged-up particles linked to power outages on Earth and lost satellites in space--may be even rowdier than some researchers have previously reported, University of Delaware scientists said today during the American Geophysical Union's Spring Meeting.
In a study of 448 drug-involved inmates released from Delaware's Gander Hill prison, a model three-step treatment program helped 77 percent avoid arrest for at least 18 months, while 47 percent remained drug free, University of Delaware researchers report in today's Journal of Drug Issues.
As children chase twinkling insects this summer, consider this: Light cues keep predators from snacking on baby fireflies, University of Delaware scientists report in the Journal of Insect Behavior, released July 2. Their study is believed to offer the first evidence of an insect using bioluminescence--rather than coloration--as an "aposematic display," which warns predators of an unappetizing or hazardous meal.
Only Finnish children read better than U.S. kids--yet, too many 17-year-old minority children read at roughly the same level as the average 13-year-old white child, a University of Delaware educator reported July 10, when he urged U.S. policymakers to help correct such "huge inequalities."
A new computing concept--patterned after successful space missions--may soon help UD researchers complete the blueprint for a supercomputer 1 million times more powerful than the most advanced PC now on the market. Capable of processing 1 million billion commands or "floating point operations" per second, the world's first "petaflops" machine may feature superconducting microprocessors and 3-D holographic data storage.
Zero emission vehicles, as mandated in California, New York and Massachusetts, have the potential to replace large central utilities as the major source of power generation in the U.S.
Five times tougher and 16 times more extensible than a human tendon, the leathery, yet amazingly stretchy collagen threads produced by marine mussels might someday suggest strategies for developing better artificial skin and other biomimetic materials, say University of Delaware researchers. In the Sept. 19, 1997 issue of Science, they describe byssal threads as containing "the first known protein [with] both collagenous and elastin-like domains."
The only signature Michelangelo da Caravaggio ever put on one of his paintings appears as a flow of blood oozing from the neck of a partially decapitated St. John in Caravaggio's greatest work, "The Beheading of St. John the Baptist." Why the newly knighted Baroque artist chose this bloody dedication is a key question that David Stone, assistant professor of art history at the University of Delaware, says he hopes to solve as a winner of the 1997-98 Rome Prize Competition.
A University of Delaware research scientist says the zero emission car plugged into your garage could make large, expensive, centrally located utilities obsolete.
The Abrams Curve--discovered by University of Delaware economist Burton A. Abrams and disclosed Oct. 15--provides direct evidence of a relationship between the size of a country's government and its unemployment rate, according to a forthcoming article in the journal, Public Choice. The curve suggests that "at least some of the increases in jobless rates in the United States since 1949 have resulted from increases in government outlays," says Abrams. Reducing the size of the U.S. government would, therefore, probably reduce the unemployment rate, he says.
A patent disclosure filed Oct. 27 by University of Delaware scientists describes a technique that uses soybean oil--rather than petroleum-derived resins--to produce inexpensive, lightweight and potentially biodegradable composites for tractors, supercars, bridges and military vehicles.
A University of Delaware researcher has joined forces with a Lincoln University colleague to win a major U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) grant that ultimately may help improve the accuracy of global warming predictions.
The University of Delaware's rapidly rising College of Business and Economics has been invited to host an MBA Forum on Saturday, Dec. 6, in Philadelphia, providing would-be master of business administration students with a rare opportunity to meet admissions professionals from more than 100 of the world's leading graduate business schools.
The predecessor of the Avon lady was a man, notes a University of Delaware historian currently completing a doctoral dissertation titled, "Avon Ladies and Fuller Brush Men: The Gendered Construction of Door-to-Door Selling, 1886-1970." Farm boy D.H. McConnell began his career in 1877 selling books door-to-door and giving away perfume samples as part of his sales pitch, reports Katina Manko, a graduate student in the University of Delaware-Hagley Museum Program.
A 'dispatcher' gene--described in the Dec. 12, 1997, issue of Science--seems to juggle assignments for many `sentry' genes in a model plant system and may ultimately help researchers design hardier, more disease-resistant food plants, a University of Delaware scientist says.
The predecessor of the Avon lady was a man, notes a University of Delaware historian currently completing a doctoral dissertation entitled, "Avon Ladies and Fuller Brush Men: The Gendered Construction of Door-to-Door Selling, 1886-1970.
