University of Delaware researchers soon will be able to explore the Atlantic Ocean and the region’s waterways through the use of a new Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV), a highly advanced submersible robot equipped with a variable payload of sophisticated scientific equipment.(Photograph.)
With increased attention on methane as an important contributor to global climate change, a University of Delaware research team has been awarded nearly $600,000 as part of a U.S. Department of Energy research and development initiative to bring improved engineering and technology to the nation’s landfills, which produce significant quantities of the greenhouse gases.(Photograph.)
Working under harsh Antarctic conditions, an international team of scientists led by the University of Wisconsin-Madison and including researchers from the University of Delaware, has set in place the first critical elements of a massive neutrino telescope at the South Pole.(Photograph.)
UD research team creates copolymer rings
Taking a cue from the human body, researchers from the University of Delaware have discovered an innovative method by which to create supramolecular rings from tri-block copolymer assembly. Rings have long been theoretically predicted, but the realization of the shape had proved elusive until now.(Photograph.)
UD research featured in three academic journals
Groundbreaking plant genome research being conducted by the University of Delaware’s Blake C. Meyers has been featured in three academic journals in the last three months.(Photograph.)
UD research shows life in coral reef far richer than expected
A scientific team from the University of Delaware and James Cook University in Townsville, Australia, has spent the last seven years collecting and analyzing data from coral reefs in one of the most remote and biologically diverse regions of the world. The results document rich coral life far beyond expectations.(Photograph.)
UD researchers devise liquid body armor technology
Researchers at the University of Delaware, working in collaboration with military scientists, have developed a liquid that hardens on impact and has the potential to improve the protective ability and comfort of body armor worn by soldiers and law enforcement officers.(Photograph.)
UD plant geneticist part of $100 million genome research project
The National Science Foundation has awarded a UD researcher $4.2 million for genetic studies of rice, a plant that feeds more than half of the world's population and serves as a model for cereal crops of great economic importance in the United States.(Photograph.)
Small robotic devices fly like birds
As the nation celebrates the 100th anniversary of human flight, an internationally recognized University of Delaware robotics expert has turned his attention to the skies.(Photograph.)
UD researchers collaborate on study of how prostate cancer spreads
The National Cancer Institute has awarded a $7.6 million grant for collaborative research among several institutions of higher education, including the University of Delaware, to study the pathways and mechanisms for prostate cancer metastasis to bone.(Photograph.)
UD engineers partner with IBM in supercomputing consortium
A University of Delaware research team is participating in a national initiative to regain preeminence in supercomputing, a position that has been claimed by the Japanese over the course of the last decade. (Photograph.)
UD researchers will work with DuPont and Ion Power to improve fuel cell economics
Scientists in the University of Delaware’s nationally ranked chemical engineering program are taking a leading role in research on hydrogen-based fuel cell technology. (Photograph.)
NIMH awards UD psychologist four-year grant for 'boundary extension' research
Seeing is believing. Or maybe not, according to University of Delaware researcher Helene Intraub, a professor of psychology who has conducted extensive experiments in perception, memory and visual illusions. (Photograph.)
UD Marine Scientists Now Cruising into Icy Arctic to Research Major Process Affecting Global Climate
Bniversity of Delaware marine scientists are now working aboard the 420-foot U.S. Coast Guard icebreaker Healy on a National Science Foundation project to track the fresh water flowing out of the Arctic Ocean into the Atlantic. This fresh water, from melting ice and rivers, affects the salinity and circulation of the ocean and thus has a major influence on the Earth’s climate. (Photograph.)
Existence of brown dwarfs first confirmed in 1995
Brown dwarfs, gaseous masses that are essentially failed stars, tend to form in pairs and in close proximity to one another, a University of Delaware scientist reports in the June issue of the Astronomical Journal. (Photograph.)
UD home to unique local television news database
The University of Delaware is home to a new online resource, which is believed to be the only one of its kind in the world, for researchers studying the impact of local television news broadcasts on viewers.(Photograph.)
UD scientists report portable detection devices could be used in medicine, hazardous materials detection and rescue operations
Scientists from the University of Delaware have made a major breakthrough in terahertz nanotechnology, one that could have practical applications in medical imaging, hazardous materials detection and even rescue operations. (Photograph.)
Geocryology important tool in global change science
Geocryology, or the study of permafrost, is an increasingly important area of study in the larger field of global change science, Frederick E. Nelson, professor of geography at the University of Delaware, writes in the March 14 issue of Science magazine. (Photograph.)
