The Geothermal Laboratory at Southern Methodist University (SMU) has just completed a research project that aims to use ultra-low-grade heat (150 °F to 250 °F) normally discarded by geothermal facilities to generate additional electricity. A central component of this project was the proprietary bottoming cycle technology of PwrCor, Inc., an advanced technology company that focuses […]
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The state of West Virginia has been home to coal-driven energy for nearly two centuries. Now SMU has discovered it’s home to a vast source of geothermal energy.
Biz Beat Blog reporter Jeffrey Weiss at The Dallas Morning News covered the 2016 SMU Geothermal Conference, “Power Plays: Geothermal Energy in Oil and Gas Fields.”
The conference was April 25-26 on the SMU campus in Dallas. The eighth international conference focused on using the oilfield as a base for alternative energy production through the capture of waste heat and fluids.
SMU’s renowned SMU Geothermal Laboratory will host its eighth international energy conference April 25-26 on the Dallas campus, focused on using the oilfield as a base for alternative energy production through the capture of waste heat and fluids.
In addition to oil and gas field geothermal projects, experts will discuss coal plant conversion for geothermal production, the intersection of geothermal energy and desalination, and large-scale direct use of the energy source produced by the internal heat of the earth.
Southern Methodist University’s renowned SMU Geothermal Laboratory will host its seventh international energy conference and workshop on the SMU campus May 19-20. The conference is designed to promote transition of oil and gas fields to electricity-producing geothermal systems by harnessing waste heat and fluids from both active and abandoned fields.
Maria Richards, coordinator of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory , has been named president-elect of the Geothermal Resources Council.
Richards will be the 26th president of the global energy organization in 2017. She’s been at the forefront of SMU’s renowned geothermal energy research for more than a decade, and the University’s mapping of North American geothermal resources is the baseline for U.S. geothermal energy exploration.
In a renewable energy report on geothermal technology, the renewable energy news web site Renewable Energy World.com covered the SMU Geothermal Laboratory‘s research to locate and quantify the huge geothermal resources available for production from existing oil wells within Texas. The report relied on the expertise of SMU geothermal expert Maria Richards, director of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
The article by associate editor Megan Cichon, “Where’s the Heat? Geothermal Industry Seeks Resource Assessment Tools to Spur Development,” published April 16.
In an energy and environment report on Texas, NPR covered the SMU Geothermal Laboratory‘s research to locate and quantify the huge geothermal resources available for production from existing oil wells within Texas. The NPR report relied on the expertise of SMU geothermal expert Maria Richards, director of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
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.
SMU Geothermal energy expert David Blackwell gave a Capitol Hill briefing Tuesday, March 27, on the growing opportunities for geothermal energy production in the United States.
Blackwell’s presentation outlined the variety of techniques available for geothermal production of electricity, the accessibility of unconventional geothermal resources across vast portions of the United States and the opportunities for synergy with the oil and gas industry.
National Geographic has launched its new Explorers web site, which includes SMU doctoral student Andrés Ruzo.
The Explorers site acknowledges the work of the world’s scientists whose research is made possible in part through funding from National Geographic.
Forbes in its Oct. 26 online news has covered the geothermal energy research of SMU Hamilton Professor of Geophysics David Blackwell, Maria Richards and the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
Blackwell and Richards, the Geothermal Lab coordinator, released a new map earlier this week that documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power — 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today.
New research from SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a grant from Google.org, documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power – 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today.
One of the petroleum industry’s major sources for industry news has covered the emergence of geothermal energy from existing oil and gas fields as a potential source of power generation.
The June 20 article “Geothermal in the oil field, the next emerging market” provides context for the emerging technology that is making geothermal production possible. The article cites SMU’s annual geothermal conference as a source of more information about geothermal production.
The SMU Geothermal Laboratory hosted its fifth international conference dedicated to “Geothermal Energy Utilization Associated with Oil & Gas Development” in mid-June on the SMU campus.
