Student researchers
VOA: New 100-Million-Year-Old Fish Discovered in Texas
The coelacanth research of SMU paleontology doctoral student John Graf has been covered by Voice of America. Graf identified a new species of coelacanth from fossil fish bones discovered in Texas. Graf identified the fish from a 100 million-year-old skull fossil. He named the new species Reidus hilli. Graf said the new coelacanth is the first found in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. The fossil is the youngest coelacanth discovered in Texas. Continue reading
NBC News: Climate-changing methane ‘rapidly destabilizing’ off East Coast, study finds
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Methane hydrate samples.[/caption]
Methane hydrate samples.[/caption]
NBC News has covered the research of SMU marine geologist Matthew Hornbach, who led the study that has uncovered a powerful new way to use data from the geological record to discover non-anthropogenic climate changes underway. Continue reading
Nature: Seismic signs of escaping methane under the sea
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Sand is not the only thing on the move in the waters off the eastern United States — a shift in the Gulf Stream is melting methane hydrate in sediments that could release methane gas.
(Image: D. Harvey/Natl. Geographic/Getty Images)[/caption]
Sand is not the only thing on the move in the waters off the eastern United States — a shift in the Gulf Stream is melting methane hydrate in sediments that could release methane gas.(Image: D. Harvey/Natl. Geographic/Getty Images)[/caption]
Nature magazine covered the research of SMU marine geologist Matthew Hornbach, who led the study that has uncovered a powerful new way to use data from the geological record to discover non-anthropogenic climate changes underway. Continue reading
SMU Geothermal Lab students are finalists in U.S. Department of Energy’s National Geothermal Student Competition
A group of SMU graduate students in the SMU Geothermal Laboratory has been selected as one of three finalist teams in a prestigious national geothermal energy competition sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy.
The DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy competition challenges student teams to conduct research aimed at breakthroughs in geothermal energy development. Continue reading
Observed! SMU’s LHC physicists confirm new particle; Higgs ‘God particle’ opens new frontier of exploration
Physicists from SMU and around the globe were euphoric Wednesday with the historic revelation that a new particle consistent with the Higgs boson “God” particle has been observed.
Described as a great triumph for science, the observation is the biggest physics discovery of the last 50 years and opens up what SMU scientists say is a vast new frontier for more research. Continue reading
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Despite belief WIC improves infant health, new study finds no positive or negative impact
Existing scientific literature suggests the U.S. government nutritional program known as WIC improves birth outcomes of children, but new SMU research is unable to find either a positive or negative impact on infant health.
WIC, which serves 53 percent of all U.S. infants, is for low-income pregnant women and their young children under five who are at or below 185 percent of the federal poverty level. Continue reading
Quantum Diaries: Cleaning the world’s biggest machine
SMU postdoctoral researcher Aidan Randle-Conde, SMU Department of Physics, posted about his experience working at the world’s largest physics experiment at CERN on the blog Quantum Diaries.
Randle-Conde’s March 6 entry details his thoughts about “Cleaning the world’s biggest machine,” CERN’s Atlas detector. Continue reading
Fermilab: Tevatron experiments report latest results in search for Higgs boson
New measurements announced March 7 by scientists from the CDF and DZero collaborations at the Department of Energy’s Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory indicate that the elusive Higgs boson may nearly be cornered.
After analyzing the full data set from the Tevatron accelerator, which completed its last run in September 2011, the two independent experiments see hints of a Higgs boson.
Continue reading
Study finds college students willing to donate genetic material to biobanks for research
A majority of college students is receptive to donating blood or other genetic material for scientific research, according to a new study from Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
In what appears to be the first study to gauge college students’ willingness to donate to a genetic biobank, the study surveyed 250 male and female undergraduate and graduate students. Continue reading