Facebook of the Planet Science

David Kramer, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor in Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics, has created the Facebook of plant science. Courtesy of MSU

By building PhotosynQ – a handheld device with sensors and an online data-sharing and analysis platform – a team of Michigan State University researchers is creating the plant-science equivalent of Facebook.

Following the trail blazed by successful social media networks, the team is giving away patentable devices at a nominal fee, building an active global community of plant science enthusiasts and sharing all data collected from around the world.

The goal is to allow even citizen scientists to make research-quality measurements, said David Kramer, MSU Hannah Distinguished Professor in Photosynthesis and Bioenergetics.

“We’ve built a platform that everyone can access through their cell phones,” he said. “We want to create a community that sees a 12-year-old student in China ask a question about a drought-resistant plant. Then we hope that hundreds of people answer, and not only the student in China is able to grow sustainable crops, but also a farmer in Africa could benefit from those insights.”

One component of PhotosynQ is a handheld device that costs about $100, scans plants and collects a handful of key data points. Via a smartphone running Android, the data is transferred from the device to the researcher’s project page on the PhotosynQ platform.

Currently, there are about 20 research projects on the burgeoning network. As new data is collected, community members can observe the projects’ progression.

Projects range from one measuring the robustness and productivity of beans, to another monitoring the efficiency of photosynthesis. Collecting data on how well plants convert sunlight to energy can be derived from satellite images in a very limited way. To improve the data, it’s best to get on-the-ground observations as well. The more handheld devices used in the field to gather the data, the better.

PhotosynQ will enable local scientists, plant breeders and citizens to improve the productivity and security of crops in communities around the world. This low-cost approach of collecting samples from global sites could change how science has traditionally been conducted, said Greg Austic, who is leading the development in the Kramer lab.

“It’s critical that PhotosynQ stays open source,” he said. “We’re changing the model of moving new technology from academia to the world. We’re maximizing the data and building a community rather than maximizing profits.”

If only two people use the network, it’s worthless. If 2 million people join in, it’s priceless. It will be a snapshot of what’s happening in the plant world at this very moment. Successful breeding efforts, rapidly spreading diseases and other trends can be identified quicker, he added.

This nontraditional approach is indicative of Kramer’s unique lab. Soldering irons and circuit boards outnumber plants and petri dishes. Shelves are lined with electronic prototypes. The buzzing hive of nearly 40 students is a blend of biologists, programmers and engineers.

“Many times one of our biology students will come up with an idea and bounces it off some of the other students,” Kramer said. “The computer specialists write a program, and the electronics students build a prototype and a new technique is developed and used – sometimes in a single day.”

His lab is a microcosm of what he hopes he can create on a global scale; empower people with data and easy-to-use scientific instruments, and people will look at their world differently, he said.

Kramer is a professor in the College of Natural Science and the MSU-DOE Plant Research Laboratory. His research is funded in part by MSU AgBioResearch.

Source: MSU

Scientist to Gather Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Melting Permafrost

Goddard scientist Emily Wilson poses here with an early version or prototype of her recently miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer — an instrument for which she received a patent in 2014. Image Credit: NASA

A NASA scientist who has developed a novel suitcase-size instrument to measure column carbon dioxide and methane is taking her recently patented instrument on the road this summer to comprehensively measure emissions of these important greenhouse gases from Alaska’s melting permafrost. 

Emily Wilson, a scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, will use her recently patented miniaturized laser heterodyne radiometer (mini-LHR) to carry out a multi-disciplinary field campaign at three sites — each representing a different type of permafrost — near Fairbanks, Alaska, in June. Her team has designed a unique and comprehensive experiment that records permafrost depth and structure, meteorological data, and concentrations of methane and carbon dioxide during the seasonal ground melt.

Multi-Disciplinary Approach

“With the global mean temperature rising, the release of these gases could create an amplified effect,” she said. “These data will allow us to estimate fluctuation of emissions from the melting permafrost.”

Permafrost is permanently frozen soil. Comprising 24 percent of the Northern Hemisphere, permafrost contains old organic carbon deposits — some relicts from the last glaciation — that are locked up beneath the surface. Scientists have observed that more of the permafrost’s upper layer, or the active layer, is melting each summer, creating concern that the thawing could lead to the significant greenhouse-gas emissions.

Further exacerbating the situation is the fact that while methane doesn’t linger as long as carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, it is more potent and effective at absorbing heat, creating a positive feedback, where emissions leads to more warming, which in turn accelerates the thaw.

Highly portable, the mini-LDR is ideal for permafrost studies, Wilson said. Made up of commercially available components, the instrument literally can go anywhere to measure carbon dioxide and methane in the atmospheric column — that is, the levels of these gases in a vertical column extending from the ground to space. Currently, the only ground-based network that measures these two greenhouse gases in the atmospheric column is the Total Carbon Column Observing Network. However, the network has 22 operational sites globally, with limited coverage in the Arctic.

“We’re targeting areas where there is limited coverage,” she said.

To prepare for the campaign, Wilson made her instrument more rugged and more sensitive. She added a satellite communications port to remotely retrieve data, a thermally controlled instrument housing to protect the instrument from changing temperatures, and a solar grid and battery storage system for powering the instrument in remote locations.

Source: Nasa

‘Love, Rock and Revolution’ features legendary music photographer Jim Marshall’s work

Never-before-seen 1960s photographic work by legendary San Francisco rock and roll

photographer Jim Marshall (1936-2010) will be featured in “The Haight: Love, Rock and Revolution,” an exhibit opening Friday, Feb. 6, in the halls of UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.