UD professor is expert on real-life murder cases behind the musical ‘Chicago’
When the 75th annual Academy Awards ceremonies take place on March 23, a University of Delaware professor will be watching with special interest to see how many Oscars the film “Chicago” takes home. (Photograph.)
UD researchers on leading edge of molecular design
University of Delaware researchers are on the leading edge of molecular design, using sophisticated computer techniques to generate models of molecules that can then be synthesized in the laboratory and that may ultimately lead to new treatments for genetic diseases. (Photograph.)
UD researcher finds bacteria cells progress toward optimal behavior
University of Delaware researcher Jeremy Edwards has developed advanced computerized mathematical models that can be used to predict the evolution of bacterial cells and has found that those cells progress toward optimal behavior. (Photograph.)
Vent crabs use ‘night vision’ to navigate ocean’s depths
The crabs that inhabit vents found deep on the ocean floor have developed a form of eyesight similar to that of night vision goggles used by the military, according to University of Delaware researcher Charles E. Epifanio. (Photograph.)
$3.7 million NIMH grant funds research on foster parent training
A University of Delaware researcher has been awarded a $3.7 million grant from the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) to examine the effectiveness of training programs for foster parents of infants. (Photograph.)
UD researchers develop revolutionary computer interface technology
University of Delaware researchers have developed a revolutionary computer interface technology that promises to put the bite on the traditional mouse and mechanical keyboard. (Photograph.)
UD researcher studies motor skills of infants
James C. (Cole) Galloway, assistant professor of physical therapy at the University of Delaware, has jumped feet first into research on the motor skills of infants and in so doing is helping turn some long-held notions about human development on their head. (Photograph.)
Molecular Biology Reaches New Extremes:
Scientists Conduct First DNA Field Tests on Antarctic Soil Microbes
Equipped with a portable lab kit, a generator, a small tent, and plenty of warm clothes, an international team of scientists recently conducted genetic tests of the bacteria that thrive in one of the driest, coldest places on Earth — Antarctica’s “Dry Valleys.” This is believed to be the first time DNA fingerprinting of soil microbes has been performed in the field on the Earth’s frozen continent. (Photograph.)
Device senses chemical weapons
Researchers at the University of Delaware have developed a portable detection platform that could provide real-time recognition of chemical and biological weapons using infrared spectroscopy. (Photograph.)
Microwire discovery
University of Delaware researchers have discovered a new class of self-assembling microwires that can conduct electricity, according to the Nov. 2 issue of Science magazine.(Photograph.)
UD scientist fears insect food supply affected by non-native plants
Ever wonder about an insect’s preferred cuisine? Not likely, unless, of course, the critter in question is an uninvited guest chewing on your prize rose. Yet Doug Tallamy, University of Delaware professor of entomology and applied ecology, is concerned. (Photograph.)
UD and DelDOT team up with state-of-the-art transportation planning lab
A new University of Delaware laboratory stands at the center of modern transportation planning, using leading edge communications and information technologies to smooth the flow of traffic throughout the state. (Photograph.)
Researchers Pinpoint How Tubeworm Babies Are Dispersed to Colonize New Vent Sites
Travel to the middle of the Pacific Ocean, plunge two miles to the seafloor near an underwater volcano, release a strawberry seed in the pitch darkness, and figure out where it will land. (Photograph.)
UD, Russian scientists study potential hazards of permafrost thaw caused by global warming
Scientists from the University of Delaware and Russia are working together to identify areas in which the thawing of permafrost in the Northern Hemisphere's circumpolar region could imperil manmade structures, including energy production facilities and transportation links. (Photograph.)
Scientists Determine How Chemistry Keeps Weird Worms “Out of Hot Water” at Steaming Deep-Sea Vents
Using a novel detector attached to a submarine, a research team led by University of Delaware marine scientists has determined that water chemistry controls the location and distribution of two species of weird worms that inhabit deep-sea hydrothermal vent sites. The study, which is the first to demonstrate through real-time measurements how different chemical compounds control the biology at the vents, is reported in the April 12 edition of Nature. (Photograph.)
Antarctic Sea Urchin Shows Amazing Energy-Efficiency in Nature's Deep Freeze
Brrrr! How well do you think you would grow if you lived in a freezer? Adam Marsh, a marine biochemist at the University of Delaware, and colleagues Rob Maxson and Donal Manahan from the University of Southern California, have discovered an important reason why the pincushion-like Antarctic sea urchin (Sterechinus neumayeri) can function so well in the polar seas surrounding the Earth’s frozen continent. (Photograph.)
