news

Event - 16.11.2022

Alumni Know: Why does giving feel good?
Social psychologist Sara Konrath (BA '02) shares the science behind giving and some unexpected benefits of generosity By Megan Vander Woude Office of Advancement Every November and December, we hear a lot about giving. No matter what you're celebrating this holiday season, you're sure to be inundated with messages of spending time with loved ones, giving thoughtful gifts and giving back to others.

Event - 14.11.2022

Research unravelling the ’mystery’ of extreme waves
Ocean waves up to 30 metres that seemingly appear at random have long inspired legend and stumped scientists. Now, researchers at the University of Sydney and Kyoto University are unravelling their mysteries. Research published in Physical Review Letters  by University of Sydney and Kyoto researchers has found that extreme or 'rogue' ocean waves - colossal walls of water that seemingly appear at random and have the potential to destroy marine infrastructure, carve out coastlines and even threaten life - could be more frequent in multi-directional wave formations than previously expected.

Event - 24.10.2022

How can we design a fully circular food system for Amsterdam in 2050?
In the Connected Circularity programme, four research teams - within 4 Flagship projects - from Wageningen University & Research (WUR) have been working on HOW to shape the transition to a circular bioeconomy. That is an society in which organic material forms the basis of our food system and in which no more materials are wasted.

Computer Science - Event - 22.09.2022

’We need supercomputers - for designing aircraft wings to making climate predictions’
The official opening of the supercomputer DelftBlue will take place on 30 September at the Prinsenhof in Delft, also marking the fifth anniversary of the TU Delft Institute for Computational Science & Engineering. The programme features scientists and companies working with supercomputers, explaining the importance of supercomputing for healthcare, logistics and the energy transition.

Event - 04.08.2022

Hand signals help overcome Zoom fatigue in online meetings
Using hand signals can help overcome the psychological issues linked to online meetings and increase social connection, according to a new study led by UCL researchers. The team conducted a randomised control trial with more than 100 students, training one group to use hand signals including gestures such as waving to take a turn to speak, and raising a hand to show empathy.

Astronomy / Space Science - Event - 12.07.2022

James Webb Space Telescope Delivers Deepest Infrared Image of Universe
The international NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope has delivered the deepest, sharpest infrared image of the distant Universe so far. U.S. President Joe Biden unveiled the image of galaxy cluster SMACS 0723, known as Webb's First Deep Field , during a White House event on Monday 11 July.

Event - 31.01.2022

The usefulness of gestures in language development
Researchers at UPF and the UdG find that as we grow older we use more non-referential gestures in our narratives, gestures that do not visually represent what we are saying, and this indicates a greater ability to structure discourse. Gesturing when speaking is something we all do, whether consciously or unconsciously, and is part of human communication.

Health - Event - 14.10.2021

Research on detecting cancer in primary care wins RCGP Research Paper of the Year award
Dr Garth Funston and colleagues including professor Emma Crosbie from The University of Manchester have won the 2020 Research Paper of the Year for Clinical Research, awarded by the Royal College of General Practitioners, for their paper on detecting cancers in primary care. The research shows that CA125, a simple blood test available in primary care, is useful for ovarian cancer detection in symptomatic women attending their GP and could help identify other types of cancer.

Event - 28.07.2021

Black and Latinx conservatives ’upshift’ competence to white audiences
When communicating in mostly white settings, politically conservative Black and Latinx Americans use words associated with competence more often than their liberal counterparts, distancing themselves from negative racial stereotypes, according to a new study by Yale social psychologist Cydney Dupree.

Event - 02.04.2021

Mapping policy for how the EU can reduce its impact on tropical deforestation
In brief: EU imports of products contribute significantly to deforestation in other parts of the world. In a new study, published in One Earth , researchers from several universities worldwide, among them University of Louvain, evaluated thousands of policy proposals for how the EU could reduce this impact , to assess which would have the largest potential to reduce deforestation - while also being politically feasible.

