Researchers try to find uses for shrimp shells
Montgomery Advertiser – July 31
University of Alabama chemist Robin Rogers imagines a future where shrimp shells could become more than a smelly seafood byproduct. “I believe in what I would call a chitin economy. I personally believe, if properly developed, the material you can develop from chitin and the markets you could sell them in would make the shrimp shell worth more than the meat,” said Rogers, an owner and founder of 525 Solutions, a startup company housed in UA’s Alabama Innovation and Mentoring of Entrepreneurs center on campus. The company, which is exploring a host of applications for chitin extracted from the shells, received roughly $1.5 million from U.S. Department of Energy to fund its research of a chitin-based absorbent material for use in a process to extract uranium from the ocean. The company previously proved the concept of using the chitin-based material for the application. Gabriela Gurau, a chemist and CEO of the UA-based company, said the company is in the process of signing the contract for the grant. “In our proposal, there is no way we as a small company can compete with terrestrial mining,” said Rogers, a Robert Ramsay Chair of Chemistry at UA and director of UA’s Center for Green Manufacturing. “We are not going to be a mining company. What we are going to do is develop chitin that is lower cost because we have other uses for the material.”
Washington Times – July 31
USA Today – July 31
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – July 31
Sabans continue charity with Nick’s Kids luncheon on UA campus
Tuscaloosa News – July 31
The little girl in pink came bouncing up behind the most important man in the room, who just so happened to be holding court in front of all the flashes, cameras and microphones. As Nick Saban turned away from the media scrum, his face lit up, mirroring the happiness staring back at him as the little ball of energy stood at his knees. She didn’t know who he was, but she was happy to see him, and he her. That moment encapsulated what Nick’s Kids means to the Sabans, and it was demonstrated again moments later when Nick’s wife, Terry Saban, teared up while addressing a full room in the North Zone inside Bryant-Denny Stadium. During Nick’s Kids eighth annual luncheon, the charity distributed more than $440,000 to 125 different state organizations, which provide aid to children and families. Founded in 1998 to honor Saban’s father, the Sabans and donors have given more than $4.6 million through the Nick’s Kids Fund.
HELPING HANDS: Medical students volunteer at the Arc of Tuscaloosa County
Tuscaloosa News – Aug. 1
Luke Iannuzzi and 37 fellow first-year students in the University of Alabama School of Medicine spent their fourth morning in medical school painting, sanding and trimming hedges. The students gathered Thursday morning at the Arc of Tuscaloosa County on University Boulevard in Tuscaloosa as volunteers helping out around the nonprofit agency that serves adults with disabilities. “I think it’s cool there is a program out there like this,” said Iannuzzi, a 23-year-old University of Kentucky graduate from Auburn. Donna Callahan, interim director of the Arc of Tuscaloosa, said this is the second year the medical students have volunteered at the center. In the skills room of the Arc’s building, the students sanded and outlined fixtures and molding with masking tape in preparation for coats of blue paint. The medical school students painted a stretch of wall in preparation for a planned aquarium mural. The first-year students also trimmed hedges and other tasks around the Arc property. The stop was part of the student’s medical school orientation activities, according to Brook Hubner, program director for medical education for the school. Iannuzzi and his classmates will spend their first two years at the medical school’s regional campus at the University of Alabama at Birmingham before coming to the regional campus in Tuscaloosa for their third year.
Are you procrastinating in front of the TV?
The Globe and Mail (Toronto) – July 31
People who play video games or watch television to unwind after a hard day may end up feeling worse about themselves, not better, according to a study. Although enjoying something pleasurable can restore “vitality” after a draining bout of demanding work, researchers found that users of entertainment media will get less benefit if they see the activity as procrastination rather than rest … Survey questions were designed to assess the participants’ levels of ego depletion, feelings of guilt, procrastination, and vitality and recovery experience. The researchers found that those who were more ego depleted after work or school were more likely to feel that their media use was a form of procrastination. As a result, they had a higher risk of feeling guilty about their media use. These feelings of guilt were associated with fewer positive effects of media use and reduced recovery and vitality after media use, the authors write. “The study added a new layer of understanding to the research that has come before, so I really think it’s important work,” said Dr. Elliot Panek, a professor at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, who was not involved in the study.
Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails bring back memories
Hampton Roads (Va.) – July 31
We were so cynical and disaffected – and it was the coolest and most commercially viable way to be. We turned on the TV in the 1990s and we saw our adolescent angst and hormone-driven conflicts dramatized on shows such as “Beverly Hills, 90210” and “My So-Called Life.” On the radio – not satellite or Pandora because neither existed – the era’s cynicism, nihilism and brash sexuality bristled and roared through the music. We wore our flannel ponchos, played Hacky Sack and fueled the CD boom with money from our after-school jobs … But on Tuesday, Soundgarden and Nine Inch Nails – quintessential ’90s bands whose CDs we owned and whose shows we saw at Lollapalooza back in the day – are coming to Farm Bureau Live at Virginia Beach … “Back then, it was packaged as real music, but in a lot of ways it was actually an echo of older music,” says Eric Weisbard, professor of American Studies at the University of Alabama and organizer of the EMP Pop Conference, an annual summit of the country’s top music writers and academics. “The continuities to earlier forms of rock are much more striking than any sense that the music was different from classic rock. Nine Inch Nails is closer to Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin than we thought was true at the time.”
Courting interns to come to Cincinnati
Cincinnati.com – July 31
To Elizabeth Roberts, it’s a “seamless life.” Young families grabbing a bite with friends at a Downtown brewery, with kids in tow. She feels the same vibe – a relaxed, integrated flow to life – when she strikes out on Saturday mornings, meets up with friends who idly route themselves through Washington Park and finally end up somewhere for a bite to eat. For Roberts, 21, it’s the appeal of being able to live close enough to walk to work. It’s Coffee Emporium on Central Parkway, with its eclectic mix of young professionals and Downtown workers, where at any given moment a City Council member might stop by. Roberts is a senior honor student at the University of Alabama who is spending her second summer in Cincinnati as an intern at dunnhumby. She is bright, ambitious, hard-working and interesting. And as she decides where she’ll take a job after graduation, she wants a city that’s the same.