A National Geographic Daily News story about the potential of geothermal heat from beneath the Earth’s surface as a source of clean, renewable energy tapped the expertise of SMU geophysicist David Blackwell. Blackwell, whose decades-long research led him to map the nation’s geothermal energy potential, is one of the foremost experts on geothermal energy. He heads SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory.
Science journalist David LaGesse interviewed Blackwell for the Dec. 28 article “Can Geothermal Energy Pick Up Real Steam?”
The business innovation magazine Fast Company took note of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory‘s recent report on the large green-energy geothermal resource underground in West Virginia. The research was funded by Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google.com. SMU geologist David Blackwell leads the SMU lab and its research.
The Oct. 8 article in Fast Company is one of many stories published by the U.S. media about the recent report by scientists in the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
Science, the international weekly science journal, published by the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has covered the geothermal mapping research of the Southern Methodist University’s Geothermal Laboratory, led by SMU geologist David Blackwell and funded by Google.org.
The Oct. 4 article “West Virginia is a Geothermal Hot Spot” by science journalist Eli Kintisch quotes Maria Richards, coordinator of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
New research by SMU’s Geothermal Laboratory, funded by a Google.org grant, suggests the Earth’s temperature beneath West Virginia is significantly higher than previously estimated.
The finding suggests the resource in West Virginia could support commercial baseload geothermal energy production, says SMU’s David Blackwell.
Geothermal energy is the use of the Earth’s heat to produce heat and electricity. “Geothermal is an extremely reliable form of energy, and it generates power 24/7, which makes it a baseload source like coal or nuclear,” said David Blackwell, Hamilton Professor of Geophysics and Director of the SMU Geothermal Laboratory. (Photo: Yellowstone hot springs)
The U.S. Department of Energy’s Rocky Mountain Oilfield Testing Center, RMOTC, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, NREL, and Southern Methodist University Geothermal Laboratory, hosted a two-day “Geothermal in the Oil Field” symposium in Casper, Wyo., Aug. 18-19, 2010.
The event highlighted the application of low-temperature geothermal power production in oil and gas operations and other settings in the western United States.
The Geothermal Laboratory at SMU has been awarded $5.25 million by the U.S. Department of Energy to help provide data for the planned National Geothermal Data System.
The grant allocation is part of $338 million in Recovery Act funding that was announced Oct. 29 by DOE Secretary Steven Chu. The funding is intended to help dramatically expand geothermal production in the United States.
SMU will work with a diverse team of experts from academia, industry and national labs with experience in conventional hydrothermal geothermal resource assessment, Enhanced Geothermal Systems, oil and gas data, geopressure geothermal and produced water non-conventional geothermal systems in providing the data.
Texas, which has been the nation’s largest fossil-fuel producer, also has an abundant supply of another natural resource for a different kind of energy boom: clean, renewable, geothermal energy.
Like the oil and gas beneath Texas, there’s a huge quantity of naturally occurring “hot rocks” underground that could be tapped for geothermal energy to produce electricity, according to new research by SMU scientists. South and East Texas have an abundant supply, say the researchers.
Enhancing existing oil and gas wells for the purpose of producing electricity from the Earth’s heat will be the focus of an annual international geothermal conference at SMU in November. The conference is coordinated by the SMU Geothermal Laboratory and SMU’s Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences. “Geothermal Energy Utilization Associated with Oil and […]
The Jamaica Observer covered the research of SMU’s Leanne Ketterlin Geller, associate professor in the Department of Education Policy and Leadership in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development, and her team from Research in Mathematics Education. Ketterlin Geller is director of Research in Mathematics Education and director of K-12 STEM Initiatives, Caruth Institute for Engineering Education.
SMU’s John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies has formed a strategic academic partnership with the Latino Center for Leadership Development, Latino CLD.
The new Latino CLD-SMU Tower Center Policy Institute will identify and implement policy-focused solutions to the Latino community’s most pressing concerns, from educational and economic opportunities, to voting rights and immigration reform, to the under-representation of Latinos in elected and appointed roles at the federal, state and local levels, as well as corporate boards.