JimMarshallExhibit-410aThe show will run through May at the school’s Reva and David Logan Gallery of Documentary Photography at North Gate Hall, located on campus near the intersection of Hearst and Euclid avenues. It is free and open to the public.

The Center for Photography at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism has joined with Marshall’s estate to launch the Jim Marshall Fellowships in Photography, with a goal of raising $500,000 to $1 million to  support the visual arts at the journalism school.

Marshall was widely known for his documentary photos of big-name musicians from the Beatles and Bob Dylan to Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Santana and the Rolling Stones, as well as Johnny Cash’s groundbreaking live concerts at Folsom and San Quentin prisons. His work appeared on more than 500 album covers and in magazines such as Rolling Stone.

Marshall’s photos also captured street life in San Francisco and New York, a Kentucky coal mining town’s despair and Mississippi civil rights demonstrations. He received an honorary Grammy lifetime achievement award posthumously in 2014, the only photographer to ever receive such an honor.

At the opening reception on Feb. 6, longtime San Francisco music critic and Marshall friend Joel Selvin and Amelia Davis, a photographer and Marshall assistant, will be on hand to discuss Marshall’s work.

The 6:30-8:30 p.m. event also will feature a psychedelic light show, in keeping with the popular rock programming of the 1960s and 1970s. In addition, free psychedelic posters resembling those made famous during that era by the Fillmore music hall in San Francisco will be given away at the reception, while they last.

The exhibit was curated by Ken Light, the Reva and David Logan Chair in Photojournalism.

The Center for Photography at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, founded in 1996, offers courses in hands-on photojournalism and social documentary photography. The center routinely exhibits world-class photographers and hosts programs with distinguished photojournalists.

For more information about the event, contact Julie Hirano at juliehirano@berkeley.edu.

For more details about the Jim Marshall Fellowships in Photography, contact Marlena Telvick at marlenatelvick@berkeley.edu.

Source: UC Berkeley

Student psychologists help the depressed

Liisa Luuk and Lisa Backlund are in the last term of their Psychology programme. During the spring they will be doing a graduation project in which they will evaluate the effects of cognitive behavioural therapy on depression, where the treatment is a combination of online treatment and actual face-to-face meetings. Their study is a part of a larger European research project in which the results from eight European countries are brought together.

Liisa Luuk och Lisa Backlund There is good support in research for both traditional face-to-face CBT and for treatment delivered online, Ms Backlund explains. What is new, and has not been researched as much, is that in this study there are four face-to-face meetings with the therapist in addition to the online treatment. Many patients request meeting their therapist, and it can result in more people completing their therapy.

“We will be taking part in the entire project,” Ms Luuk says. “We have received general guidelines from the other EU countries taking part, but we have been able to design the online treatment and the form of the treatment meetings. And we are also part of the recruitment process, conducting interviews with the participants prior to treatment. Then we follow up the results afterward, and we will also take part as therapists.”

Meeting and treating patients is not new for them.

“We see patients for three terms during our course at the university clinic ,” Ms Backlund explains. “During that time we are given basic psychotherapy training. And last term we went out for twelve weeks on professional placement, working with patients.”

In Sweden the studies will be carried out in Linköping and Stockholm. There will be places for 150 people who feel depressed to receive treatment and take part in the study, which is free. The criteria for taking part include being over 18 and having access to a telephone and a smart-phone. The treatment itself will start in February and run over ten weeks. Those interested in taking part may indicate their interest now.

“It’s important for us to have a large number of participants to make the results as reliable as possible and so that they can be compared with the various other EU countries,” Ms Luuk says. “It’s great being part of a real research project that is so big, it’s wonderful. Gaining experience of seeing how the research is done when these big names in the field are the ones doing it.”

“If we were to work as psychologists in primary care in the future, it is very possible that we would be the ones actually putting this treatment into practice,” Ms Luuk says.

Ms Backlund agrees with her.

“Yes, there's a good chance that treatment will go in this direction – more online treatment – so it’s an excellent experience for us.”

The treatment includes four face-to-face meetings with the therapist; in between, the treatment is internet-based. The participants will read some texts that talk about depression and how it is dealt with in CBT. Some of it deals with changing what you do – how to do things differently in order to deal with your depression – and part of it deals with how to manage your thinking. These are two key parts of CBT. Then there are small tasks. They might be answering questions or doing some exercises. Then you apply what you’ve read to your daily life.

Later, the treatment will be evaluated.

“We will compare it with a control group,” Ms Backlund says. “We have various questionnaires that the participants will fill in before and after the study, where they will assess how they feel. We will compare the severity of the depression symptoms before and after the treatment. We will also have a control group, that does not take part, to compare with. They will receive online treatment after the study has been completed. So everyone who takes part in the study will receive treatment.”

Professor Gerhard Andersson of the Department of Behavioural Sciences and Learning at Linköping University is behind the project. Naira Topooco is a PhD student in Clinical Psychology, and a part of Professor Andersson’s research team. She is a project manager in the research study and Ms Luuk’s and Ms Backlund’s immediate supervisor. DAY treatment was developed by researchers and psychologists from Linköping University and is based on Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).

Source: The DAY-studie (article in Swedish)

A French Chevalier for scholarly societal contributions

Professor Judith Butler receives the French Chevalier for her contributions in philosophy, ethics, political and literary theories from French Consul General Pauline Carmona in San Francisco.

Maxine Elliot Professor in the Department of Comparative Literature and Berkeley’s Program of Critical Theory, where she served as founding director, received the formal honor from Consul General Pauline Carmona at ceremonies in San Francisco. Butler was awarded the diploma of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Cultural Ministry in 2013. This week she was pinned with the medal itself.