Event - Physics - 11.12.2020

Farewell to Daya Bay Site, Proceed with Final Data Analysis
The Daya Bay Reactor Neutrino Experiment collaboration - which made a precise measurement of an important neutrino property eight years ago, setting the stage for a new round of experiments and discoveries about these hard-to-study particles - has finished taking data. Though the experiment is formally shutting down, the collaboration will continue to analyze its complete dataset to improve upon the precision of findings based on earlier measurements.

Event - 28.05.2020

High tech printing makes checking banknotes possible in the blink of an eye
New '3D micro-optic' security features in banknotes enable the general public to detect counterfeits reliably within a fraction of a second, according to new research at the University of Birmingham. During a typical cash transaction, people glance at banknotes for about a second, not giving them much time to check banknotes for authenticity.

Event - Environment - 30.01.2020

Coast Guard, Members of Congress Launch Center of Expertise at Scripps Oceanography
Military branch will leverage Scripps' R&D capability to improve maritime awareness U.S. Coast Guard officials and federal legislators christened a center at Scripps Institution of Oceanography at UC San Diego Friday that will accelerate the assimilation of Scripps Oceanography technology into Coast Guard operations.

Event - 28.11.2019

Shows there’s nothing wacky about conspiracy theorists
Researchers at The Australian National University (ANU) have delved into the world of online conspiracy theories, showing most of the people behind them are actually pretty ordinary. The study looked at eight years of content, sifting through more than two billion comments posted on Reddit, including everything posted to the subreddit r/conspiracy.

Computer Science - Event - 26.11.2019

Snapshot of artificial intelligence reveals challenges
A periodic review of the artificial intelligence industry revealed the potential pitfalls of outsourcing our problems for technology to solve rather than addressing the causes, and of allowing outdated predictive modeling to go unchecked. As part of Stanford's ongoing 100-year study on artificial intelligence, known as the AI100, two workshops recently considered the issues of care technologies and predictive modeling to inform the future development of AI technologies.

Astronomy / Space Science - Event - 10.10.2019

This Nobel Prize makes EPFL's astrophysicists proud
In 2002, EPFL awarded the distinction of doctor honoris causa to Michel Mayor, an astronomer at the University of Geneva, for discovering the first exoplanet. This past Tuesday, Mayor, along with colleague Didier Quéloz and the American scientist James Peebles, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Transport - Event - 07.10.2019

Imperial academics discuss air quality with Government’s Transport department
Imperial academics presented their research on air quality and emissions to the Government's Department for Transport. The event was organised jointly as part of the department 's learning and development series, and The Forum , Imperial's policy engagement programme. Dr Audrey de Nazelle , from Imperial's Centre for Environmental Policy, and Dr Marc Stettler , at the Centre for Transport Studies, led the event alongside the Department for Transport's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Phil Blythe.

Transport - Event - 07.10.2019

UK needs ’joined-up health and transport policy’, academics tell Government
Imperial academics presented their research on air quality and emissions to the Government's Department for Transport. The event was organised jointly as part of the department 's learning and development series, and The Forum , Imperial's policy engagement programme. Dr Audrey de Nazelle , from Imperial's Centre for Environmental Policy, and Dr Marc Stettler , at the Centre for Transport Studies, led the event alongside the Department for Transport's Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Phil Blythe.

Event - Life Sciences - 27.06.2019

Conversation boosts women’s participation at scientific meetings
Not only are women underrepresented at scientific meetings, they participate less than men in question-and-answer sessions, self-limiting their involvement and participation. But a public discussion of the problem helps. Recently, some prominent men in science have publicly declared they wouldn't attend scientific meetings that don't adequately represent women, but a new study suggests the problem isn't just representation - women also don't participate at the same level as men, even when they are well represented.

Event - 12.12.2018

3Q: Felice Frankel on improving the visual side of science
Photographer's new book describes ways for researchers to make their images more informative and appealing. Felice Frankel has spent more than 25 years helping scientists and engineers create engaging and informative photographs and images depicting their work. Her images have appeared on the covers of many of the world's leading scientific journals, and she has described some of the processes and methods involved in several books, as well as in classes and workshops at MIT and around the country, and an online class on MITx.