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Mathematics/Statistics
Key: Meeting Journal Funder
Public Release: 1-Aug-2013
Nature Communications
Nice organisms finish first: Why cooperators always win in the long run
Leading physicists last year turned game theory on its head by giving selfish players a sure bet to beat cooperative players. Now two evolutionary biologists at Michigan State University offer new evidence that the selfish will die out in the long run.
National Science Foundation

Contact: Val Osowski
osowskiv@cns.msu.edu
517-432-4561
Michigan State University

Public Release: 1-Aug-2013
Ecology Letters
Bacteria hold the clues to trade-offs in financial investments and evolution
Scientists have found that bacteria have the potential to teach valuable investment lessons. The research, published in the journal Ecology Letters, takes advantage of the fact that bacteria, like humans, have limited resources and are constantly faced with investment decisions.
Natural Environment Research Council, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council, Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Australian Research Council

Contact: Jo Bowler
j.bowler@exeter.ac.uk
44-013-927-22062
University of Exeter

Public Release: 30-Jul-2013
NEES Quake Summit 2013
Simulations aiding study of earthquake dampers for structures
Researchers have demonstrated the reliability and efficiency of "real-time hybrid simulation" for testing a type of powerful damping system that might be installed in buildings and bridges to reduce structural damage and injuries during earthquakes.
National Science Foundation

Contact: Emil Venere
venere@purdue.edu
765-494-4709
Purdue University

Public Release: 30-Jul-2013
Review of Scientific Instruments
Hardness, in depth
Scientists have now built a machine that sets a new standard of accuracy for testing a material's hardness, which is a measure of its resistance to bumps and scratches. The new machine is called the Precision Nanoindentation Platform, or PNP.

Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jbardi@aip.org
240-535-4954
American Institute of Physics

Public Release: 30-Jul-2013
Solar Energy Materials and Solar Cells
Lifelike cooling for sunbaked windows
Sun-drenched rooms make for happy residents, but large glass windows also bring higher air-conditioning bills. Now a bioinspired microfluidic circulatory system for windows developed by researchers at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University could save energy and cut cooling costs dramatically -- while letting in just as much sunlight.
Wyss Institute

Contact: Dan Ferber
dan.ferber@wyss.harvard.edu
617-432-1547
Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard

Public Release: 30-Jul-2013
Journal of the Royal Society Interface
Controlling contagion by restricting mobility
A study shows that in the face of an epidemic, even moderate government-mandated travel restrictions would slow contagion.

Contact: Ruben Juanes
juanes@mit.edu
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Public Release: 29-Jul-2013
Chaos
Unraveling genetic networks
Now a special issue of the journal CHAOS, produced by AIP Publishing, explores new experimental and theoretical techniques for unraveling genetic networks.

Contact: Jason Socrates Bardi
jbardi@aip.org
240-535-4954
American Institute of Physics

Public Release: 29-Jul-2013
Journal of Fluid Mechanics
When fluid dynamics mimic quantum mechanics
MIT researchers expand the range of quantum behaviors that can be replicated in fluidic systems, offering a new perspective on wave-particle duality.

Contact: Andrew Carleen
acarleen@mit.edu
617-253-1682
Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Public Release: 26-Jul-2013
PLOS ONE
The arithmetic of gun control
Aiming to quell heated national debate about gun control with factual answers, two UC Irvine mathematicians have designed parameters to measure how to best prevent both one-on-one killings and mass shootings in the United States. Their paper appears Friday in the journal PLOS ONE.

Contact: Janet Wilson
janet.wilson@uci.edu
949-824-3969
University of California - Irvine

Public Release: 25-Jul-2013
European Journal of Physics
Scientists model 'extraordinary' performance of Bolt
As the world's best athletes descend on London today to take part in the Olympic Anniversary Games, a group of researchers from Mexico has provided an insight into the physics of one of the greatest athletic performances of all time.

Contact: Michael Bishop
michael.bishop@iop.org
01-179-301-032
Institute of Physics

Public Release: 25-Jul-2013
PLOS Computational Biology
Analysis of 26 networked autism genes suggests functional role in the cerebellum
A team of scientists has obtained intriguing insights into two groups of autism candidate genes in the mammalian brain that new evidence suggests are functionally and spatially related. The newly published analysis identifies two networked groupings from 26 genes associated with autism that are overexpressed in the cerebellar cortex, in areas dominated by neurons called granule cells.
NIH/National Institute on Drug Abuse

Contact: Peter Tarr
tarr@cshl.edu
516-367-8455
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory

Public Release: 24-Jul-2013
MobileHCI 2013
A magnetic pen for smartphones adds another level of conveniences
A doctoral candidate at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology developed a magnetically driven pen interface that works both on and around mobile devices. This interface, called the MagPen, can be used for any type of smartphones and tablet computers so long as they have magnetometers embedded in.

