Matt Shipman

Mar 23, 2011

Avast! Legal Confusion May Help Pirates Avoid The Plank

Forget Captain Jack Sparrow. Today’s maritime pirates aren’t swashbuckling antiheroes, they are gun-toting kidnappers, extortionists and murderers. And their numbers are swelling, not diminishing. New research highlights one of the factors contributing to international piracy – the legal system. Fifty years ago, piracy was in decline. But by 2009, the world was dealing with an… 

Mar 23, 2011

International Laws May Be Part Of Maritime Piracy Problem

International piracy costs the shipping industry billions of dollars a year and leads to high-profile murders that make global headlines. Longstanding concerns over piracy have led to numerous international laws and conventions designed to keep pirates in check – but research from North Carolina State University shows that the tangled network of laws may actually… 

Mar 22, 2011

Study Finds That Overweight People Really Are Big-Boned

One of the blind spots in forensic science, particularly in identifying unknown remains, is the inability of experts to determine how much an individual weighed based on his or her skeleton. New research from North Carolina State University moves us closer to solving this problem by giving forensic experts valuable insight into what the shape… 

Mar 21, 2011

NC State Program Fosters Entrepreneurship In Engineering Community

One lesson learned in North Carolina State University’s Engineering Entrepreneurs Program (EEP): technical knowledge is not enough, if you want to be successful. NC State researchers are laying out lessons they’ve learned running one of the nation’s first EEPs in a paper being published by IEEE’s Computer, as part of a special issue focused on entrepreneurship. 

Mar 17, 2011

Study Finds More Efficient Means Of Creating, Arranging Carbon Nanofibers

Carbon nanofibers hold promise for technologies ranging from medical imaging devices to precise scientific measurement tools, but the time and expense associated with uniformly creating nanofibers of the correct size has been an obstacle – until now. A new study from North Carolina State University demonstrates an improved method for creating carbon nanofibers of specific… 

Mar 16, 2011

Going Nuclear: Putting Some Media Coverage Into Perspective

Note: This is a guest piece written by Steve Skutnik, a Ph.D. candidate in nuclear engineering at NC State. