How dinosaurs grew the world's longest necks

rancisco Gasc? under the direction of Mike Taylor and Matt Wedel

Plant-eating dinosaurs called sauropods had the longest necks in the animal kingdom. Here an adult Brontomerus mother.

By Charles Choi, LiveScience

How did the largest of all dinosaurs evolve necks longer than any other creature that has ever lived? One secret: mostly hollow neck bones, researchers say.

The largest creatures to ever walk the Earth were the long-necked, long-tailed dinosaurs known as the sauropods. These vegetarians had by far the longest necks of any known animal. The dinosaurs' necks reached up to 50 feet (15 meters) in length, six times longer than that of the current world-record holder, the giraffe, and at least five times longer than those of any other animal that has lived on land.

"They were really stupidly, absurdly oversized," said researcher Michael Taylor, a vertebrate paleontologist at the University of Bristol in England. "In our feeble, modern world, we're used to thinking of elephants as big, but sauropods reached 10 times the size elephants do. They were the size of walking whales."

Amazing necks

To find out how sauropod necks could get so long, scientists analyzed other long-necked creatures and compared sauropod anatomy with that of the dinosaurs' nearest living relatives, the birds and crocodilians.

"Extinct animals ? and living animals, too, for that matter ? are much more amazing than we realize," Taylor told LiveScience. "Time and again, people have proposed limits to possible animal sizes, like the five-meter (16-foot) wingspan that was supposed to be the limit for flying animals. And time and again, they've been blown away. We now know of flying pterosaurs with 10-meter (33-foot) wingspans. And these extremes are achieved by a startling array of anatomical innovations." [ Image Gallery: 25 Amazing Ancient Beasts ]

Among living animals, adult bull giraffes have the longest necks, capable of reaching about 8 feet (2.4 m) long. No other living creature exceeds half this length. For instance, ostriches typically have necks only about 3 feet (1 m) long.

When it comes to extinct animals, the largest land-living mammal of all time was the rhino-like creature Paraceratherium, which had a neck maybe 8.2 feet (2.5 m) long. The flying reptiles known as pterosaurs could also have surprisingly long necks, such as Arambourgiania, whose neck may have exceeded 10 feet (3 m).

The necks of the Loch Ness Monster-like marine reptiles known as plesiosaurs could reach an impressive 23 feet (7 m), probably because the water they lived in could support their weight. But these necks were still less than half the lengths of the longest-necked sauropods.

Sauropod secrets

In their study, Taylor and his colleagues found that the neck bones of sauropods possessed a number of traits that supported such long necks. For instance, air often made up 60 percent of these animals' necks, with some as light as birds' bones, making it easier to support long chains of the bones. The muscles, tendons and ligaments were also positioned around these vertebrae in a way that helped maximize leverage, making neck movements more efficient.

In addition, the dinosaurs' giant torsos and four-legged stances helped provide a stable platform for their necks. In contrast, giraffes have relatively small torsos, while ostriches have two-legged stances. [ Image Gallery: Animals' Amazing Headgear ]

Sauropods also had plenty of neck vertebrae, up to 19. In contrast, nearly all mammals have no more than seven, from mice to whales to giraffes, limiting how long their necks can get. (The only exceptions among mammals are sloths and aquatic mammals known as sirenians, such as manatees.)

Moreover, while pterosaur Arambourgiania had a relatively giant head with long, spear-like jaws that it likely used to help capture prey, sauropods had small, light heads that were easy to support. These dinosaurs did not chew their meals, lacking even cheeks to store food in their mouths; they merely swallowed it, letting their guts break it down.

"Sauropod heads are essentially all mouth. The jaw joint is at the very back of the skull, and they didn't have cheeks, so they came pretty close to having Pac Man-Cookie Monster flip-top heads," researcher Mathew Wedel at the Western University of Health Sciences in Pomona, Calif., told LiveScience.

"It's natural to wonder if the lack of chewing didn't, well, come back to bite them, in terms of digestive efficiency. But some recent work on digestion in large animals has shown that after about 3 days, animals have gotten all the nutrition they can from their food, regardless of particle size.

"And sauropods were so big that the food would have spent that long going through them anyway," Wedel said. "They could stop chewing entirely, with no loss of digestive efficiency."