A new large genome-scale study reveals that the ancestors of all present-day Native Americans arrived in the Americas as part of a single migration wave, no earlier than 23,000 ago.
The finding addresses the ongoing debate over when and how many times the ancestors of present-day Native Americans entered the New World from Siberia. Archaeological evidence logs modern humans in the Americas 15,000 years ago.
Motion capture software, popular in the world of video gaming, is being tested to see if it may be a useful tool in the classroom. Researchers know that the more engaged students are, the more likely they are to learn. In her research, SMU teaching expert Candace Walkington, assistant professor of teaching and learning in […]
KERA News reporter Justin Martin interviewed SMU anthropologist David Meltzer from the SMU Department of Anthropology about the controversial 8,500-year-old skeleton called Kennewick Man.
Meltzer was part of a new study in the journal Nature that analyzed Kennewick Man’s genome sequence and found that Kennewick Man is more closely related to modern Native Americans than to any other population worldwide.
An 8,500-year-old male skeleton discovered in 1996 in Washington State sparked bitter disputes between Native Americans, American scientists, and within the American scientific community. Earlier studies suggested he was not ancestral to Native Americans, blocking repatriation. Now his genome sequence shows Kennewick Man is more closely related to modern Native Americans than to any other population worldwide.
Biology isn’t the only reason women eat less as they near ovulation, a time when they are at their peak fertility.
Three new independent studies found that another part of the equation is a woman’s desire to maintain her body’s attractiveness, says social psychologist and assistant professor Andrea L. Meltzer, Southern Methodist University, Dallas.
WFAA 8 ABC news reporter Byron Harris reported on the SMU-led team of seismologists whose recent study found that large volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater (brine) extraction from natural gas wells is the most likely cause of earthquakes near Azle, Texas, from late 2013 through spring 2014.
The study published in Nature Communications.
WFAA aired the segment April, 21, 2015.
Science journalist Anna Kuchment with The Dallas Morning News covered the research of an SMU-led team of seismologists whose recent study found that large volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater (brine) extraction from natural gas wells is the most likely cause of earthquakes near Azle, Texas, from late 2013 through spring 2014.
An SMU-led seismology team finds that high volumes of wastewater injection combined with saltwater (brine) extraction from natural gas wells is the most likely cause of earthquakes occurring near Azle, Texas, from late 2013 through spring 2014.
The seismology team identified two intersecting faults, and developed a sophisticated 3D model to assess the changing fluid pressure within the rock formation.
Smithsonian magazine online tapped the expertise of SMU paleontologist Louis L. Jacobs, a professor in the Roy M. Huffington Department of Earth Sciences of SMU’s Dedman College of Humanities and Sciences.
Science journalist Alicia Ault interviewed Jacobs on the subject of why land animals moved to the seas over the past 250 million years.
In new research, Cox School’s Bo Kyung Kim explores the options for opera companies competing for position.
Paradoxically, the authors find, to create space for unconventional repertoire choices it may be necessary to make yet more conventional choices.
Healthday reporter Barbara Bronson Gray tapped the expertise of psychologist Sarah Feuerbacher, clinical director of the family counseling clinic at SMU.
The article by Bronson Gray, “When a parent dies, what helps a child cope?,” published March 14 online.
Scientists hunting for dark matter announced Friday they’ve made significant headway in figuring out a key characteristic of the mysterious substance.
Dark matter has never been detected, but scientists believe it constitutes a large part of our universe. Key to finding dark matter is determining its mass, or the volume of matter it contains.
Scientists hunting one of nature’s most elusive, yet abundant, elementary particles announced today they’ve succeeded in their first efforts to glimpse neutrinos using a detector in Minnesota.
Neutrinos are generated in nature through the decay of radioactive elements and from high-energy collisions between fundamental particles, such as in the Big Bang that ignited the universe.
Journalist Jim Fuquay of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram covered the research of SMU seismologist Heather R. DeShon.
