Science and Technology

That's the mind-boggling concept at the heart of a theory that University at Buffalo physicist Dejan Stojkovic and colleagues proposed in 2010.

A new study from the University at Buffalo contradicts the dark flow theory, showing that exploding stars in different parts of the universe do not appear to be moving in sync. Working with data on 557 such stars, called supernovae, UB scientists deduced that while the supernovae closest to Earth all shared a common motion in one direction, supernovae further out were heading somewhere else. An article announcing the research results will appear in a forthcoming edition of the peer-reviewed Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics.

An electrical engineer at the University at Buffalo, who previously demonstrated experimentally the "rainbow trapping effect" -- a phenomenon that could boost optical data storage and communications -- is now working to capture all the colors of the rainbow.

New materials science research from the University at Buffalo could hasten the creation of "smart" windows that reflect heat from the sun on hot summer days but let in the heat in colder weather. The findings concern a unique class of synthetic chemical compounds that are transparent to infrared light at lower temperatures, but undergo a phase transition to begin reflecting infrared when they heat up past a certain point. An article detailing some of these discoveries appears today (April 7) on the cover of the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters.

Communication researchers at four major universities have found that if you receive a lot of email, habitually respond to a good portion of it, maintain a lot of online relationships and conduct a large number of transactions online, you are more susceptible to email phishing expeditions than those who limit their online activity.

Experts in the design of the bathroom, cybernetics in architecture and the spatial dimensions of aging will be among speakers at "Before and Beyond: Architecture and the User," a two-day symposium at the University at Buffalo's School of Architecture and Planning. The event, which features presenters from the U.S., Canada and Europe, is free and open to the public. Panels will take place on April 6 and 7 at 301 Crosby Hall on UB's South Campus. Directions and a complete schedule are online at http://tinyurl.com/beforeandbeyondUB.

Western New York companies have the opportunity to improve their operations and achieve measurable gains by hosting students enrolled in the University at Buffalo's Six Sigma Black Belt Student Certification program in the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

Alan H. Lockwood, MD, professor of neurology and nuclear medicine in the University at Buffalo's School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences calls the Japanese Health Ministry's advice not to give tap water to infants "prudent." Lockwood, a board member of Physicians for Social Responsibility, can discuss human health effects of radiation. Six weeks after the Chernobyl accident, he examined survivors at a Moscow hospital.

The outcome of Haiti's March 20 presidential election will determine much of the country's political future, but this week, more than 250 Haitian architects and engineers will take the future of Haiti's reconstruction into their own hands when they attend the third UniQ-UB/MCEER Earthquake Engineering Seminar in Port-au-Prince.

Bracket fanatics beware: University at Buffalo researcher Alex Nikolaev, an expert in statistical analysis, has found the odds do not favor NCAA basketball teams seeded No. 1 in the big tournament -- at least not taken as a group.