Author Archive

Seniors Who Play Video Games Report Better Sense of Emotional Well-Being

Tuesday, March 5th, 2013 | Tags: ,

New research finds that older adults who play video games report higher levels of emotional well-being. It’s correlation, not causation, but it is interesting. Researchers at NC State’s Gains Through Gaming lab asked 140 people aged 63 and older how often they played video games, if at all. The study participants then took a battery

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NC State Research Helps Shape Yellowstone ‘Winter Use’ Plan

Friday, February 22nd, 2013 | Tags: ,

Editor’s Note: This is a guest post by Dr. Chris Frey, distinguished university professor of civil, construction and environmental engineering. Frey is also chair of the EPA Science Advisory Board’s Clean Air Scientific Advisory Committee. On February 22, the National Park Service released a plan to guide winter use of over snow vehicles (OSVs), including snowmobiles and

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Thor’s Hammer Is Not That Heavy (But It Is Scientifically Interesting)

Friday, February 15th, 2013 | Tags: , ,

In early February, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson said on Twitter that the superhero Thor’s Hammer (aka Mjolnir) “weighs as much as a herd of 300 billion elephants.” News outlets pounced on this, and the news was quickly circulating online. Sadly, Tyson was wrong. Tyson’s reasoning was based on the idea that Mjolnir was “made of

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The Big Picture: Helping Companies Make Products We Actually Want

Tuesday, February 12th, 2013 | Tags: , ,

Researchers have developed a model that will, hopefully, help companies develop innovative products that people actually want to use. The model is a first step towards capturing the behavior of both companies and consumers, so that we end up with more iPods and fewer Edsels. This concept may sound obvious, but companies have difficulty grasping

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Why Doesn’t Plastic Dry As Easily As Glass In The Dishwasher?

Monday, January 28th, 2013 | Tags: ,

An Abstract reader recently sent me this question: “Why doesn’t plastic dry in the dishwasher? Or why doesn’t it dry as quickly/easily as glass? This drives me totally nuts.” Good question! That phenomenon drives me nuts too. The answer appears to have a lot to do with the amount of energy (in the form of

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