Professor Judith Butler receives the French Chevalier in the Order of Arts et Lettres for her contributions in philosophy, ethics, political and literary theories from French Consul General Pauline Carmona.

Professor Judith Butler receives the French Chevalier for her contributions in philosophy, ethics, political and literary theories from French Consul General Pauline Carmona in San Francisco.

Carmona noted at the award ceremony the strength of Butler’s links with French scholars and intellectuals and the profound impact her work has had on France’s society, especially in the fields of feminism and gender studies.

Butler is active in gender and sexual politics, human rights and anti-war politics, and serves on the advisory board of Jewish Voice for Peace. She was recently the recipient of the Andrew Mellon Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in the Humanities (2009-13). She received the Adorno Prize from the city of Frankfurt (2012) in honor of her contributions to feminist and moral philosophy, as well as the Brudner Prize from Yale University for lifetime achievement in gay and lesbian studies.

She is the past recipient of several fellowships including Guggenheim, Rockefeller, Ford and American Council of Learned Societies, and was Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Study at Princeton and at the College des Hautes Etudes in Paris. She has received honorary degrees from Université Bordeaux-III, Université Paris-VII, Grinnell College, McGill University and the University of St. Andrews. In 2013 she was awarded the diploma of Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters from the French Cultural Ministry. In November 2014, Butler received an honorary degree from the Universite Fribourg in Switzerland.

She received her Ph.D. in philosophy from Yale University in 1984.

Source: UC Berkeley

SETTLING FOR ‘MR. RIGHT NOW’ BETTER THAN WAITING FOR ‘MR. RIGHT’

Evolutionary researchers have determined that settling for “Mr. Okay” is a better evolutionary strategy than waiting for “Mr. Perfect.” When studying the evolution of risk aversion researchers found that it is in our nature – traced back to the earliest humans – to take the safe bet when stakes are high, such as whether or not we will mate. Photo by D.L. Turner

Evolutionary researchers have determined that settling for “Mr. Okay” is a better evolutionary strategy than waiting for “Mr. Perfect.”

When studying the evolution of risk aversion, Michigan State University researchers found that it is in our nature – traced back to the earliest humans – to take the safe bet when stakes are high, such as whether or not we will mate.

“Primitive humans were likely forced to bet on whether or not they could find a better mate,” said Chris Adami, MSU professor of microbiology and molecular genetics and co-author of the paper.

“They could either choose to mate with the first, potentially inferior, companion and risk inferior offspring, or they could wait for Mr. or Ms. Perfect to come around,” he said. “If they chose to wait, they risk never mating.”

Adami and his co-author Arend Hintze, MSU research associate, used a computational model to trace risk-taking behaviors through thousands of generations of evolution with digital organisms. These organisms were programmed to make bets in high-payoff gambles, which reflect the life-altering decisions that natural organisms must make, as for example choosing a mate.

“An individual might hold out to find the perfect mate but run the risk of coming up empty and leaving no progeny,” Adami said. “Settling early for the sure bet gives you an evolutionary advantage, if living in a small group.”

Adami and his team tested many variables that influence risk-taking behavior and concluded that certain conditions influence our decision-making process. The decision must be a rare, once-in-a-lifetime event and also have a high payoff for the individual’s future – such as the odds of producing offspring.

How risk averse we are correlates to the size of the group in which we were raised. If reared in a small group – fewer than 150 people – we tend to be much more risk averse than those who were part of a larger community.

It turns out that primitive humans lived in smaller groups, about 150 individuals. Because resources tend to be more scarce in smaller communities, this environment helps promote risk aversion.

“We found that it is really the group size, not the total population size, which matters in the evolution of risk aversion,” Hintze said.

However, not everyone develops the same level of aversion to risk. The study also found that evolution doesn’t prefer one single, optimal way of dealing with risk, but instead allows for a range of less, and sometimes more-risky, behaviors to evolve.

“We do not all evolve to be the same,” Adami said. “Evolution creates a diversity in our acceptance of risk, so you see some people who are more likely to take bigger risks than others. We see the same phenomenon in our simulations.”

The research was part of an interdisciplinary collaboration with Ralph Hertwig of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development in Berlin.

Also contributing to the study was Randal Olson, graduate student, MSU Department of Computer Science and Engineering and BEACON Center for the Study of Evolution in Action.

Source: Michigan State University

Study reveals how oxygen is like kryptonite to titanium

UC Berkeley scientists have found the mechanism by which titanium, prized for its high strength-to-weight ratio and natural resistance to corrosion, becomes brittle with just a few extra atoms of oxygen.

WATCH VIDEO and Read Full Artical
Shown is a cross section of grade 3 titanium (containing 0.3 percent oxygen) that has been put under stress and deformed. The defects in the crystal are evident. Oxygen impurities forced the defects to spread onto different planes of the material. (Image by Qian Yu)

The discovery, described in the Feb. 6 issue of the journal Science, has the potential to open the door to more practical, cost-effective uses of titanium in a broader range of applications. The popular silver-gray metal can already be found in high-end bicycles, laptops and human implants, among other products. But high-grade titanium with low levels of oxygen is hard to come by, and the expense of purifying the metal has prevented its wider use in applications for the construction, automotive and aerospace industries.

“If you could process titanium in a way that retained its optimal properties but at a cost comparable to aluminum, you would find uses in cars, trucks, aircraft and ships,” said study senior author Andrew Minor, an associate professor of materials science and engineering and faculty scientist at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. “The high corrosion resistance and excellent specific properties of titanium are very attractive, and reducing the costs to the level of aluminum would make using the material a no-brainer.”

