LOS ANGELES (TheWrap.com) - The CW has extended its partnership with Clear Channel Media to broadcast its iHeartRadio Music Festival, as well as associated events, release parties and concert specials for three years.
"The CW is synonymous with what's now and what's next, and that includes music," said The CW president Mark Pedowitz in a statement.
"We have always been known for using the hottest, most of-the-moment music, both on our shows and in our marketing campaigns. Partnering with Clear Channel to present the biggest concert events of the year for our viewers is a natural fit for us and also gives us more original event programming throughout the year," he continued.
The pact makes The CW the official television broadcaster for the two-day festival, as well as its holiday Jingle Ball concert, the iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party, album release parties and other concert specials.
"This is an ideal opportunity to take the original content that we create at Clear Channel to new platforms and audiences," said Clear Channel president John Sykes. "We chose The CW as our partner, because we share the same powerful connection to a highly influential young demographic."
The first broadcast of the agreement starts with the iHeartRadio Ultimate Pool Party airing Monday, July 15.
When we first met the team from Vivix their wild MIDI guitar, the Jamstik, promised a unique music-making experience thanks to a tether that connected it to a computer or iOS device. In the few short months since CES, however, they're now preparing to announce that Jamstik works nearly flawlessly over Wi-Fi with iPhones and iPads, thereby reducing the need for a physically tethered device.
Squishy hydrogels may be the ticket for studying biological effects of nanoparticlesPublic release date: 15-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mark Bello mark.bello@nist.gov 301-975-3776 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
A class of water-loving, jelly-like materials with uses ranges ranging from the mundane, such as superabsorbent diaper liners, to the sophisticated, such as soft contact lenses, could be tapped for a new line of serious work: testing the biological effects of nanoparticles now being eyed for a large variety of uses.
New research* by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrates that three-dimensional scaffolds made with cells and supporting materials known as hydrogels can serve as life-like measurement platforms for evaluating how tiny engineered materials interact with cells and tissues. Their proof-of-concept study suggests that hydrogel tissue scaffolds can be a "powerful bridge" between current laboratory tests and tests that use animal models.
Today, laboratory tests of nanoparticles usually entail exposing a two-dimensional layer of cells to the material of interest. Besides being questionable substitutes for the complex cellular frameworks that make up tissues and organs inside the body, these tests can yield conflicting results, explains analytical chemist Elisabeth Mansfield, lead researcher on the new NIST study.
"Our study shows that hydrogel-based, tissue-engineering scaffolds can provide more realistic environments to study nanoparticle-influenced cell biology over extended periods," she says. Importantly, the NIST research shows that studies employing the scaffold do not require exposing cells to nanoparticles in doses that exceed normal exposure levels.
Hydrogels are networks of stringy, branching polymer molecules with ends that latch onto water moleculesso much so that 99.9 percent of a hydrogel may consist of water. Depending on the spacing between the strands (the so-called mesh size) and other factors, hydrogels can support and promote the growth and differentiation of cell populations.
While hydrogels occur naturallyan example is cartilagethe NIST team chose to craft its own, giving them control over the mesh size in the scaffolds they created.
In their experiment, the team used polyethylene glycola common polymer used in skin creams, toothpaste, lubricants and other productsto create three hydrogels with different mesh sizes. One set of hydrogels was populated with rat cells containing ultrasmall semiconducting materials known as quantum dots. When exposed to light, quantum dots emit strong fluorescent signals that enabled the researchers to track the fate of treated cells in the synthetic scaffolds.
Results were compared with those for similarly treated cells grown in a single layer on a substrate, akin to standard laboratory toxicology tests.
The NIST researchers found that cells diffused through the hydrogel scaffold, forming a persisting tissue-like structure. Quantum dots attached to cell membranes and, over time, were absorbed into the cells.
Three-dimensional scaffolds often are used to test cells for multi-week experiments, and NIST researchers found quantum dots can be detected for four or more days inside the scaffold.
As significant, cells that populated the hydrogel scaffolds were exposed to lower levels of quantum dots, yielding a more representative scenario for evaluating biological effects.