What's a long neck good for?

Furthermore, sauropods and other dinosaurs probably could breathe like birds, drawing fresh air through their lungs continuously, instead of having to breathe out before breathing in to fill their lungs with fresh air like mammals do. This may have helped sauropods get vital oxygen down their long necks to their lungs.

"The problem of breathing through a long tube is something that's very hard for mammals to do. Just try it with a length of garden hose," Taylor said.

As to why sauropods evolved such long necks, there are currently three theories. Some of the dinosaurs may have used their long necks to feed on high leaves, like giraffes do. Others may have used their necks to graze on large swaths of vegetation by sweeping the ground side to side like geese do. This helped them make the most out of every step, which would be a big deal for such heavy creatures.

Scientists have also suggested that long necks may have been sexually attractive, therefore driving the evolution of ever-longer necks; however, Taylor and his colleagues have found no evidence this was the case.

In the future, the researchers plan to delve even deeper into the mysteries of sauropod necks. For instance, Apatosaurus , formerly known as Brontosaurus, had "really sensationally strange neck vertebrae," Taylor said. The scientists suspect the necks of Apatosaurus were used for "combat between males ? fighting over women, of course."

Taylor and Wedel detailed their findings online Feb. 12 in the journal PeerJ.

Follow LiveScience on Twitter @livescience. We're also on Facebook ?& Google+.?

Source: http://science.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/24/17076293-how-dinosaurs-grew-the-worlds-longest-necks?lite

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College sports vs. academics: A losing game

SALT LAKE CITY ? Attending a college football game has become a beloved American ritual that isn't likely to go away anytime soon. But U.S. students struggling with college costs might feel less like cheering if they knew how much they really pay for college athletic programs, and what doesn't get funded as a result.

A recent study shows that between 2005 and 2010, spending by college athletic departments rose more than twice as fast as academic spending on a per-student basis. And, colleges spent three to six times as much on athletes as on other students, according to a report by the Delta Cost Project at the nonprofit American Institute for Research.

The group analyzed data from the U.S. Department of Education and from USA Today Sports' College Athletics Finances Database to reach its conclusions.

Expensive traditions

Findings showed that the oft-stated axiom that college sports pay for themselves is untrue, except at about six national powerhouse schools with famous football programs. Athletic programs at most colleges and universities are heavily subsidized by student fees, and by institutional funds that could otherwise be used to support academic programs.

In the six highest-profile football conferences, spending per athlete exceeded $100,000 in 2010, the report showed. As spending on athletics climbed, so did tuition for students at four-year public universities ? by an average of 38 percent between 2005 and 2010. Meanwhile, state and local funding support for higher education inched up just 2 percent during the same period.

The disparity in funding for academics and athletics during the recession was the main finding of the report, said its author, Donna Desrochers.

"In all of the divisions we looked at, the amount of money being provided as a subsidy to athletic programs continued to increase, even when institutions were cutting back on academic funding," she said.

Those subsidies were made up of student fees, institutional funds and state-appropriated higher education funds, Desrochers said.

Winners and losers

Elite sports programs with lucrative network television contracts have the smallest subsidies. It's the schools trying to keep up with them in lower divisions that tend to rely most heavily on subsidies, because their programs don't have the revenues to support their athletic programs.

Desrochers' research showed that strong, winning athletics programs can benefit their schools, particularly if they have a championship football team.

"It brings great visibility, but the effects are not long-lasting," she said. "In terms of donations, those are coming into the athletic department, and are not benefiting the university itself."

The few powerhouse schools where athletic budgets top $70 million got the majority of their revenue from ticket sales, contributions, payments for television agreements, and participation in bowl games and tournaments. However, at more than seven out of eight of Division I schools, athletic programs still cost more than they brought in and were subsidized, often heavily, by student fees and state and institutional funds. Those subsidies are the largest and fastest-growing source of athletic-program revenue for lower-tier schools.

Counting costs

USA Today?s college athletics finances database, on which Desrochers' report is based, is a response to calls for greater transparency in reporting the true cost of college athletics. It showed that at University of Michigan, a Big Ten powerhouse, only 0.2 percent of athletic funding came from subsidies. Subsidies at most schools are much higher.