Minor led a research team from the department of materials science and engineering that focused on solving the long-standing mystery in metallurgy of how oxygen causes such a profound change in the characteristics of metals.

“Oxygen is like poison to titanium,” said Minor. “With more oxygen, the material gets harder and more susceptible to cracks, qualities that are not desirable for structural materials.”

A good structural material will have the right balance of ductility — the ability to bend in response to stress — and strength. Minor noted that glass is strong and hard, but not ductile, which is why that material is not used to build vehicles or bridges.

The light blue lines in this schematic illustrate a moving defect, or dislocation, in titanium. The interaction between the dislocation and an oxygen impurity (red atom) leads to the creation of additional dislocations, shown as dark blue lines. (Image by Liang Qi)

Minor added that while many metals have the potential to become brittle with oxygen, titanium is particularly sensitive to even tiny bits of the element. Grade 3 titanium is only 0.3 percent oxygen, yet it is one-third as tough as grade 1 titanium, which is 0.1 percent oxygen. Understanding how oxygen hardens titanium offers a target for research into control of the process, the study authors said.

The researchers subjected various grades of titanium samples to nanocompression tests and examined the resulting impact using advanced transmission electron microscopy techniques and quantum mechanical predictions of defect structures. They found that the interactions between oxygen and the crystalline defects, known as dislocations, that are characteristic of titanium were key to how the material hardened.

The researchers found that oxygen atoms acted like bumps in the road for the corkscrew-shaped dislocations found in titanium. “The mechanical shuffling that occurs as dislocations pop up and over those atomic bumps creates a domino effect of more dislocations,” said study co-author Daryl Chrzan, a professor of materials science and engineering who led the theoretical effort in the project. With increased oxygen, the titanium becomes more difficult to bend and therefore more susceptible to cracking, the researchers found.

A similar effect is seen by bending a paper clip until it breaks. The more the metal bends, the greater the number of dislocations. Dislocations interfere with the motion of other defects, making the paper clip more difficult to bend. Eventually, the number of dislocations is so high that the paper clip can no longer bend, and instead it breaks.

“Now that we know what it is about the oxygen found in inexpensive titanium that causes the material to harden, we can work on figuring out a way to process it to move oxygen atoms to a place where they don’t cause problems,” said study co-author Mark Asta, a professor of materials science and engineering.

Minor noted that this is already done in the semiconductor industry since oxygen and other impurities are also damaging to silicon-based microprocessors.

Other co-authors of the study included researchers from the Berkeley Lab, Japan’s Nuclear Science and Engineering Directorate and Rolls Royce.

The Office of Naval Research helped support this work. Experiments were performed at the National Center for Electron Microscopy in the Molecular Foundry at Berkeley Lab, which is supported by the U.S. Department of Energy.

Source: UC Berekely

Feelings of awe and joy can bolster your mental and physical health.

              POSITIVE EMOTIONS CAN STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
                                         Image Credit: Mens Health

The wonders of the world can be just as good for your health as they are for your enjoyment, suggests a UC Berkley study.

Researchers have linked positive emotions—awe, contentment, spirituality—with lower levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, proteins that signal your immune system to work harder and bolster good health.

In two separate experiments, more than 200 young adults were asked to log the extent to which they experienced amusement, awe, compassion, joy, love, and pride on a given day. Samples of gum and cheek tissue taken that same day showed that those who experienced more of these positive emotions had the lowest levels of the cytokine Interleukin 6, a marker of inflammation that can cause autoimmune disease and depression.

“That awe, wonder and beauty promote healthier levels of cytokines suggests that the things we do to experience these emotions—a walk in nature, losing oneself in music, beholding art—has a direct influence upon health and life expectancy,” says UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner, a co-author of the study.

An added emphasis on spirituality and mindfulness may just be enough to get you through this winter happy and healthy. 

Source: Mensfitness

Walter Gordon: A Pioneer On The Field And Beyond

Walter Gordon was the first African-American student at the Boalt Law School. Courtesy: Cal Athletics

While Walter A. Gordon was a trailblazer during his days as a Cal football player, it’s the ground he broke after he left Berkeley that really made history.

Gordon was a star player along the Bears’ offensive and defensive lines from 1916-18, and after his senior season he became the first All-American football player in Cal history. His selection also made him the second African-American ever to be named All-American.

Gordon went on to become a pioneer in many ways after graduating from Cal. He was the first African-American on the Berkeley police force and the first African-American student at the Boalt Law School, from which he received his JD in 1922. Later in his life, Gordon was appointed to the position of Governor of the Virgin Islands by President Dwight Eisenhower.

Gordon was born in Atlanta, Ga., in 1894 as a second generation free African-American. His father was a Pullman porter, who moved his family to Riverside, Calif., in 1904. Gordon’s father enrolled his children in Riverside Polytechnic High School, a predominantly white high school, in an attempt to give his son a better education. Walter was deeply affected by this and was known to quote his father in later years, asserting that color should not be an influence in access to education.

Walter entered UC Berkeley in 1914 and quickly became involved in a variety of activities. Although now known primarily for football, Gordon was a talented athlete who also excelled in wrestling and boxing, winning the state championship in both of these sports during his time at Cal. He also founded the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha, the first African-American Greek-letter fraternity.