The NIST team concludes that, compared with conventional cell cultures, hydrogel scaffolds provide a more realistic, longer-lived biological environment for studying how engineering nanoparticles interact with cells. In addition, the scaffolds will accommodate studies of how these interactions evolve over time and of how the physical features of nanoparticles may change.
###
*E. Mansfield, T.L. Oreskovic, N.S. Rentz, and K.M. Jeerage, Three-dimensional hydrogel constructs for exposing cells to nanoparticles. Nanotoxicology, 2013; Early Online. DOI: 10.3109/17435390.2013.790998.
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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.
Squishy hydrogels may be the ticket for studying biological effects of nanoparticlesPublic release date: 15-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Mark Bello mark.bello@nist.gov 301-975-3776 National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)
A class of water-loving, jelly-like materials with uses ranges ranging from the mundane, such as superabsorbent diaper liners, to the sophisticated, such as soft contact lenses, could be tapped for a new line of serious work: testing the biological effects of nanoparticles now being eyed for a large variety of uses.
New research* by scientists at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) demonstrates that three-dimensional scaffolds made with cells and supporting materials known as hydrogels can serve as life-like measurement platforms for evaluating how tiny engineered materials interact with cells and tissues. Their proof-of-concept study suggests that hydrogel tissue scaffolds can be a "powerful bridge" between current laboratory tests and tests that use animal models.
Today, laboratory tests of nanoparticles usually entail exposing a two-dimensional layer of cells to the material of interest. Besides being questionable substitutes for the complex cellular frameworks that make up tissues and organs inside the body, these tests can yield conflicting results, explains analytical chemist Elisabeth Mansfield, lead researcher on the new NIST study.
"Our study shows that hydrogel-based, tissue-engineering scaffolds can provide more realistic environments to study nanoparticle-influenced cell biology over extended periods," she says. Importantly, the NIST research shows that studies employing the scaffold do not require exposing cells to nanoparticles in doses that exceed normal exposure levels.
Hydrogels are networks of stringy, branching polymer molecules with ends that latch onto water moleculesso much so that 99.9 percent of a hydrogel may consist of water. Depending on the spacing between the strands (the so-called mesh size) and other factors, hydrogels can support and promote the growth and differentiation of cell populations.
While hydrogels occur naturallyan example is cartilagethe NIST team chose to craft its own, giving them control over the mesh size in the scaffolds they created.
In their experiment, the team used polyethylene glycola common polymer used in skin creams, toothpaste, lubricants and other productsto create three hydrogels with different mesh sizes. One set of hydrogels was populated with rat cells containing ultrasmall semiconducting materials known as quantum dots. When exposed to light, quantum dots emit strong fluorescent signals that enabled the researchers to track the fate of treated cells in the synthetic scaffolds.
Results were compared with those for similarly treated cells grown in a single layer on a substrate, akin to standard laboratory toxicology tests.
The NIST researchers found that cells diffused through the hydrogel scaffold, forming a persisting tissue-like structure. Quantum dots attached to cell membranes and, over time, were absorbed into the cells.
Three-dimensional scaffolds often are used to test cells for multi-week experiments, and NIST researchers found quantum dots can be detected for four or more days inside the scaffold.
As significant, cells that populated the hydrogel scaffolds were exposed to lower levels of quantum dots, yielding a more representative scenario for evaluating biological effects.
The NIST team concludes that, compared with conventional cell cultures, hydrogel scaffolds provide a more realistic, longer-lived biological environment for studying how engineering nanoparticles interact with cells. In addition, the scaffolds will accommodate studies of how these interactions evolve over time and of how the physical features of nanoparticles may change.
###
*E. Mansfield, T.L. Oreskovic, N.S. Rentz, and K.M. Jeerage, Three-dimensional hydrogel constructs for exposing cells to nanoparticles. Nanotoxicology, 2013; Early Online. DOI: 10.3109/17435390.2013.790998.
[ | 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.
If you ever go on a movie date with Chris Pine, be prepared for waterworks. The actor, who will reprise his role as Captain Kirk in Star Trek: Into Darkness, told Men's Health that he' s not afraid to shed a few tears.
Nvidia's new mobile gaming console, "Shield," will hit the shelves next month with a hefty starting price tag of $349.