Contact: Lan Yoon
hlyoon@kaist.ac.kr
82-423-502-295
The Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST)

Public Release: 24-Jul-2013
Nature
Shifting patterns of temperature volatility in the climate system
In recent decades there has been increased variability in yearly temperature records for large parts of Europe and North America, according to a study published online today in Nature. The study was carried out by scientists from the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, the University of East Anglia and the University of Exeter.
National Environmental Research Council, Department of Energy, Newton Institute, Center for Ecology and Hydrology

Contact: Barnaby Smith
bpgs@ceh.ac.uk
44-079-202-95384
Centre for Ecology & Hydrology

Public Release: 23-Jul-2013
SIGGRAPH 2013
ACM Transactions on Graphics
Perfecting digital imaging
Three Harvard papers presented at SIGGRAPH this week aim to improve computer graphics and display technologies! One tackles the challenge of rendering realistic translucent objects like soap; the second creates a new type of 3D display technology; and the third makes color grading accessible to amateur videographers.
National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health, European Research Council, and others

Contact: Caroline Perry
cperry@seas.harvard.edu
617-496-1351
Harvard University

Public Release: 23-Jul-2013
SIGGRAPH 2013
6 months of computing time generates detailed portrait of cloth behavior
It would be impossible to compute all of the ways a piece of cloth might shift, fold and drape over a moving human figure. But after six months of computation, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the University of California, Berkeley, are pretty sure they've simulated almost every important configuration of that cloth. This presents a new paradigm for computer graphics, in which it will be possible to provide real-time simulation for virtually any complex phenomenon.
Intel, National Science Foundation, Google, Qualcomm, Adobe, Pixar, Okawa Foundation

Contact: Byron Spice
bspice@cs.cmu.edu
412-268-9068
Carnegie Mellon University

Public Release: 19-Jul-2013
ACM SIGGRAPH 2013
Disney researchers create computer models that capture style and process of portrait artists
By monitoring artists as they sketch human faces, stroke by stroke, scientists at Disney Research, Pittsburgh, have built computer models that learn each artist's drawing style, how they use strokes and how they select features to highlight as they interpret a face into a portrait.

Contact: Jennifer Liu
jennifer.c.liu@disney.com
818-905-9905
Disney Research

Public Release: 19-Jul-2013
ACM SIGGRAPH 2013
Disney researchers reconstruct detailed 3D scenes from hundreds of high-resolution 2D images
Investigators at Disney Research, Zürich have developed a method for using hundreds of photographic images to build 3D computer models of complex, real-life scenes that meet the increasing demands of today's movie, TV and game producers for high-resolution imagery.

Contact: Jennifer Liu
jennifer.c.liu@disney.c
818-544-6130
Disney Research

Public Release: 19-Jul-2013
Nature Communications
Scientists discover new variability in iron supply to the oceans with climate implications
The supply of dissolved iron to oceans around continental shelves has been found to be more variable by region than previously believed -- with implications for future climate prediction.

Contact: Catherine Beswick
catherine.beswick@noc.ac.uk
44-238-059-8490
National Oceanography Centre, Southampton (UK)

Public Release: 16-Jul-2013
Physical Review Special Topics-Physics Education Research
Educators explore innovative 'theater' as a way to learn physics
By role-playing how energy flows and changes, learners achieve rich insights about this central, globally relevant concept.

Contact: Rachel Scherr
rescherr@gmail.com
206-661-7501
American Physical Society

Public Release: 16-Jul-2013
IAPR International Conference on Biometrics
Eye-tracking could outshine passwords if made user-friendly
University of Washington engineers found in a recent study that the user's experience could be key to creating an authentication system that doesn't rely on passwords.

Contact: Michelle Ma
mcma@uw.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Public Release: 16-Jul-2013
Advanced Drug Discovery Reviews
Mathematical models target disease with drugs chosen by your DNA
Medicines that are personally tailored to your DNA are becoming a reality, thanks to the work of US and Chinese scientists who developed statistical models to predict which drug is best for a specific individual with a specific disease.
NIH/National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences

Contact: Victoria M. Indivero
vmi1@psu.edu
814-865-9481
Penn State

Public Release: 16-Jul-2013
IEEE Journal on Selected Areas in Communication
New model to improve vehicle-to-vehicle communication for 'intelligent transportation'
Imagine a transportation system where vehicles communicate directly with each other in real time, giving drivers warnings about traffic delays, allowing a single driver to control multiple vehicles or routing vehicles around hazardous road conditions. Those are all aspects of the "intelligent transportation" concept. And researchers have developed a model to improve the clarity of the vehicle-to-vehicle transmissions needed to make that concept a reality.
General Motors

Contact: Matt Shipman
matt_shipman@ncsu.edu
919-515-6386
North Carolina State University

Public Release: 15-Jul-2013
PLOS ONE
Archimedes new study shows health checks may lead to cost effective improvements in health
Archimedes Inc., a healthcare modeling company, announced results of a two-year long collaboration with Novo Nordisk A/S, a world leader in diabetes care, showing that health check strategies assessing diabetes, hypertension, lipids and smoking over 30–year period would likely improve health and cost-effectiveness outcomes in six European countries. The study, "A Standardized Vascular Disease Health Check in Europe: A Cost-Effectiveness Analysis," appears in the July 15th issue of the peer-reviewed online journal PLOS ONE.

Contact: Edie DeVine
Edie.Devine@gcihealth.com
415-365-8543
GCI Health

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013
Nature Communications
Sculpting flow
Researchers from UCLA, Iowa State and Princeton reported results in Nature Communications on a new way of sculpting tailor-made fluid flows by placing microscale pillars in microfluidic channels. The method could allow clinicians to better separate white blood cells in a sample, increase mixing in industrial applications, and more quickly perform lab-on-a-chip-type operations. Using TACC's Ranger and Stampede supercomputers, the researchers ran more than 1,000 simulations representing combinations of speeds, thicknesses, heights or offsets that produce unique flows.
National Science Foundation

Contact: Faith Singer-Villalobos
faith@tacc.utexas.edu
512-663-7237
University of Texas at Austin, Texas Advanced Computing Center

Public Release: 12-Jul-2013
Nature Communications
Link between quantum physics and game theory found
A deep link between two seemingly unconnected areas of modern science has been discovered by researchers from the Universities of Bristol and Geneva.

Contact: Hannah Johnson
hannah.johnson@bristol.ac.uk
0044-117-928-8896
University of Bristol