DeShon is leading the effort to trace the source of a recent sequence of small earthquakes in North Texas and any relationship they may have to the injection of waste water by energy companies using shale gas production to recover gas.
The Associated Press covered the research of SMU seismologist Heather R. DeShon.
DeShon is leading the effort to trace the source of a recent sequence of small earthquakes in North Texas and any relationship they may have to the injection of waste water by energy companies using shale gas production to recover gas.
Journalist Doualy Xaykaothao with KERA public radio covered the research of SMU seismologist Heather R. DeShon.
DeShon is leading the effort to trace the source of a recent sequence of small earthquakes in North Texas and any relationship they may have to the injection of waste water by energy companies using shale gas production to recover gas.
Some parents who spank believe it’s an effective way to discipline children. But extensive research has linked spanking to child behavior problems.
New SMU studies found that brief exposure to the research significantly altered parents’ views of spanking. “If we can educate people about corporal punishment, these studies show that we can in a very quick way begin changing attitudes,” said George Holden, SMU psychologist.
Numerous U.S. banks failed during the recent financial crisis — and more would have, absent governmental intervention, says short-selling expert Hemang Desai, an SMU professor.
New research from Desai suggests short sellers were sensitive to the leading indicators of the crisis, and were the first to react, ahead of equity analysts, ratings agencies and auditors.
Journalist Jim Malewitz with The Texas Tribune tapped the expertise of SMU geophysicist Brian Stump, whose research has looked at the operation of saltwater injection disposal wells and small earthquakes that have occurred in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
Stump is Albritton Professor of Earth Sciences in SMU’s Dedman College. His research includes seismic wave propagation, seismic source theory, shallow geophysical site characterization, and characterization of explosions as sources of seismic waves.
Journalists Alistair Barr and Kim Hjelmgaard with USA Today tapped the expertise of SMU Bitcoin and cybersecurity expert Tyler W. Moore, an assistant professor of computer science in the Lyle School of Engineering.
Moore’s expertise draws in part on his research that found that online money exchanges that trade hard currency for the rapidly emerging cyber money known as Bitcoin have a 45 percent chance of failing — often taking their customers’ money with them.
Mystique shrouds the activities surrounding the board of directors. Today directors serving on boards are paid quite handsomely. But what functions do they perform for their rewards?
In a first-of-its-kind paper, SMU Cox Distinguished Finance Professor James Linck, with Viktar Fedaseyeu and Hannes Wagner, analyze directors — who they are, what they do and how much they are paid.
Peter Weyand and his team set out nine months ago on a research project dubbed “The Physics of Flopping: Blowing the Whistle on a Foul Practice.” WFAA TV journalist Jason Wheeler covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved […]
Sports on Earth journalist Shaun Powell covered the research of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.
Dallas Morning News science reporter Anna Kuchment covered the research of of SMU biomechanics expert Peter G. Weyand, who is teaming with Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban to investigate the forces involved in basketball collisions and the possibility of estimating “flopping” forces from video data.
An intriguing, technological watershed is fast approaching for Athletics — that defining moment when an athlete with artificial limbs shatters an “able-bodied” world record.
Brazilian, double-limb, amputee sprinter Alan Oliveira is certainly not a household name, but he has quietly become much faster than some better known amputee runners.
Journalist Katrina Schwartz with California Public Radio station KQED reported on the research of SMU Assistant Professor Candace Walkington, who authored a year-long study of 141 ninth graders at a Pennsylvania high school and found that students whose algebra curriculum was personalized to their interests mastered the concepts faster than those students whose learning wasn’t personalized.
Seismologists from SMU will deploy a variety of seismic monitors in and around Azle, Texas, to study the recent burst of small earthquakes that have been occurring in the area northwest of Fort Worth.
The first group of instruments, four digital monitors provided by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), will be deployed as early as this week to monitor the burst of seismicity that has been occurring in the area since early November. The USGS NetQuakes instruments are designed to be installed in private homes, businesses, public buildings and schools with an existing broadband connection to the internet, and data from those monitors will be available online.