Source: http://www.deseretnews.com/article/865573945/College-sports-vs-academics-A-losing-game.html

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Tunisia's new premier promises inclusive government

TUNIS (Reuters) - Tunisia's prime minister-designate Ali Larayedh, a hardliner from the main Islamist Ennahda party, said on Friday he hoped to form a "government of all Tunisians", but opposition leaders swiftly signaled discontent.

Tunisia plunged into political crisis on February 6 when the assassination of secular opposition politician Chokri Belaid on February 6 ignited the biggest street protests since the overthrow of strongman Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two years ago.

President Moncef Marzouki asked Larayedh to draw up a government within two weeks after he was formally nominated for prime minister by Ennahda leader Rached Ghannouchi.

"We will start consultations to form a new government ... a government of all Tunisians," Larayedh said in brief remarks after meeting the secular president.

He urged political parties, trade unions, businessmen and journalists to support his government to achieve the objectives of the North African country's revolution and build democracy.

Ennahda's choice for prime minister raised hackles among opposition parties, some of whom accuse Larayedh's Interior Ministry of failing to curb Islamist violence, although he is credited for acting firmly against al Qaeda-linked militants.

"The decision deepens the crisis because Larayedh headed the ministry responsible for the killing of Belaid and violence that has spread throughout the country," said Zied Lakhdar, a leader in the Popular Front, in which Belaid was secretary-general.

The Interior Ministry and Ennahda have denied they had any hand in Belaid's killing, which they have condemned.

Mahmoud Baroudi, a leader of the secular Democratic Alliance opposition party, said Larayedh's appointment would aggravate tensions and increase anger in the streets.

"He was responsible for leniency with Islamist violence against human rights activists," he said, blaming Islamists for disrupting opposition meetings and assassinating Belaid.

No one has claimed responsibility for Belaid's killing.

JAILED UNDER BEN ALI

Ennahda is the biggest party in the National Constituent Assembly with 89 of its 217 seats. Marzouki's secular Congress for the Republic party (CPR), the second largest with 29 seats, has already said it will join a new Ennahda-led coalition.

Larayedh, 57, is viewed as part of Ennahda's hardline wing, which rejects any role for parties linked to the Ben Ali era.

A maritime engineer, Larayedh spent 15 years in jail under Ben Ali. He became interior minister when the previous government was formed in December 2011.

Outgoing Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali, who resigned on Tuesday, refused to head the next government after his own Ennahda party rejected his plan for an apolitical technocrat cabinet to prepare for elections.

He was seen as a moderate overruled by Ghannouchi, who says the last election gave Ennahda a popular mandate to rule in a power-sharing deal with moderate secular parties.

"Larayedh is not a man of consensus," said Nejib Chebbi, leader of the secular Republican party. "He failed during his work as head of the Interior Ministry."

Tunisia, whose transition from autocracy has so far been far less violent than those in neighboring Libya and Egypt, faces rifts between Islamists and their opponents that threaten the stability of its fledgling democracy and ailing economy.

Political uncertainty has put negotiations on a $1.78 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund on hold and prompted Standard and Poor's to lower its long-term foreign and local currency sovereign credit rating on Tunisia on Tuesday.

While Ennahda and Marzouki's CPR together would wield a narrow majority in the assembly, Larayedh may seek additional partners. The leftist Ettakatol party, which joined Jebali's government, has not said if it will serve under Larayedh.

Hechmi Hamdi, leader of the moderate Islamist Popular Petition party, which holds seven assembly seats, said his group would stay in opposition, accusing Larayedh of responsibility for the death of two prisoners on hunger strike and the torture and ill-treatment of protesters in the restive Siliana region.

(Writing by Alistair Lyon)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/tunisias-ennahda-names-ex-interior-minister-larayedh-pm-112717299.html

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Fredrica Duke: Opposites Attract

We've all heard that opposites attract. My parents were just about the most opposite people you could find.

My mother, Evelyn, was quiet, elegant and intelligent. My father, Maurice, was loud, lovable and crass. Taste was not exactly his strong suit except, of course, his great taste in women.

They met at a party. He saw this stunning, very young, exotic-looking woman modern dancing. Alone. Seductively. Twenty years older, he was intrigued.