Premiere African-American art collection gets new home at University of Delaware
One of the oldest, largest and most complete holdings of African-American art in the world–the 1,000 piece Paul R. Jones Collection–has a new home at the University of Delaware, President David P. Roselle announced Feb. 14. (Photograph.)
UD students explore the lure of chocolate
In a University of Delaware’s honors colloquium on chocolate, all 20 student chocolate-tasters agree: Dutch-process cocoa is not a chocoholic’s dream. One dab of the dark brown powder on their tongues sends them dashing for palate-cleansing water and saltine crackers. They grimace in surprise. How could chocolate taste like this? (Photograph.)
University of Delaware unveils new Samson supercluster computer
The University of Delaware has taken a quantum leap into supercomputing with installation of the world's largest Advanced Micro Devices Athlon supercluster. The supercluster features 128 processors connected by a Dolphin Interconnect Solutions high performance network and designed and assembled by the California-based RackSaver corporation. (Photograph Video.)
Using the Hubble Space Telescope, the first measurements of hot ionized gas blown out by stars like the sun have been obtained by astronomers Brian Wood and Jeffrey Linsky of the University of Colorado and Gary P. Zank and Hans Mueller of the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware. (Photograph.)
Larry Cogburn, University of Delaware professor of molecular endocrinology, has won a highly competitive $1.8 million grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Initiative for Future Agriculture and Food Systems for functional mapping of growth regulating genes in broiler chickens. (Photograph.)
Just as pianists accompanied silent films in the theatres of the 1920s, University of Delaware music department chairperson David Herman will highlight ghost stories from the console of the Jefferson Pipe Organ in Bayard Sharp Hall this Halloween. (Photograph.)
When a jury awarded Stella Liebeck $3 million for spilling McDonald’s coffee in her lap, people across the continent were sure the jury system was out of control. (Photograph.)
Dan Marino, one of the greatest quarterbacks in the history of the National Football League, wore No. 13 throughout his career with the powerhouse Miami Dolphins. Marino threw for an astounding 61,358 yards and 420 touchdowns, but he never won a Super Bowl. (Photograph.)
Simply adopting school uniforms is unlikely to make schools safer and administrators and parents who are considering requiring students to wear uniforms should proceed cautiously, advises Janet Hethorn. Getting input from youngsters and discussing all the implications of such a policy is important, the University of Delaware professor of consumer studies and assistant director for design in the UD Center for Historic Architecture and Design says. (Photograph.)
Broadsided by a car that ran a stop sign, in pain for the rest of your life. If you haven’t lost or broken anything, don’t expect much in the way of compensation from a jury of your peers. (Photograph.)
Dozens of coconuts — all with a couple of holes in their shells — sit outside Sherry Kitto’s office door at the University of Delaware. Kitto, professor of horticulture, has harvested quarts of coconut milk for her ongoing work in cloning trillium and other native plants. Now empty of their milk, the coconuts are free for the taking. (Photograph.)
A University of Delaware underwater sound experiment set to begin in July in the Delaware Bay has the potential to provide valuable insight into ways scientists can measure the health of the marine ecosystem. (Sound, Photograph.)
Three University of Delaware researchers have discovered a new way to synthesize latex microstructures from tightly packed, ordered arrays called colloidal crystals. Because the microstructures can be created in novel shapes and structures, these arrays have practical implications for diverse applications such as electronic paper and improved methods of chemical analyses. (Photograph.)
Television news and the way it skews the country’s view of juvenile crime is the focus of a new report, "Kids, Crime and Local TV News," recently published at the University of Delaware. (Photograph.)
Dramatically different teaching styles exist between American teachers and their counterparts in top academic countries such as Japan. And, U.S. teachers need more time to collaborate on lessons and more professional development support if the country is to close this teaching gap, a University of Delaware Professor of Education says. (Photograph.)
Researchers from the University of Delaware and Analytical Instrument Systems, Inc., have developed an electrochemical analyzer, a kind of underwater "snooper," that can detect the chemicals spewing out of super-hot vents over a mile deep on the ocean floor. (Photograph.)
Four hundred college age women may literally be running toward better health as they participate in a University of Delaware study on the causes of stress fractures in runners. The study aims to someday make the common but serious injury avoidable. (Photograph.)