The New York Daily news reports on the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who was co-author on a four-year longitudinal study of 135 newlywed couples that found that a spouse’s implicit feelings about their partner predicted marital satisfaction later.
The article, “Newlyweds’ gut feelings on their marriage are correct: study,” was published Dec. 2.
Journalist Meeri Kim reports in The Washington Post about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who was co-author on a four-year longitudinal study of 135 newlywed couples that found that a spouse’s implicit feelings about their partner predicted marital satisfaction later.
The article, “Psychology study: Wedded bliss and gut feelings sometimes conflict,” was published Nov. 28.
Journalist Steve Connor reports in The Independent about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who was co-author on a four-year longitudinal study of 135 newlywed couples that found that a spouse’s implicit feelings about their partner predicted marital satisfaction later.
The article, “The key to marital bliss? Use your gut instinct,” was published Nov. 28.
Unconscious gut reactions may predict happy, and not-so-happy, marriages, a new study published in the scholarly journal Science suggests.
Results of research published Nov. 29 found that spouses’ implicit attitudes toward their partners predicted changes in their marital satisfaction over four years. Andrea L. Meltzer, SMU Department of Psychology, is a co-author on the study.
“It is a rare event that geology is a catalyst of public cooperation and celebration,” says SMU geologist and volcano expert James E. Quick. The new Sesia-Val Grande Geopark is an example of just that, says Quick, whose international team in 2009 discovered a fossil supervolcano that now sits at the heart of the new geopark. The discovery sparked worldwide scientific interest and a regional geotourism industry.
Journalist Roxanne Palmer reports in the International Business Times about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who found in a four-year longitudinal study of 450 newlywed couples that men with physically attractive wives remained much more satisfied in their marriage than men without physically attractive wives.
The article, “Love And Marriage: Wife’s Attractiveness Essential, Study Says,” was published Nov. 20.
Journalist Benjamin Fearnow reports from CBS Houston about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who found in a four-year longitudinal study of 450 newlywed couples that men with physically attractive wives remained much more satisfied in their marriage than men without physically attractive wives.
The article, “Study: Men With Attractive Wives More Satisfied In Marriage,” was published Nov. 20.
UPI wire service reported about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who found in a four-year longitudinal study of 450 newlywed couples that men with physically attractive wives remained much more satisfied in their marriage than men without physically attractive wives.
The article, “Husbands with hot wife more satisfied, wives not so much,” was published Nov. 20.
Journalist Victoria Woollaston reports in London’s Daily Mail about the research of SMU psychologist Andrea L. Meltzer, who found in a four-year longitudinal study of 450 newlywed couples that men with physically attractive wives remained much more satisfied in their marriage than men without physically attractive wives.
The article, “Love? Trust? No, a GOOD-LOOKING wife makes for a happy marriage (according to men, at least…),” was published Nov. 20.
Science journalist Jane J. Lee with National Geographic reported on the research of SMU Research Associate Michael J. Polcyn, who co-authored a new study that found the ancient sea monsters known as mosasaurs were not as slow as paleontologists once thought, thanks to their shark-like tails.
Contrary to traditional scientific understanding, sprint and endurance exercise differ fundamentally in the relationship between exercise mechanics, metabolism and performance, according to new research from the University of Montana and Southern Methodist University, Dallas. New findings indicate that sprinting performance is limited by musculoskeletal forces and the rapidity with which those forces are impaired by fatigue.
Scientific American has written a comprehensive piece on the long-running global controversy surrounding double-amputee runner Oscar Pistorius, the South African vying to compete in the Olympics.
The July 24 article “Should Oscar Pistorius’s Prosthetic Legs Disqualify Him from the Olympics?” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.
Discovery News has written a comprehensive piece on the running mechanics of double-amputee South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.
The July 20 article “How Olympic ‘Blade Runner’ Sprints Without Feet” quotes SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.