Here are the Cliff Notes to get you up to speed: They dated. He knocked her up. He said he didn't want kids. She was set to have an abortion. Her family strong-armed him or he had a change of heart -- or both. She had their first child, my brother Alan, but first they had a quickie wedding in Vegas -- where else? For the first meal in their home together, my mother cooked. My father complained about the way she made the eggs. She threw the whole pan of eggs at him. Two years after the first child, my mom got pregnant with me.

Life was not quite happy in the Duke home. The family tried living on the beach in Malibu. My mother's beloved cat Jezebel got hit by a car on PCH and died. She decided this would not be the place to raise her kids. It would be Beverly Hills, known to have a great public school system. The house on South Roxbury Drive cost $25,000 and came with a cat named Hangover. My father arranged for my mom, who happened to have very good taste, to go into business with some dude who was an interior decorator. They were doing some interior decorating all right -- on beds. You get the idea. Things were getting shady. But, shit happens. My mother had convinced herself that my father, who was Mickey Rooney's manager and hung out with him a lot, must have been scoring a lot of broads with the Mick. I wasn't there, I wouldn't know. My father was physically handicapped. It never stopped him from scoring great looking women, my mom included, but he wasn't the player my mother had assumed and which she used to justify having an affair with my father's so-called "friend." I would not find out any of these sordid details until I was in my twenties.

From the moment of their divorce (made legal in Tijuana, where else?), our parents became the best of friends and even better parents. We were a family unit. As a family, though we lived in two different homes, we did everything together. During the week, my father worked at various studios as a producer of B, if not C, movies, and we went to school. On Friday night, we went out to a restaurant. All four of us. Saturday morning, a deli for breakfast. Sunday morning, my mother would often cook a brunch. In the afternoon, just us kids would head off to see my father's mother, at least on his custodial weekend. For a few years my mother dated a lawyer who would end up not marrying her, though she seemed to be auditioning hard for that job.

My father had a close friend named June Wilkinson, a va-va-voom B-movie actress and Playboy model and sometimes the fifth wheel at our family meals. A romantic involvement between those two was never revealed, though I have my suspicions. My father dated a woman named Rachel on and off for several years. No one in either parent's love life ever became more important than us, the children.

For many years, we all joked that after 25 years of divorce, we should have a silver divorce anniversary party. So we did. It became a very large production of a party. My brother and I put on our producer hats -- my brother much more so than me. The Lehr family made the engraved invitations. The venue would be The Friars Club and there would be a roast with top comedians who were friendly with my father. Much of the roast material was written by a one-time "Honeymooners" writer, Bob Hilliard. It was one of the greatest parties I had ever been to. My father had just survived colon cancer a year before. My mother was there for my father during his illness. They were both always there for each other. At the 25th divorce anniversary party, my father made a speech. He stood on the dais, looked at his ex-wife, my mother, in the audience, and said: "It was so much fun divorcing you Evelyn, lets get divorced again." She laughed. In fact, by this time in life, my father was my mother's only and best friend in the world.

Which brings us to 10 years after the 25th divorce party. Now, my parents were divorced 35 years. My brother the lawyer did some calculating. He realized they were married just shy of my mother being eligible for dad's Social Security. She was getting near that age. He was getting way up there. My brother thought, our father will die and our mother will not be able to live on his Social Security. They had only been married nine years. My father and brother concocted the plan: my parents would get married. Again. My parents were already more married and loyal to each other than most legally married couples.

My father made an honest woman out of my mother, not once but twice, when he went with her to renew their vows in a courthouse in Santa Monica. I had never known the old fashioned, corny side of my mother until I saw the glow in her smile the moment she remarried the love of her life. Our plan was that our father's much younger bride -- our mother -- would take really good care of our father when he got very weak and old. That plan went out the window when after only a few years of my mother collecting $1,200 a month in Social Security, she became very ill. She was diagnosed with lung cancer, which had spread to her bones. She would die within three months. My 85-year-old father went to his 66-year old wife's funeral in shock. He would die in my arms a year later with me yelling at him in the hospital, "Don't die dad, everyone will think you were in love with Evelyn!" My parents might not have been a conventional couple, but they had a love for each other that was deep and, in their own way, loyal. They were my romantic role models.

