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Less than one year after the decoding of the sunflower genome, in-depth analyses of said genome have revealed the hundreds of genes that work together to regulate flowering, and those that are involved in the production of oil.

Washington state's housing market showed the continuing effects of high demand in the first quarter of 2017, according to the Runstad Center for Real Estate Studies at the University of Washington. The statewide median sales price rose to $324,300 in the first quarter, 12.1 percent higher than the same time period last year.

ANN ARBOR?Parents can toss out the owner's manual for that new smartphone or tablet'they can get all the digital assistance they need from their teens. According to a new study, more children are guiding their parents on how to use digital media, especially newer media forms such as smartphones, tablets and apps.

Oxford University researchers have tracked how recent aircraft incidents or accidents trigger past events and the factors making some consistently more memorable than others. Using the English version of Wikipedia, they analysed articles about airline crashes between 2008 and 2016. They then measured how the traffic to articles about airline crashes or incidents before 2008 changed due to more recent events.

People exposed to light entertainment television like soap operas may be more likely to vote for populist politicians according to a new study co-authored by an economist at Queen Mary University of London. The researchers investigated the political impact of light entertainment television in Italy over the last 30 years during the phased introduction of Silvio Berlusconi's commercial TV network Mediaset.

Researchers say 'benevolent bots', otherwise known as software robots, that are designed to make articles on Wikipedia better often end up having online fights lasting years over changes in content. Editing bots on Wikipedia undo vandalism, enforce bans, check spelling, create links and import content automatically, whereas other bots (which are non-editing) can mine data, identify data or identify copyright infringements.

A study co-authored by researchers at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) has revealed that negative coverage of the European Union in UK newspapers increased from 24 per cent to 45 per cent between 1974 and 2013.

Researchers say 'benevolent bots', otherwise known as software robots, that are designed to make articles on Wikipedia better often end up having online fights lasting years over changes in content. Editing bots on Wikipedia undo vandalism, enforce bans, check spelling, create links and import content automatically, whereas other bots (which are non-editing) can mine data, identify data or identify copyright infringements.

ANN ARBOR'If you created a schedule to watch television at night, chances are you're not postponing bedtime sleep. Habitual TV viewers are used to starting and quitting their evening viewing at set times, which makes them less likely to procrastinate on bedtime, according to a new study by researchers at the University of Michigan and the Leuven School for Mass Communication Research in Belgium.

Ralina Joseph , University of Washington associate professor of communication, has guest co-edited a special triple issue of the interdisciplinary journal Souls: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture and Society with her former mentor and dissertation adviser, Jane Rhodes of the University of Illinois at Chicago.

In spite of its limitations, automated journalism will expand. According to media researchers, this development underlines the need for critical, contextualised journalism. Journalists and editors believe 'robo-journalists' do not have a good nose for news and produce one-dimensional stories, according to new research published today.

New research has revealed that by using big data to analyse massive data sets of modern and historical news, social media and Wikipedia page views, periodic patterns in the collective behaviour of the population can be observed that could otherwise go unnoticed. Academics from the University of Bristol's ThinkBIG project , led by Nello Cristianini , Professor of Artificial Intelligence, have published two papers that have analysed periodic patterns in daily media content and consumption: the first investigated historical newspapers, the second Twitter posts and Wikipedia visits.

ANN ARBOR?Watching a scary movie or TV program can leave some people still feeling frightened years later. But now different media platforms, such as social media and the internet, and nonfictional media (TV news, documentaries, internet news feeds) are creating those frightened reactions that can have long-term effects, according to a new University of Michigan study.

Researchers have analysed data that reveals which plane crashes the public is interested in and why. They show the biases in the coverage of such events, even in open systems like Wikipedia.  The team from the Oxford Internet Institute (OII) counted the number of page views and edits of Wikipedia articles about 1,500 plane crashes around the world to discover that a death toll of around 50 is the minimum threshold for predicting significant levels of public interest.

'That was a great game! How's your love life?' A perplexing question, in more ways than one, to ask an athlete. But it happens, and it's worse for women, according to Cornell researchers. A computer analysis of several thousand's with tennis players shows that in post-game press conferences, female players are asked more questions not related to the game.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — University of Illinois professor Ben Grosser sees his fingers as engaged in a choreographed dance as he uses the trackpad on his computer or scrolls through a list of on his phone. The software is directing the way he, and all of us, move as we use our technology all day, every day.

CMU, Facebook Study Finds Personalized Communication Can Boost Your Well-Being Personal interactions on Facebook can have a major impact on a person's feelings of well-being and satisfaction with life just as much as getting married or having a baby, a new study by Carnegie Mellon University and Facebook researchers shows.

The researchers suggest that developers of e-commerce sites should carefully consider how they design their pages to make sure that important content is not ignored because it is separated from interactive tools. UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. Cool interactive web tools and neat features can boost a user's memory but they may also cause other content on the site to be less memorable, according to researchers.

Atherosclerosis - commonly known as "hardening of the arteries" - occurs when deposits on the inner walls of vessels lead to chronic inflammation and narrowing of the vessels. That can restrict blood flow or block it entirely, ultimately triggering a cardiac infarction or a stroke. Treatment strategies up to now focus primarily on inhibiting the inflammation reaction.

ANN ARBOR'Turn off the lights when not in use. Drive less by walking, biking or taking public transportation. Or write a letter to an elected official to support action on climate change. We're more likely to engage in environmentally friendly behaviors if we read media stories about climate change that include images of renewable energy, a new University of Michigan study found.