Science magazine hosted a live chat with scientific experts about any competitive advantage provided by the cutting-edge, light-weight prosthetic legs of double-amputee South African runner Oscar Pistorius, the first amputee to compete in the Olympics.
The July 18 chat “Science at the Olympics” included SMU’s Peter Weyand, an expert in human locomotion.
With Type 2 human diabetes climbing at alarming rates in the United States, researchers are seeking treatments for the disease, which has been linked to obesity and poor diet.
Now biologists at Southern Methodist University, Dallas, report they have developed a new discovery tool that will help researchers better understand this deadly disease.
Today’s mega forest fires of the southwestern U.S. are truly unusual and exceptional in the long-term record, suggests a new study that examined hundreds of years of ancient tree ring and fire data from two distinct climate periods, says study co-author and fire anthropologist Christopher I. Roos, SMU.
SELF writer Ginny Graves has covered the research of SMU psychologist Dr. Jasper Smits.
The article in the latest issue of SELF, “How Exercise Can Make You Happy (in Just 20 Minutes!),” quotes Smits, an associate professor of psychology, on his research finding that high levels of physical activity can buffer against stress for those who are at risk.
USA Today in an April 22 article “Despite opposition, paddling students allowed in 19 states” interviewed SMU psychologist George W. Holden about the controversial practice of corporal punishment.
Holden, an expert in families and child development, is a founding member of the U.S. Alliance to End the Hitting of Children, at endhittingusa.org.
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.
Imposing trade restrictions on parallel imports has the surprising effect of motivating a firm to export, according to a new study using game theory economic analysis, says co-author Santanu Roy, SMU. The study found that diverse parallel importing policies make it possible to analyze for the first time how competition between firms and allowing or banning parallel imports can influence competition.
The Daily Mail has covered the geothermal energy research of SMU Hamilton Professor of Geophysics David Blackwell, Maria Richards and the SMU Geothermal Laboratory.
Blackwell and Richards, the Geothermal Lab coordinator, released a new map earlier this week that documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power — 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today. The research was funded with a grant from Google.org.
[/caption]MSNBC.com has covered the geothermal energy research of SMU Hamilton Professor of Geophysics David Blackwell, Maria Richards and the SMU Geothermal Laboratory. The Lab, funded by a grant from Google.org,
Blackwell and Richards, the Geothermal Lab coordinator, released a new map earlier this week that documents significant geothermal resources across the United States capable of producing more than three million megawatts of green power — 10 times the installed capacity of coal power plants today.
WFAA-TV reporter David Schechter covered SMU’s participation in the largest physics experiment in the world, the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research — or CERN — in Geneva.
SMU physicist and physics professor Ryszard Stroynowski is U.S. Coordinator for the Liquid Argon Calorimeter, the literal and experimental heart of ATLAS, the largest particle detector in the LHC array.
SMU scientists are at the forefront of cutting-edge research aimed at addressing some of the world’s most pressing challenges, questions and issues.
See a sampling of the work they tackle, from Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, to immigration, diabetes, evolution, childhood obesity and more. Besides working in campus labs and within the Dallas-area community, SMU scientists conduct research throughout the world.
Investigators at SMU and UTD have discovered a family of small molecules that shows promise in protecting brain cells against nerve-degenerative diseases such as Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and Huntington’s. SMU’s work is led by Chemistry Department Professor Edward R. Biehl.
Dallas-based startup EncephRx, Inc. was granted the worldwide license to the jointly owned compounds. A biotechnology and therapeutics company, EncephRx will develop drug therapies based on the new class of compounds as a pharmaceutical for preventing nerve-cell damage, delaying onset of degenerative nerve disease and improving symptoms.
Photo: SMU chemists Edward R. Biehl, center, Sukanta Kamila (right) and Haribabu Ankati (left). (Photo: Hillsman Jackson, SMU)
SMU Psychology Professor George W. Holden has developed a new theory that bridges the long-standing conflict between the nature vs. nurture models of child development.
Holden’s model says the outcome is a factor of nature, nurture — and parental guidance shaped by a child’s own strengths.