After the disastrous first meal my mother cooked, she learned to make a favorite dish for my father. Matzo brei. She perfected the dish so as not to have to throw it on him.

?

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fredrica-duke/opposites-attract_1_b_2729063.html

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TextSecure :: Private SMS/MMS (for Android)

A partner to Thoughtcrime Labs' secure voice application,?RedPhone Beta, the free TextSecure :: Private SMS/MMSfor Android brings seamless encryption to your text messages. An attractive solution for the paranoid, or elected officials who wouldn't otherwise be able to resist sabotaging their careers.

Easy Setup
Like RedPhone Beta, TextSecure is designed to be as accessible as possible. Upon startup, the app prompts you to create a passphrase and then copies your existing SMS and MMS messages into a new encrypted database. That way, even old messages on your phone will be unreadable to anyone attempting to access them. Your original messages will remain in their existing location, though TextSecure gives you the option to delete them. TextSecure aims for truly end-to-end protection, encrypting your messages at rest on your phone, and when they're flying through the air.

When reviewing apps, I like to take screenshots of the setup process so I can refer to them later; I was pleased to note on the Samsung Galaxy Note II that the app prevented me from grabbing screens, both during the set up process and once the app was running. However, users should note that this behavior is not consistent across all Android models. On my Samsung Galaxy S III I was able to capture a screenshot of the set up procedure, but the app only allowed all-black screenshots later.

Sending Messages with TextSecure
Writing a message from within TextSecure is similar to the way standard messaging app works. You type out a phone number, enter name of a contact, or search contacts and favorites in the address field. Below, you type your message and can attach media to your texts. The app can also handle group text messages, and will automatically send known TextSecure users encrypted messages and plain text messages to non-TextSecure users.

Like RedPhone, TextSecure is seamlessly integrated into Android. Once installed, you can send secure texts from the built-in messenger app and TextSecure will handle it from there. Unlike RedPhone, TextSecure does require a wireless data connection and cannot send messages over Wi-Fi.

Users should note that messages sent from the built-in messenger will be automatically encrypted, if the recipient also has TextSecure, and the message will be copied into the app's encrypted database. However, a plaintext version will be visible in the sender's built-in messenger app, which strikes me as problematic.

More importantly: when you receive an encrypted message from another TextSecure user, if you've recently entered your passphrase to the app, the message will appear in the notification center in plain text. While this does make using TextSecure much easier, it does mean that your messages are completely visible on your screen?potentially without warning. This is why it's important to a time limit for how long the app can keep your passphrase cached (more on this later).

Users should note that they can quickly un-cache their passphrase from the notification center. An open padlock in the upper right-hand corner of the screen indicates that the passphrase is cached, and the phone is potentially insecure. Simply open the notification center, tap on the "Passphrase Cached" entry in the notification center. The text of incoming messages will not be displayed in the notification center, and you'll have to enter your passphrase the next time you try to open TextSecure. From the TextSecure settings menu, you can also select to not have messages displayed in the status bar but they will still appear in the notification center.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/ziffdavis/pcmag/~3/WwmSyVZ7K-4/0,2817,2415629,00.asp

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Boehner Idle as GOP Calls for Select Committees on Benghazi

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill have suggested the formation of select committees since November 2012, one month after the assault which killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other State Department employees. Such select committees could provide a channel for Benghazi survivors to come forward and tell their stories to Congress?without legal repercussions from the federal government.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) told USA Today on Wednesday, "I want to know who the survivors are and for the appropriate committees to interview them." He explained further, "We know it was clear from the beginning it was a terrorist attack. I want to know what kind of help they asked for."

Graham, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, and Senator John McCain (R-AZ), a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH), a member of the armed services committee, all called for a joint select committee to investigate Benghazi in November. The South Carolina Senator is threatening to hold up the nomination of CIA pick John Brennan if the White House will not release more information on the attack.

Both Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), along with other Democrats,?rebuffed the idea of a joint select committee to investigate the Benghazi attack.

?At this point, I think that the standing committees of the House, whether they be the (State Department) oversight committee or the intelligence committee, are working diligently on these issues,? Boehner said shortly after his Senate colleagues floated the idea in November.

