The Scientist–Reporter Collaboration: A Guide to Working with the Press

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) to the public can be challenging. Often, the language that researchers use among themselves is technical and difficult for non-experts to decipher. But as you probably know, communicating your research to non-experts is becoming mandatory. In a direct sense, funding agencies often require outreach for grant fulfillment. There are indirect benefits as well: Conveying the joy of discovery and the relevance of scientific results builds scientific literacy among the public---which of course includes both students who will eventually do research of their own and people who elect the policy makers who allocate funding. How many people know that what scientists do can be fun and interesting

Imaging ATUM ultrathin section libraries with WaferMapper: a multi-scale approach to EM reconstruction of neural circuits

The automated tape-collecting ultramicrotome (ATUM) makes it possible to collect large numbers of ultrathin sections quickly—the equivalent of a petabyte of high resolution images each day. However, even high throughput image acquisition strategies generate images far more slowly (at present ~1 terabyte per day). We therefore developed WaferMapper, a software package that takes a multi-resolution approach to mapping and imaging select regions within a library of ultrathin sections. This automated method selects and directs imaging of corresponding regions within each section of an ultrathin section library (UTSL) that may contain many thousands of sections. Using WaferMapper, it is possible to map thousands of tissue sections at low resolution and target multiple points of interest for high resolution imaging based on anatomical landmarks. The program can also be used to expand previously imaged regions, acquire data under different imaging conditions, or re-image after additional tissue treatments

Acoustic scattering characteristics and inversions for suspended concentration and particle size above mixed sand and mud beds

The majority of reported field studies, using acoustic backscattering, for the measurement of nearbed suspended sediment processes, have been focussed on field sites with sand size fractions and unimodal size distributions. However, in many sedimentary environments, and particularly for estuaries and rivers, sands and muds coexist in the bed sediment substrate, forming a size regime that is often bimodal in nature. To examine the interaction of sound in these more complex sedimentary environments a numerical study is presented based on observations of sediment size distributions measured in the Dee estuary, UK. The work explores the interpretation of the backscatter signal from a mixed sediment composition in suspension, with mud-sand fractions varying with height above the bed. Consideration is given to the acoustical scattering properties and the inversion of the backscatter signal to extract information on the suspension. In common with most field deployments, the scenarios presented here use local bed sediments for the acoustic inversion of the backscattered signal. The results indicate that in general it is expected that particle size and concentration will diverge from what is actually in suspension, with the former being overestimated and the latter underestimated

Correlative light and electron microscopy using cathodoluminescence from nanoparticles with distinguishable colours

Correlative light and electron microscopy promises to combine molecular specificity with nanoscale imaging resolution. However, there are substantial technical challenges including reliable co-registration of optical and electron images, and rapid optical signal degradation under electron beam irradiation. Here, we introduce a new approach to solve these problems: imaging of stable optical cathodoluminescence emitted in a scanning electron microscope by nanoparticles with controllable surface chemistry. We demonstrate well-correlated cathodoluminescence and secondary electron images using three species of semiconductor nanoparticles that contain defects providing stable, spectrally-distinguishable cathodoluminescence. We also demonstrate reliable surface functionalization of the particles. The results pave the way for the use of such nanoparticles for targeted labeling of surfaces to provide nanoscale mapping of molecular composition, indicated by cathodoluminescence colour, simultaneously acquired with structural electron images in a single instrument.Physic

Bounded Expectations: Resource Analysis for Probabilistic Programs

This paper presents a new static analysis for deriving upper bounds on the expected resource consumption of probabilistic programs. The analysis is fully automatic and derives symbolic bounds that are multivariate polynomials of the inputs. The new technique combines manual state-of-the-art reasoning techniques for probabilistic programs with an effective method for automatic resource-bound analysis of deterministic programs. It can be seen as both, an extension of automatic amortized resource analysis (AARA) to probabilistic programs and an automation of manual reasoning for probabilistic programs that is based on weakest preconditions. As a result, bound inference can be reduced to off-the-shelf LP solving in many cases and automatically-derived bounds can be interactively extended with standard program logics if the automation fails. Building on existing work, the soundness of the analysis is proved with respect to an operational semantics that is based on Markov decision processes. The effectiveness of the technique is demonstrated with a prototype implementation that is used to automatically analyze 39 challenging probabilistic programs and randomized algorithms. Experimental results indicate that the derived constant factors in the bounds are very precise and even optimal for many programs

Dynamic regulation of the endocannabinoid system: implications for analgesia

The analgesic effects of cannabinoids are well documented, but these are often limited by psychoactive side-effects. Recent studies indicate that the endocannabinoid system is dynamic and altered under different pathological conditions, including pain states. Changes in this receptor system include altered expression of receptors, differential synthetic pathways for endocannabinoids are expressed by various cell types, multiple pathways of catabolism and the generation of biologically active metabolites, which may be engaged under different conditions. This review discusses the evidence that pain states alter the endocannabinoid receptor system at key sites involved in pain processing and how these changes may inform the development of cannabinoid-based analgesics