A Nov. 27 article in the Toronto Star newspaper cites the research of SMU sociologist Anne E. Lincoln in which she explains the changing face of veterinary medicine.
An assistant professor in the Department of Sociology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Lincoln is an expert on how occupations transition from being either male- or female-dominated. Lincoln’s research has found that women now dominate the field of veterinary medicine — the result of a nearly 40-year trend that is likely to repeat itself in the fields of medicine and law.
Photo: Dr. Jamie Peng examines a 5-month-old French bulldog at Dr. John Reeve-Newson’s veterinary clinic in Toronto on Nov. 19, 2010. (TORONTO STAR/Colin McConnell)
A Nov. 15 article on Discovery News cites the research of SMU physiologist and biomechanist Peter Weyand in which he and other scientists found that everyone uses about the same amount of energy when they walk, but short people use more energy over a given distance. The reason: people with shorter legs take more steps to cover the same distance as people with longer legs.
Weyand says the study has clinical applications and weight balance applications. In addition, the military is interested too because metabolic rates influence the physiological status of soldiers in the field, he said.
A Nov. 12 article on MSNBC cites the research of SMU physiologist and biomechanist Peter Weyand in which he and other scientists found that everyone uses about the same amount of energy when they walk, but short people use more energy over a given distance. The reason: people with shorter legs take more steps to cover the same distance as people with longer legs.
Weyand says the study has clinical applications and weight balance applications. In addition, the military is interested too because metabolic rates influence the physiological status of soldiers in the field, he said.
Live Science is featuring an interview with Metin I. Eren, a Ph.D. candidate in the SMU Department of Anthropology.
In the November 12 piece, “Science Lives: Archaeologist Recreates Stone Age Technology,” Eren answers the ScienceLives 10 Questions to elaborate on his expertise in Stone Age archaeology, human evolution and experimental archaeology.
An expert flintknapper, Eren can accurately replicate prehistoric stone-tool technology to investigate prehistoric tool efficiency, design and production.
Any parent that takes their kid out for a walk knows that children tire more quickly than adults, but why is that?
A study by SMU’s Peter Weyand and colleagues found that tall people walk more economically than short or small people because tall people have longer strides and take fewer steps to cover the same distance.
A Nov. 11 article in Scientific American cites the expert analysis of SMU physiologist and biomechanist Peter Weyand as part of an effort to explore the physics of speed and acceleration.
In a special partnership with NBC Learn, the science magazine set up an imaginary 40-yard dash with the video series, “The Science of NFL Football.” Weyand was posed the question: Imagine a 40-yard dash that races a wide receiver, a safety, an ostrich, an elephant and a pig — who would win? Read the excerpt for Weyand’s answer.
Should global warming cause sea levels to rise as predicted in coming decades, thousands of archaeological sites in coastal areas around the world will be lost to erosion.
With no hope of saving all these sites, an SMU archaeologist and others call for scientists to assess the sites most at risk.
Photo: A site at Anacapa Island, southern California, is in danger of eroding into the ocean. (Credit: Reeder)
BBC Radio covered the research in Angola of SMU paleontologists Louis L. Jacobs and Michael J. Polcyn. Journalist Louise Redvers in August interviewed Jacobs and Polcyn, both members of the Projecto PaleoAngola team. The PaleoAngola researchers have described Angola as a “museum in the ground” for the abundance of fossils there.
An article looking at the abilities of humans and animals to run long distances tapped into the research of SMU physiologist and biomechanist Peter Weyand.
Journalist Brian Resnick in Popular Mechanics cites Weyand’s knowledge to explain the differences at work between humans and animals in “The Animal Kingdom’s Top Marathoners.” Weyand is an SMU associate professor of applied physiology and biomechanics in the Annette Caldwell Simmons School of Education & Human Development.
Women now dominate veterinary medicine — a development reached after 40 years and likely to repeat itself in the fields of medicine and law, according to the first study of its kind on the feminization of veterinary medicine, says SMU sociologist Anne E. Lincoln.