In football, Gordon was a star player. He was also the first African-American player on first string. Extremely versatile, he played every position on both the offensive and defensive lines except center throughout his three years on the varsity. He shone as both a blocker and a tackler, a large man who was remembered by all who knew him for both his brute force and a surprising amount of litheness. In 1918, his senior season, Gordon was selected as a member of the third All-American team by the “Father of American Football” himself, Walter Camp. Gordon was the second African-American player to receive the honor of All-American, and the first player from Cal. That same year, Gordon was honored with an outstanding player award, presented in front of a large audience at the Greek Theatre.

Walter Gordon

Gordon experienced a great amount of success during his tenure as an athlete; however, he was also faced with challenges on account of his skin color. During his participation on the Cal heavyweight boxing team, prejudices against African-Americans sometimes kept Gordon out of the ring. In one such incident, the Stanford boxing team refused to compete against Berkeley due to Gordon’s presence. Gordon was forced to sit on the sidelines as another boxer was substituted in his place.

Racism followed Gordon into football as well. Andy Smith (coach of the “Wonder Years” teams) became head coach in 1916 and was unsure of how to navigate the sensitive subject of an African-American player on the team. When Cal was booked to play in Seattle, Smith was uncertain if Gordon should be allowed to come along. When put to a vote, the team decided that if Gordon made first string, he should be able to come with them and play the game. Nevertheless, as soon as the train arrived in Seattle, Gordon left his teammates to find lodging in an African-American part of town, reappearing the next morning to take his place in the game. He was unable at that time to stay in the same hotels as his teammates. Those who knew him say Gordon consciously handled situations regarding race this way, pushing boundaries, while leaving other battles for a later day.

After Gordon’s graduation, Smith hired Gordon as a part-time coach for the football team. He became the head coach for the Goofs, later known as the Ramblers. This team was the equivalent of the junior varsity. Gordon also became the head scout for Smith during the team’s Wonder Years and continued on through the tenure of famed head coach Lynn “Pappy” Waldorf.

Gordon’s responsibilities included both scouting new players and attending the games of Cal’s opponents to study their plays. Those who worked with Gordon claimed he was so perceptive he could predict the other team’s next play based solely off of their movements. Gordon’s skill was also apparent when he assisted in planning plays for Cal. He was thought to have a keen sense of what would happen; one player claimed he felt that when he stepped on the field, he was acting out a scenario that had been written by Gordon. Additionally, he worked closely with quarterbacks. In this era, no plays could be called from the sideline during a game, so the quarterback was essentially an offensive coach on the field. This meant quarterbacks worked a lot with the scouts to determine plays.

Gordon was considered a valuable member of the coaching staff, yet he was an understandably frustrated coach. During the 1920s and 30s, no African-American was allowed to hold any place of significant importance on the staff. Gordon was only allowed to be a coach for the Goofs, though he sometimes ran plays with the varsity linemen. Smith also kept Gordon out of all coaching staff pictures because he felt that seeing an African-American coach would discourage recruits from coming to Cal.

At the beginning of his term, Gordon had to change in a separate room from the rest of the coaches. When he went on scouting trips, he was subject to law allowed by the infamous Plessey v. Ferguson Supreme Court case, which legalized separate transportation and lodging for African-Americans. Gordon was forced to ride on the day coach in trains, regardless of the duration of a trip, and continued to stay in separate accommodations from his white counterparts.

Eventually, Gordon made some headway against the challenges of segregation. He got an “individual privilege” to stay in white hotels while on scouting and coaching jobs in major cities, although he still had to sneak in the side door. The trains also granted concessions, awarding Gordon with his own Pullman section compartment – a much more comfortable way to travel.

Gordon stayed very involved with football at Cal while continuing to expand his horizons. From 1919 to 1929, he served as a member of the Berkeley Police force, where he was once again the first black member. In the ’20s and ’30s, Gordon was active in the NAACP, eventually becoming president of the Alameda County branch. He married May Elisabeth Fisher in 1920, and together they had three children. He attended Boalt Law School and was the first African-American student and JD recipient when he graduated in 1922. Afterwards, he held a joint practice for many years, serving a mostly white client base, while gaining enormous respect in his field. Gordon also served as the vice president of the Lawyer’s Guild of San Francisco and was invited to speak at the L.A. Bar association.

In 1943, Chief Justice Earl Warren, himself a 1914 Boalt graduate, appointed Gordon to the California Adult Authority Board, which dealt with matters of state parole. Gordon ended his private practice a year later and for the next nine years served as chairman of the Board. Throughout his tenure, Gordon was credited for helping to change attitudes towards crime, focusing on humane policies and rehabilitation.

In 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower appointed Gordon to the position of Governor for the Virgin Islands. Gordon served as Governor for three years, during which time he aimed to better the struggling society. After his term, he became a Federal Judge of the District Court of the Virgin Islands, and for the next 10 years used his law degree to try and better people’s lives.

Those who knew him remember Gordon as a charismatic and determined individual. He aimed to be an “inspiration to members of his race” and frequently insisted that the world should not think less of him based on the color of his skin. He took pride in all that he did and what he had accomplished, as well as his history and family.  He made no apologies for his heritage and achieved a great amount in his 82 years before passing away in 1976. He was chosen the California Alumnus of the Year in 1955, received the Citation Award from the Law School in 1964, and was named to the National Football Foundation’s College Hall of Fame in 1975. Today, he is remembered through the Walter Gordon Memorial Fund, established in 1991 to provide money for summer internships at the Law School.

Allison Spivack (UC Berkeley, Class of 2017) did the research and writing of this story as part of her Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship with Professor Margaret Conkey (Anthropology), which has brought together four undergraduates at Berkeley who are researching various aspects of Cal's student-athletes and the athletic program.

