Iowa State University Copyright 2012, Iowa State University of Science and Technology News about activities, people and events at Iowa State University http://www.news.iastate.edu/ en-us WebDev Rss Generator 5-10 percent corn yield jump using erosion-slowing cover crops shown in ISU study http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/MooreIII Thu, 09 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 The most recent annual results from a four-year Iowa State University study by Ken Moore, Distinguished Professor of agronomy and primary investigator on the project, reveal that using cover crops can lead to higher yields - by as much as 10 percent . The results are the best yet in the ongoing research. Moore plans to continue on the trials for at least one more growing season.

]]> Iowa State supply chain professor studies growing infrastructure needs for biofuels http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/biofuelstransportation Wed, 08 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

Biofuels expansion is having a tremendous impact on the distillers' grain markets in Iowa and across the Midwest -- and the small towns that support their production. Bobby Martens, an Iowa State assistant professor of supply chain management, says ethanol industry leaders need to reconsider investments in transportation equipment and infrastructure while the government adjusts policies to effectively move all that biofuel to market.

]]> Media Advisory: Nobel Laureate Dan Shechtman to meet the media at Iowa State, Ames Laboratory http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/dannyadvisory Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 Dan Shechtman will meet the media during several events at Iowa State University and the Ames Laboratory on Feb. 14. A news conference from 10-11 a.m. will be live streamed here. Shechtman -- an Iowa State professor of materials science and engineering, a research scientist for the Ames Laboratory and the Philip Tobias Professor of Materials Science at the Technion - Israel Institute of Technology -- won the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his 1982 discovery of quasicrystals.

]]> A new beginning for State Gym Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600

ISU Recreation Services Director Michael Giles Jr., Government of the Student Body President Dakota Hoben, President Steven Leath, and Vice President for Student Affairs Tom Hill helped the university community celebrate the grand reopening of State Gym and its 94,000-square foot addition on Feb. 3. The ribbon-cutting marked the completion of renovation and construction of Iowa State's recreation facilities. Recreation services staff report more than 60,000 visits to State Gym during its "soft" opening in January.

]]> ISU experts can discuss mild winter’s effect on prices, planting, moisture and more http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/winterweatherimpact Fri, 03 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 The Midwest's mildest winter in memory has producers and economists talking about the effects on our crops, planting, water tables and prices. Iowa State University has experts who can discuss these topics and how -- or if -- they will affect yields, the economy, erosion and other topics.

]]> Another honor for ISU's ROTC Fri, 03 Feb 2012 13:30:00 -0600

Iowa State University's Army Reserve Officers' Training Corps (ROTC) has won a 2011 MacArthur Award from the U.S. Army Cadet Command and the Gen. Douglas MacArthur Foundation. One of eight awards presented to the top Army ROTC programs in the nation, it recognizes the ideals of duty, honor and country as advocated by MacArthur.

The MacArthur Award is based on a combination of the achievement of the school's commissioning mission, cadets' performance and standing on the Command's national Order of Merit List, and cadet retention rate. Cadet Command and the MacArthur Foundation have given the awards annually since 1989.

Iowa State's ROTC represents Cadet Command's 3rd Brigade, which consists of the 40 senior Army ROTC programs in the Midwest. Cadet Command is located in Fort Knox, Ky.

In December, the Cyclone Army ROTC Battalion at Iowa State was named the top program in the 3rd Brigade.

]]> Iowa State gerontology researcher says six factors can help you lead a longer, better life http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/longevity Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 Peter Martin, director of Iowa State's gerontology program, is the lead author of a new article summarizing the keys to long life. The article appeared online last week in the Journal of Aging Research as the introduction to a special issue on the behavioral factors of longevity, which Martin edited. He also had three of his related studies published in the special issue, which supports the "Georgia adaption model" that he and a fellow researcher had constructed some time ago.

]]> Gamers on 3-D mission to save world, just don’t tell them they are learning cell biology http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/feb/wurtelescivi Thu, 02 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0600 Eve Syrkin Wurtele decided the best way to get the attention of the science-deprived, gamer generation is to take the information out of a textbook and put it in a medium that kids crave - video games. So she and her team developed Meta!Blast, which won honorable mention in the 2011 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and is featured in the Feb. 3 issue of the journal Science.

]]> Could Google's data hoarding be good for you? Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:24:00 -0600 BBC News
With the news that Google is to merge data collected from its many platforms -- including YouTube, Gmail and Blogger -- privacy advocates say the company will have more information than it should. And experts -- such as Jeff Blevins, associate professor and director of undergraduate education in ISU's Greenlee School of Journalism -- say even before this change, web users had too little control over their online information.

]]> “Return of the Pyromaniax”: a round-up of 10 hot projects Thu, 26 Jan 2012 14:23:00 -0600 Biofuels Digest

In September, Iowa State University's Robert C. Brown and a team of researchers said that pyrolytic molasses, made via fast pyrolysis of feedstocks such as such as corn stalks or wood chips, has the potential to be the cheapest way to produce biofuels or biorenewable chemicals.
]]> Intellectual property lawyer to discuss patenting plants at Iowa State on Feb. 16 http://www.news.iastate.edu/news/2012/jan/Lecture/Sease Wed, 25 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0600 Edmund Sease, a trial lawyer with more than 30 years of experience litigating intellectual property cases, will speak on "The Case for Patenting New Plants" at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 16, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Sease's talk is part of Iowa State's all-day symposium, "Who Owns Life: Intellectual Property in Biotechnology and the Life Sciences." The symposium will present issues of intellectual property protection specific to the plant and life sciences.

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