Photo: Veterinarian Dr. Maureen D. Hall, vaccinates calves in Illinois. (Photo AVMA.)
A new $5.6 million center funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and industry is led by SMU’s Lyle School of Engineering to develop revolutionary technology for advanced prosthetic limbs that will help amputees returning from war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Two-way fiber optic communication between prosthetic limbs and peripheral nerves will be key to operating realistic robotic arms, legs and hands that not only move like the real thing, but also “feel” sensations like pressure and heat.
Central Africa 65 million years ago was a low-elevation tropical belt, but still unknown is whether its mammals browsed and hunted under a lush rainforest canopy. More research needs to be done, says SMU paleobotanist Bonnie F. Jacobs.
A new review of the literature shows fossil pollen provide no definitive evidence for communities of rainforest trees at the beginning of the Cenozoic, says Jacobs.
A study of seismic activity near Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport by researchers from SMU and UT-Austin reveals that the operation of a saltwater injection disposal well in the area was a “plausible cause” for the series of small earthquakes that occurred in the area between October 30, 2008, and May 16, 2009.
The incidents under study occurred in an area of North Texas where the vast Barnett Shale geological formation traps natural gas deposits in subsurface rock.
Production in the Barnett Shale relies on the injection of pressurized water into the ground to crack open the gas-bearing rock, a process known as “hydraulic fracturing.” Some of the injected water is recovered with the produced gas in the form of waste fluids that require disposal.
Technology designed to detect nuclear explosions and enforce the world’s nuclear test-ban treaty now will be pioneered to monitor active volcanoes in the Mariana Islands near Guam. The island of Guam soon will be the primary base for forward deployment of U.S. military forces in the Western Pacific.
The two-year, $250,000 project of the U.S. Geological Survey and Southern Methodist University will use infrasound — in addition to more conventional seismic monitoring — to “listen” for signs a volcano is about to blow.
Scientists have found the “Rosetta Stone” of supervolcanoes, those giant pockmarks in the Earth’s surface produced by rare and massive explosive eruptions that rank among nature’s most violent events. The eruptions produce devastation on a regional scale — and possibly trigger climatic and environmental effects at a global scale.
A fossil supervolcano has been discovered in the Italian Alps’ Sesia Valley by a team led by James E. Quick, a geology professor at Southern Methodist University. The discovery will advance scientific understanding of active supervolcanoes, like Yellowstone, which is the second-largest supervolcano in the world and which last erupted 630,000 years ago.
After a huge success in first testing, followed by a very public meltdown last September, the Large Hadron Collider may be ready for action again as early as June.
But before the science can proceed, the world’s scientists must come to terms with the complex organism they have created, says one project manager.
“We will have to understand the detector first,” says Ryszard Stroynowski, chair and professor of physics at SMU.
Ten student teams have been awarded grants through SMU’s Big iDeas program to research big challenges facing the Dallas area, ranging from energy and the environment to education and health care. Big iDeas is an undergraduate research program launched in 2008 by the Office of the Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs. The purpose […]
A chain of 14, breathtaking Pacific islands is paradise lost without reliable electricity.
The Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. commonwealth some 1,500 miles east of the Philippines, has seen its garment industry waste away in the face of global competition. Attracting replacement industry is difficult, in part because of the commonwealth’s undependable power supply. Rolling blackouts are the norm, caused by aging power plant equipment and the irregular delivery of expensive, imported diesel to run the plants.
At 10 p.m. on a Saturday night in April, a handful of SMU scientists continue working at the European Organization for Nuclear Research, called by its acronym CERN, in Geneva, Switzerland. A scattering of lights illuminates the windows in several buildings along the Rue Einstein, where researchers from dozens of countries and hundreds of institutions are combining their expertise on the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) — the biggest physics experiment in history.
Ryszard Stroynowski, chair and professor of physics at SMU, points out each building in succession to a group of visitors. “By October, every light in every one of these windows will be on all night,” he says.