Source: Calbears

UT Institute of Agriculture Launches New Branding Campaign

There’s no mistaking the system colors of the University of Tennessee. Everywhere you look, there’s plenty of orange.

However, the UT Institute of Agriculture (UTIA) is adding new splashes of color to the landscape, along with redesigned logos for the Institute and its four units. All feature the orange “UT” system icon that is so widely recognized. In addition to the new theme colors, UTIA is adopting a new tagline that will serve as its branding promise: Real. Life. Solutions.

“We believe the Institute of Agriculture’s new logo and brand promise best represent our statewide presence in all 95 counties of Tennessee,” says UTIA Chancellor Larry Arrington. “Visual branding is important when telling the story of an organization, and our new look and message will help us better communicate our land-grant mission.”

UTIA’s new logo features the traditional orange with a slate font. UT Extension features a green or “pasture” color. UT AgResearch is represented by a dark blue known as “bluff.” The UT College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources has a blue “azure” color, and the UT College of Veterinary Medicine features a gray “granite” color. The brand promise will be featured prominently on printed and electronic materials, and be a part of apparel and signage around Tennessee. Images of the new logos can be found on the UTIA Marketing website: ag.tennessee.edu/marketing

"Our brand promise speaks to what the faculty, staff, students, alumni and supporters do every day, and that is working to find answers to society's many challenges," says Lisa Stearns, vice chancellor for UTIA Marketing and Communications. "Providing real life solutions that make a positive impact in our state and beyond is our commitment."

The campaign was developed by UTIA’s Marketing and Communications unit over the past year. It included a statewide audit of printed and electronic materials, and consulting an expert to guide a discussion on branding architecture. In addition, the team worked with the UT System Marketing and Communications Office to make sure the direction in which UTIA was moving would help promote the UT brand.

The Institute will begin phasing in the new logos and brand promise immediately, and the goal is to have full implementation by the end of 2015 across Tennessee.

The UT Institute of Agriculture provides instruction, research and outreach through the UT College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, UT AgResearch, including its system of 10 research and education centers, and UT Extension offices in every county in the state.

Source: UTIA

February 2015 Supermarket Orchid, Mass marketing has hit the orchid world!

The phalaenopsis, or moth orchid, is a favorite gift orchid and is readily available in supermarkets and garden centers. It comes in a variety of colors and exotic patterns, and with care the long-lived blooms can be enjoyed for weeks. Photo by P. McDaniels, courtesy UTIA

Did someone bless you with a beautiful orchid? Mass marketing has hit the orchid world!
Among the most popular orchids for gifting are cattleyas (pronounced “KAT-lee-uh”). Another favorite gift orchid is the genus phalaenopsis (pronounced “fail-en-NOP-sis”).  This orchid is nicknamed the moth orchid because of the shape of its blooms. Both come in a variety of sizes and colors, are readily available in grocery stores and garden centers, and can look just as good in your home as the store.

In spite of the fact that my friends think I can grow anything with little regard for plant rules, I will confess that I managed to kill the first two orchids I was given years ago by simply not consulting the experts. Orchids are epiphytes or air plants that have developed specialized water-storage organs. They like to attach to moist tree bark in a tropical atmosphere. Thus, they have their own set of recommended growing practices. The American Orchid Society (aos.org) gives great advice on keeping your new friend healthy and blooming. 

Both cattleyas and phalaenopsis appreciate a lot of air movement and a long day of filtered, bright light. They don’t appreciate direct sunlight but do thrive in temperatures between 60 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Living in an east-facing window usually makes them happiest.

Both orchids should be kept in free-draining growing media. The AOS recommends even moisture, although allowing the media to dry slightly can be beneficial. I recommend you water your orchid once a week, at most. Be sure the water can drain and does not stand in the pot. The pot it came in probably has no drainage, so your job is to not overwater. You can also create drainage holes.

Orchids should be watered in the morning. Because the water should run through the pot, place the plants in the sink. Tepid water is recommended. Also, do not use salt-softened or distilled water. Let the water run through the plant for a minute or so. Be sure to let the plant drain completely. If any water gets trapped in the leaves, use a paper towel to blot. This will help avoid crown rot. If you’ve read that you should just lay some ice cubes around the roots, I have found that generally works, also.

As for fertilizer, there are a number of mixtures and brands, but the AOS recommends that any fertilizer you use should not contain urea. Their website discusses recommended methods. If you want to try a home fertilizer brew, you might try your morning brew. I dump the dregs of my coffee pot into my orchids once a week, all year around.  For an average pot with a 5-inch top measurement, about 1/4 cup of these leavings works best. Doing this will negate the job of occasional fertilizing, as the dregs give your new friend all the encouragement it needs to do its best. I use “high test” (caffeine) coffee leavings, but a friend is using decaf on hers. It will be interesting to see which formula produces the best results. 

When orchids have completed their flowering cycle, it’s time to cut the flower stem to encourage a new bloom on a healthy plant. Again, the AOS has a number of tips about getting your orchid to re-bloom. For phalaenopsis, they recommend cutting the flower stem ½-inch above the first or second node. Be sure your pruners have been disinfected. The plant will most often grow another flower stem and re-bloom.

Repotting may be necessary every one to three years if the plant becomes root-bound or the media needs replenished.  Don’t be tempted to substitute the loose medium that came with your orchid with your favorite soil mix. Orchids like orchid mixes that drain well, otherwise they may decline to the point of no return.

Source: UTIA

New Molecular Target Identified for Treating Cerebral Malaria

                                                             Mosquito Anopheles

A drug already approved for treating other diseases may be useful as a treatment for cerebral malaria, according to researchers at Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health. They discovered a novel link between food intake during the early stages of infection and the outcome of the disease, identifying two molecular pathways that could serve as new targets for treatment.