The portable gaming console formerly known as "Project Shield" will arrive at select online and brick-and-mortar retailers next month, developer Nvidia announced Tuesday.
Nvidia first unveiled its mobile gaming device in a surprise move at this year's Consumer Electronics Show (CES) under the comic book-like moniker "Project Shield." Now known simply as "Shield," the new Android-powered mobile gaming device and the first to be produced by a company best known for its line of graphics processing units (GPUs) and mobile processors will debut for $349 ? a high price point for a fading part of the market for gaming hardware.
Units will begin shipping to select stores including GameStop, Newegg, Micro Center, and Canada Computers in June, Nvidia said in blog post Prospective fans can begin pre-ordering the device on May 20, though anyone who previously signed up for the device's newsletter through Nvidia's website can begin pre-ordering the device immediately.
A major challenge that any mobile console developer faces is in securing enough quality software to make the device worth it. Seeing as Shield will enter the market at more than twice the price of the current market leader, Nintendo's 3DS, and without the proprietary Mario and Donkey Kong games that make its competitor such a unique product, this is a particularly pressing dilemma for Nvidia to resolve.
Given the relative openness of Google's Play store, the company may have found its savior in the Android operating system ? though, like PowerA's Moga controller or PlayJam's GameStick, the Shield console would still need to optimize Android games to the new hardware to make spending the extra cash actually worth it for customers.
Nvidia said that in addition to an unspecified number of Google Play store games and apps that will be compatible with the device, the Shield will come with two games, "Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 2," an "Expendable: Rearmed." The company also said that it has entered into partnerships for five additional games ? "Costume Quest" and "Broken Age" from Kickstarter wunderkind Double Fine, "Flyhunter: Origins" from Steel Wool Games, "Skiing Fred" from Dedalord Games and "Chuck's Challenge" from Niffler.
Yannick LeJacq is a contributing writer for NBC News who has also covered games for Kill Screen, The Wall Street Journal and The Atlantic. You can follow him on Twitter at @YannickLeJacq and reach him by email at ylejacq@gmail.com.
May 15, 2013 ? Paper, being a light and foldable raw material, is a cost-efficient and simple means of generating electrically conducting structures.
Paper is becoming a high-tech material. Researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces in Potsdam-Golm have created targeted conductive structures on paper using a method that is quite simple: with a conventional inkjet printer, they printed a catalyst on a sheet of paper and then heated it. The printed areas on the paper were thereby converted into conductive graphite. Being an inexpensive, light and flexible raw material, paper is therefore highly suitable for electronic components in everyday objects.
Cost-efficient and flexible microchips are opening up applications in the electronics sector for which silicon chips are too expensive or difficult to make, and for which RFID chips, now available on a widespread basis, simply do not suffice: clothes, for instance, that monitor bodily functions, flexible screens, or labels that give more information about a product then can be printed on the packaging.
Although many scientists around the world are successfully developing flexible chips, they have been forced to almost always rely on plastics as the carrier and, in some cases, use polymers and other organic molecules as conductive components. These materials may meet many requirements; however, they are all, without exception, sensitive to heat. "Their processing cannot be integrated into the usual production of electronics, because temperatures in production can reach over 400 degrees Celsius," says Cristina Giordano, who leads a working group at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces and as now come up with an alternative solution.
Paper electronics enables three-dimensional conductive structures
Carbon electronics, which Giordano and her colleagues create from paper, can withstand temperatures of around 800 degrees Celsius during production in an oxygen-free environment, and would not have a negative impact on established processes. And that is not the only trump card of paper-based electronics. The light and inexpensive material can be processed very easily, even into three-dimensional conductive structures.
The Potsdam-based researchers convert the cellulose of the paper into graphite with iron nitrate serving as the catalyst. "Using a commercial inkjet printer, we print a solution of the catalyst in a fine pattern on a sheet of paper," says Stefan Glatzel, who is responsible for bringing electronics to paper in his doctoral thesis. If the researchers then heat the sheets that were printed with a catalyst to 800 degrees Celsius in a nitrogen atmosphere, the cellulose will continue to release water until all that remains is pure carbon. Whereas an electrically conducting mixture of regularly structured carbon sheets of graphite and iron carbide forms in the printed areas, the non-printed areas are left behind as carbon without a regular structure, and they are less conductive.