Ever wonder how we've evolved from a society that remade clothes and made soup from foodscraps to one that throws away TV dinner trays along with last year's computer? Susan Strasser explores this phenomenon in her latest book, "Waste and Want: A Social History of Trash." (Photograph.)
In "The White Death Tragedy and Heroism in An Avalanche Zone," McKay Jenkins, assistant professor of English, unfolds a gripping natural history of avalanches, framed by the story of one of the worst avalanche disasters in mountaineering history. (Photograph.)
A member of the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame, Ron Ludington, director of the Ice Skating Science Development Center at the University of Delaware, has had some anxious moments in his 39-year career on ice. (Photograph.)
Middle- and high-school students will be able to ask about smelly, foot-long clams, blind tubeworms, ghostly white crabs and other deep-sea denizens Jan. 13, when University of Delaware scientist Craig Cary calls classrooms from the seafloor. (Photograph; video.)
What's on tap for the year 2000? Computer chaos and stockpiling dry goods, or unbridled prosperity and family togetherness? (Photograph)
On Pablo Dmitruk's computer in UD's Sharp Laboratory, bright white and green circles converge and dance across the screen, then turn yellow and disappear. (Photograph)
New strategies for "streaming" data would allow a student in Iowa to claim a seat in Gore Hall at the University of Delaware, or to hear a Seattle symphony in real time, over a computer. Cell phones, pagers and other portable devices, meanwhile, are being linked to the Internet without modems or wires, via network addresses. (Photograph)
From Thanksgiving Day through the New Year, many American families will enjoy good, old-fashioned turkey meals. Included in the traditional feast will be mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie, and at the center of it all--a turkey. (Photograph)
A building element made of lightweight honeycomb sandwiched between curved composite panels is getting the attention of companies making everything from storage containers to components for the space station, University of Delaware researcher Jack R. Vinson will report Nov. 14. (Photograph)
Renowned South Pole explorer Martin A. Pomerantz announced his gift of one-half million dollars to support a new faculty position for the Bartol Research Institute at the University of Delaware. (Photograph; video.)
By simulating the natural load on human thigh bones, a new artificial hip design might someday help prevent post-surgical atrophy, a common problem among younger, more active patients, University of Delaware scientists recently reported.(Photograph)
Looking for the perfect pumpkin? Dreaming about the rich, earthy smell of a freshly baked pumpkin pie?(Photograph)
Tucked inside an electrically charged "salt cloud," tiny proteins can avoid slipping through molecular filters, which may make it easier to purify and separate them from other proteins, engineers with Millipore Corp., Genentech and the University of Delaware reported today.(Photograph)
Porous, rainbow-colored metal--inspired by opal--may suggest new materials to steer light inside superfast computers, or to more efficiently catalyze chemical reactions, University of Delaware researchers report Oct. 7 in Nature.(Photograph)
When toxic Pfiesteria piscicida microorganisms invade recreational waterways, summer tourism and seafood sales can suffer, a researcher with the University of Delaware Sea Grant College Program reported today in a briefing at the National Press Club, Washington, D.C.(Photograph)
Featuring "shards of soccer-ball shaped molecules jumbled in space and linked together," a new material shows promise for more efficiently producing nitrogen and oxygen--a multibillion industry, DuPont Co. and University of Delaware scientists report Sept. 17 in Science.(Photograph)
Molecular biologist Eric B. Kmiec--who stunned the scientific community six years ago by inventing a technique for repairing disease-causing genetic mutations--has selected the University of Delaware as the site for his Laboratory of Gene Therapy.(Photograph)
Phosphorus in poultry droppings--a potential threat to water quality--can be dramatically reduced by feeding flocks a new hybrid of corn with more highly available phosphorus, plus an enzyme that helps chickens digest the mineral, University of Delaware and U.S. Department of Agriculture scientists say.(Photograph)
A University of Delaware scientist says air pollution threatens healthy adults, too, because tiny particles can zoom through human lungs up to two times faster and penetrate deeper than previously assumed.(Photograph; video.)
Is the multi-trillion-dollar U.S. budget surplus for real? Should we spend it on tax cuts? Some surplus revenues can be expected in the future, UD tax expert Sheldon D. Pollack says, but estimates of trillions of extra dollars are grossly inflated. And, in light of the national debt and expected Social Security shortfalls, "It's absurd to even speak of budget surpluses," says Pollack, a tax lawyer and author of The Failure of U.S. Tax Policy: Revenue and Politics.(Photograph.)