“We have known for a long time that nutrition can affect the course of infectious disease, but we were surprised at how rapidly a mild reduction in food intake could improve outcome in a mouse malaria model,” said senior author James Mitchell, associate professor of genetics and complex diseases. “However, the real importance of this work is the identification of unexpected molecular pathways underlying cerebral malaria that we can now target with existing drugs.”

The study appears online January 30, 2015 in Nature Communications.

Cerebral malaria — a severe form of the disease — is the most serious consequence of infection by the parasite Plasmodium falciparum, resulting in seizures, coma, and death. Currently there is a lack of safe treatment options for cerebral malaria, particularly for use in children, who represent the majority of cases. Even patients who receive early treatment with standard antimalarial chemotherapeutic agents run a high risk of dying, despite clearance of the parasite. Moreover, around 25% of survivors develop neurological complications and cognitive impairment.

Lead authors Pedro Mejia and J. Humberto Treviño-Villarreal, both researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, found that leptin—a hormone secreted from fat tissue with roles in suppressing appetite, but also in activating adaptive immune and inflammatory responses—is increased upon infection in a mouse model of cerebral malaria, and turns out to be a major bad actor in promoting neurological symptoms and death. Remarkably, Mejia, Treviño-Villarreal and colleagues showed that reducing leptin using a variety of means, either genetically, pharmacologically, or nutritionally by reducing food intake during the first two days of infection, protected against cerebral malaria.

The researchers also found that leptin acted primarily on cytotoxic T cells by turning on the well-studied mTOR protein, for which pharmacologic inhibitors are readily available. In their animal model, treating mice with the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin protected them against the neurological complications of cerebral malaria. Protection was due in part to a preservation of the blood brain barrier, which prevented the entry of blood cells carrying the parasites into the brain. As rapamycin is already FDA-approved for use in humans, trials in humans for cerebral malaria treatment with this drug may be possible, according to the researchers.

This study was the result of an ongoing collaboration between the Mitchell lab in the Department of Genetics and Complex Diseases and the labs of Manoj Duraisingh and Dyann Wirth in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases. Other Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health authors included  Christopher Hine, Eylul Harputlugil, Samantha Lang, Ediz Calay and Rick Rogers.

This study was supported in part by grants from NIH (DK090629 and AG036712) and the Glenn Foundation for Medical Research to J.R.M.; a Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health Yerby postdoctoral fellowship to Mejia, and financial support from the Universidad Auto´noma de Nuevo Leo´n to Treviño-Villarreal.

Source: Harvard

Grad Student Solves 30-Year-Old Physics Problem

                    Emilie Huffman, second year PhD student in physics. Credit: Duke University

Sometimes an age-old question just needs a fresh set of eyes.

That was the case in Duke’s physics department, where a graduate student and professor recently resolved a calculating dilemma that has vexed computational physicists for decades.

Emilie Huffman is a second-year PhD student from Charlotte, North Carolina. Last spring she began working with Shailesh Chandrasekharan, an associate professor and the director of graduate studies in physics, on what’s known as a sign problem.

Chandrasekharan is a theoretical nuclear and particle physicist who specializes in solving sign problems, which arise when one uses certain computational algorithms to calculate the behavior of large numbers of particles called fermions.

“Almost all the matter we know of are made with fermions,” Chandrasekharan said. “As building blocks of matter, it’s very important to be able to do calculations with them.”

But calculations of such complexity get tricky, and sign problems make it easy for wrong results to surface.

“It’s a very broad problem that affects almost all fields of physics involving quantum mechanics with strong correlations, where Monte Carlo methods are essential to perform calculations,” Chandrasekharan said.

Some in the field have simply moved on since the 1980s, leaving interesting questions plagued by sign problems unexplored. Other scientists have found workarounds and approximations. Very few, including Chandrasekharan, have tried to figure out solutions through the years. Huffman began work to expand on one of her advisor’s solutions, involving a grouping concept called fermion bags, and apply them to a new class of problems.

“She finally figured out a nice formula,” Chandrasekharan said. “Although the formula is quite simple and elegant, I couldn’t guess it.”

“In physics, often there’s a truth, and if you’re hitting on the right truth, everything starts falling into place.” Chandrasekharan says that’s what happened when he began applying Huffman’s formula to a class of problems.

Their paper appeared recently in the journal Physical Review B’s Rapid Communications.

“Now that I have a solution, I can begin to apply it,” Huffman said. Starting with condensed matter physics, Huffman plans to apply her solution to various questions that have been stymied by sign problems. “I can use this solution to study properties of graphene,” she said, referring to the single-layer carbon that has been touted as the strongest material in the world. Many puzzles remain in the field, especially involving multi-layer graphene sheets.

Wherever she turns her attention next, it’s clear Huffman has a promising career ahead.

Citation: “Solution to sign problems in half-filled spin-polarized electronic systems,” Emilie Huffman and Shailesh Chandrasekharan. Physical Review B Rapid Communications, March 12, 2014. DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevB.89.111101.

Source: Duke University

Studying patterns in bacterial organization

credit to Gerard Wong, of the California NanoSystems Institute

Bacterial biofilms, at first glance, may seem to be spontaneous, random phenomena from which we have no power to protect our environment or ourselves.

They’re potentially useful as an aid to wastewater treatment, but they also cause infections that account for $6 billion a year in health care costs. Biofilms are also more resistant to antibiotic drugs, making them difficult to eradicate.