The GOP senators were not the only ones blown off by Republican leadership on the House side to create a select committee to study the deadly Benghazi attack. In November, Congressman Frank Wolf (R-VA), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, called for a select committee to investigate the attack.

According to Wolf?s November press release, the congressman ?reminded Speaker Boehner of a September 25 letter to President Obama signed by eight House members requesting more information about the attack and the administration?s response.?

Speaker Boehner did not heed Wolf?s call for a select committee in the last Congress. In late January, Wolf refiled the resolution to establish a House Select Committee to investigate the Benghazi attack. Boehner has yet to comment or act upon the resolution.

Breitbart News sent an inquiry to Speaker Boehner's office on Thursday afternoon that has gone unanswered.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/BreitbartFeed/~3/K3BR0rpbelg/Boehner-Ignores-Republican-Lawmakers-Call-For-Select-Committees-on-Benghazi

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Wayne State University professor selected for prestigious Sloan Research Fellowship

Public release date: 22-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Julie O'Connor
julie.oconnor@gmail.com
313-577-8845
Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research

DETROIT Wen Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was one of 126 researchers selected to receive a $50,000 Sloan Research Fellowship for 2013 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowships, awarded annually since 1955, are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars the next generation of scientific leaders.

Li's research focuses on the most exquisite details of chemical reactions. "Many things in everyday life come down to chemical reactions," said Li. "In my lab, we study the motion of nuclei and electrons during such reactions. While people have been studying the nuclear motion of chemical reactions for a while, we are focusing on electrons, which for a long time people considered too fast to study. To date, no technique has been developed to track down their motions in real time, and this is what my research program aims to do in the next few years. This ultimately could help control chemical reactions."

"The Sloan Research Fellows are among the best of the best of young scientists," said Hilary Ratner, vice president for research at Wayne State University. "Dr. Li is most deserving of this award along with the many other accolades he has received in his young career."

In late 2012, Li received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Li will receive a $1 million grant for that achievement, which will aid his Department of Defense research in providing a dynamic picture of how lasers interact with matter.

###

For more information about the Sloan Research Fellowship, visit http://www.sloan.org/fileadmin/media/files/press_releases/2013_SRF_Press_Release_vf.pdf

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 22-Feb-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Julie O'Connor
julie.oconnor@gmail.com
313-577-8845
Wayne State University - Office of the Vice President for Research

DETROIT Wen Li, Ph.D., assistant professor of chemistry in Wayne State University's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, was one of 126 researchers selected to receive a $50,000 Sloan Research Fellowship for 2013 from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The fellowships, awarded annually since 1955, are given to early-career scientists and scholars whose achievements and potential identify them as rising stars the next generation of scientific leaders.

Li's research focuses on the most exquisite details of chemical reactions. "Many things in everyday life come down to chemical reactions," said Li. "In my lab, we study the motion of nuclei and electrons during such reactions. While people have been studying the nuclear motion of chemical reactions for a while, we are focusing on electrons, which for a long time people considered too fast to study. To date, no technique has been developed to track down their motions in real time, and this is what my research program aims to do in the next few years. This ultimately could help control chemical reactions."

"The Sloan Research Fellows are among the best of the best of young scientists," said Hilary Ratner, vice president for research at Wayne State University. "Dr. Li is most deserving of this award along with the many other accolades he has received in his young career."

In late 2012, Li received a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE), which is the highest honor bestowed by the United States government to science and engineering professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Li will receive a $1 million grant for that achievement, which will aid his Department of Defense research in providing a dynamic picture of how lasers interact with matter.

###

For more information about the Sloan Research Fellowship, visit http://www.sloan.org/fileadmin/media/files/press_releases/2013_SRF_Press_Release_vf.pdf

Wayne State University is one of the nation's pre-eminent public research universities in an urban setting. Through its multidisciplinary approach to research and education, and its ongoing collaboration with government, industry and other institutions, the university seeks to enhance economic growth and improve the quality of life in the city of Detroit, state of Michigan and throughout the world. For more information about research at Wayne State University, visit http://www.research.wayne.edu.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-02/wsu--wsu022213.php

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