That actual, precisely formed conducting paths are created in this way was demonstrated by the researchers in a simple experiment: First, they printed the catalyst on a sheet of paper in the pattern of Minerva, the subtle symbol of the Max Planck Society. The printed pattern was then converted into graphite. They then used the graphite Minerva as a cathode, which was electrolytically coated with copper. The metal was only deposited on the lines sketched by the printer.
An origami crane dressed in copper
In another experiment, the team in Potsdam demonstrated how three-dimensional, conductive structures can be created using their method. For this experiment, the team folded a sheet of paper into an origami crane. This was then immersed in the catalyst and baked into graphite. "The three-dimensional form was completely retained, but consisted entirely of conductive carbon after the process," says Stefan Glatzel. He demonstrated this again by electrolytically coating the origami bird with copper. The entire crane subsequently had a copper sheen.
Finally, the actual process of the catalytic conversion was illustrated by the Max Planck scientists. Using a transmission electron microscope, they made a film of the process, observing how the catalyst journeyed through the paper in the form of nano droplets of an iron-carbon molten mixture, leaving graphite in its wake. This aspect, too, might be interesting for possible applications of the process. The better the understanding of chemists when it comes to what actually happens during the process, the better they can control the reaction. And this does not only apply to the production of paper electronics, but also to the manufacture of carbon nanotubes, where iron has been used as a catalyst for quite some time already.
Graphene structures from thin paper
This video of the graphite formation gave the researchers a comprehensive insight into catalytic conversion. Starting from these results, they are now trying to end a dispute over the mechanism behind the conversion. Some of their colleagues assume that the reaction takes place in a solid state. "Our study, however, shows that molten metal, or a so-called eutectic, is formed," says Giordano. "We observed something interesting here, as iron itself does not melt until temperatures of about 1500 degrees are reached."
Why the mixture of iron and carbon melts at relatively low temperatures is now being examined more closely by Giordano and her team. It may be possible to use this effect in other areas. Moreover, the researchers intend to further explore the potential of paper electronics. Here, they do not just want to exploit the magnetic properties of the material, which are a result of the iron carbide. By reducing the paper strength and subtly controlling the process, they also want to create conducting paths from graphene; by "graphene," they are referring to one of the carbon sheets that are stacked on top of each other in the graphite. "We will also combine graphite with other materials," explains Giordano. The inkjet printer makes this possible -- it is from the printer's cartridges that iron nitrate solutions, as well as solutions from other metal salts or dispersions containing metal particles finely distributed in water can be brought to paper.
NEW YORK (AP) ? The ACLU is lobbying for the gay couple on "Modern Family" to get married.
ACLU Action started a campaign to urge the show's producers to write a wedding episode for Mitchell and Cameron, fathers of an adopted child and one of three couples at the heart of the show.
The ACLU says it is appealing to the fictional family to draw more attention to the real issue as it awaits Supreme Court decisions on two important marriage equality cases.
"Mitch and Cam are a couple that America has come to know and love, and seeing them get married, and seeing the characters in the story grapple with their desire to get married, makes it real for a bigger part of America," said James Esseks, director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Project at the ACLU.
Supporters are invited to "RSVP" to the wedding online. The ACLU plans to deliver the online "guest list" to the show's producers but said it had not yet contacted the show.
Esseks said the petition was a departure for the group, but that along with filing lawsuits, lobbying for bills or organizing ballot initiatives, the group saw public education and changing the culture as part of its mission. He applauded what "Modern Family" has done already for public perception of gay couples.
"It's a popular show, they're a lovable, very real couple, and it would be great to see them walk down the aisle," he said.
ABC referred questions to 20th Century Fox Studios, which did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Show creator Steven Levitan tweeted a link to the campaign with a simple "Wow." Jessie Tyler Ferguson, who plays Mitchell, tweeted: "Love this! Thank you ACLU! Maybe once Prop 8 is overturned!"
When we first met the team from Vivix their wild MIDI guitar, the Jamstik, promised a unique music-making experience thanks to a tether that connected it to a computer or iOS device. In the ![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 15-May-2013
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