A new study soon-to-be published in the Journal of Business Ethics finds that most major corporations that have formal "ethics" programs are only "going through the motions."
Space observations of some of the tiniest stars in the cosmos--reported Jan. 7, 1998 by University of Delaware researchers and their Danish collaborators at the American Astronomical Society meeting--have finally confirmed a Nobel Prize-winning theory on the structure of stars. The information is central to understanding pulsars, black holes and white dwarf stars.
When asked to identify the `comb' within a group of imposter items, two-year-olds typically will select a comb-shaped object--whether or not it has teeth for combing a doll's hair--because very young children learn new words based on shapes, not functions, a University of Delaware researcher reports in the Journal of Memory and Language, mailed today.
New idea: Convert closed military bases into "renewal communities"-- tightly regulated small towns giving thousands of Americans on welfare a fresh start in life.
Viper snakes can kill, but a protein in their venom prevents the spread of tumors in laboratory mice, and a molecular 'portrait' now under development may explain why, according to a University of Delaware scientist profiled in the new issue of Cardiology Today, mailed Feb. 4.
A University of Delaware professor examines how media-sensationalized murder trials became the Broadway hit, "Chicago" in a new book by the same name.
In a steamy underwater hell west of Costa Rica, weird deep-sea worms survive temperatures nearly hot enough to boil water--too hot for any other complex creature on Earth--and they don't care if their `heads' are two-and-a-half times cooler than their `tails,' a University of Delaware researcher reports in the Feb. 5, 1998 issue of Nature.
"Through These Eyes: The Photographs of P.H. Polk," one of the South's most eminent African-American photographers, is on display now, north of the Mason Dixon Line, at the University of Delaware.
Exactly two years ago Stephen P. Ryder, now a junior at the University of Delaware, created a web page about his hobby--the life and crimes of Jack the Ripper. Little did he know how his life would change. Today he is a rising star in the field of Ripperology, is about to have a book published and has been asked to serve as a consultant on a Showtime Television special on British murders which will air in April.
The famous Polish astronomer, Nicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543), forever changed our world-view by arguing that the Earth is not, in fact, the center of the universe. Today, Qaisar Shafi of the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware is taking that argument one step further. "We are not even made out of the same material that makes up the bulk of the universe," says Prof. Shafi.
Television writers who plan to cover USA Network's four-hour mini series on "Moby Dick," airing March 15-16, can find valuable background material on Herman Melville from the University of Delaware's Hershel Parker, author of what has been called the "definitive" Melville biography.
A new screening method helps determine which athletes with torn knee ligaments can safely delay surgery to complete a sports season, University of Delaware researchers reported today. "For athletes, the question is always, 'Can we play them now and fix them later?'" explains UD's Lynn Snyder-Mackler. "And, weekend athletes looking forward to a skiing vacation or workers who can't take time off also should benefit."
Dotting the shoreline near Delaware's Cape Henlopen, seashells evoke Native Americans boiling oysters, clams and conchs 1,000 years ago, says a University of Delaware geologist whose work should help archaeologists "see through" salt marshes--without digging them up.
University of Delaware geographer John R. Mather received the Association of American Geographers (AAG) Lifetime Career Honor at the group's 94th annual meeting in Boston on March 28.
People who have suffered paralyzing injuries sometimes can regain limited control of their muscles, thanks to electrical stimulation techniques now under development, but pulse patterns should be varied to help patients stay strong longer, University of Delaware researchers report in the new Journal of Neurophysiology.
DALLAS --Like the flashing yellow sign on a road under construction, glowing molecular markers might help computer-chip makers avoid 'potholes' on super-flat blueprinting materials, a University of Delaware researcher reported today during the American Chemical Society meeting.
DALLAS--The properties of materials synthesized by strongly bonding together segments of different "homopolymers"--long-chain plastics composed of a single repeating chemical unit--are significantly better than would be predicted, a University of Delaware researcher reported March 31 during the American Chemical Society meeting.
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.--Geriatric rats instinctively ward off sickness by huddling in hot spots, and ongoing studies of their behavior may suggest drug-free strategies to help older people fight infections, University of Delaware researchers reported today at the Experimental Biology '98 meeting.
Though the recent Carnegie Foundation report found fault with many U.S. research universities--arguing that undergraduates are too often simply "receiving what is served out to them," mainly by untrained graduate assistants--the University of Delaware was one of only five institutions cited for "making research-based learning the standard."
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