Dr. Kun Zhao, of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA, refuses to see biofilms as arbitrary: he emphasizes the fact that biofilms are communities of bacteria in self-produced polymeric matrices of polysaccharides, and using a biophysical approach, he studies the pattern behind their organization.

Central questions in Zhao’s research include how bacterial colonies transition from reversible to irreversible attachment, how they migrate, and how they ultimately disperse. Specifically, Zhao examines the polysaccharide Psl, which poses a positive feedback loop because it is both secreted by moving bacteria and serves as a chemo-attractant for future bacteria movement. The positive feedback creates an inherent pattern, as bacteria are more likely to visit a location they have been to before.

Zhao and colleagues have also discovered that bacterial mutants that cannot produce Psl exhibit more random and uniform movement.

To better quantify bacterial movement,Zhao has created a computer algorithm that shows the full movement history of each individual bacterium on a dish, and that provides a “search engine” allowing researchers to find every bacterium performing specific life cycle activities, like division.

Zhao has postulated a “rich get richer” mechanism for biofilms. He compares bacterial organization to Wall Street because concentrated movement ensures that some cells become extremely enriched. In the future, he hopes to model colloidal structures for biological problems, like the growth of the bacterial cell wall. Zhao currently uses colloids, which in physics are used as models for atomic systems, to observe how shapes affect self-assembly. He also would like to look at cell-substrate interactions, which are implicated in bacterial territoriality and social interactions.

by Olivia Zhu

Source: Duke University

Summer Restoration in a Bolivian Winter

                                 El Hospital Pietro Gamba in Anzaldo, Bolivia Credit: Duke

My biggest accomplishment this summer was being able to call the mountains of Bolivia home. Far away from the lecture halls of Duke, I encountered a profound, alternative education that included everything from learning traditional dances to working in a rural hospital laboratory to raising pigs.

Of course, living in Bolivia for two months had its challenges, like a diet in which potatoes were considered vegetables, repeated food poisoning from chicha, the local alcoholic drink consisting of fermented corn, lack of a consistent water source, many near-car accidents, and most of all a deep-seated machismo, but I feel that these were all almost inextricable aspects of a culture that left such a positive impression upon me.

Of course, the inextricability of such factors posed a problem for me as an intern at El Hospital Pietro Gamba encouraging sustainable development to promote public health. Although 80% of children had head lice, a vast majority contracted repeated gastrointestinal bacterial infections, and countless had scabies, the community seemed to get along contentedly. Regardless, with support from the Foundation for Sustainable Development and DukeEngage, my sponsor organizations, I leveraged the relatively new running water system, implemented only 25 years ago, to set in motion a comprehensive lice campaign, to obtain government funding of soap in public restrooms for at least two years, and to create preventative medicine informational materials.

The majority of my education, though, occurred outside the scope of my project. Most importantly, I’ve learned to openly embrace different forms of learning, like relaxation or soccer, that energize me to wholeheartedly pursue my rigorous biophysics career, which I am so fortunate to have at one of the best universities in the world.

The idea of the Aymara New Year illustrates my mentality poignantly: on the first day of the Aymara New Year, traditional Bolivians wish for health, prosperity, and happiness, just as we do in the United States. However, they have a deeper connection with Pachamama, or Mother Nature: on New Year’s Day, they wake up early in the morning to stand on the ground barefoot, awaiting the first rays of the sun. They believe that watching these rays rise above the horizon and light the earth will bring them energy for the entire year. In this, the Aymara New Year represents both personal aspiration and attenuation with the environment.

Similarly, I now aim to maintain a balance between self and surroundings: I hope to be more attuned to the world around me rather than single-mindedly submersing myself in quantum physics, as I believe that varied experiences will infuse me with energy in whatever I pursue. Now, back at Duke for the start of my junior year, I’m excited to begin blogging again and to continue my adventures and education here on campus.

Source: Duke University

The Power of the Past

If you grow up in the working class, neither love nor money can trump your blue-collar roots, a Duke sociologist has found.

Her study of couples from different social classes suggests that those who “marry up” still make life decisions based on their upbringing.

                             Cover of Streib book by Eric Ferreri, Duke News & Communications
                          Sociologist Jessi Streib’s book “The Past” is about class structure in marriages.

“Your social class never goes away,” says Jessi Streib, an assistant professor of sociology whose findings are revealed in her new book: The Power of the Past: Understanding Cross-Class Marriages. “It stays with you in terms of how you live your life. The class you’re born into sticks with you and shapes you, even when you marry into more money and a far more financially secure life.”

Streib’s findings derive from interviews she conducted with white, heterosexual Midwestern couples. She interviewed 32 couples in which one spouse came from a working class background, the other from the middle class. For comparison, she also interviewed 10 couples in which both spouses grew up in the middle class.

Streib defines working class as people raised by parents with high school educations; the middle class subjects were raised by college-educated parents.

Her findings run contrary to the notion held by many scholars that strivers can outrun a difficult childhood by getting a college degree and good-paying middle-class job.

While the findings suggest that a middle class upbringing isn’t required to excel in the American workplace, those upwardly mobile people from working class roots may still miss out on opportunities if they can’t or don’t subscribe to the unspoken norms of middle class culture, Streib notes.

Streib found that couples from different classes held onto their own, firmly-rooted beliefs regarding money and parenting, often negotiating fervently with each other over the proper amount of career planning and nurturing of children. Should children be left to grow and discover on their own, or should goals and schedules be set for them?

“Those are the sorts of tiny battles cross-class couples have all the time,” Streib said. “These are not insurmountable obstacles, but they are certainly common and consistent.”

Source: Duke Univesity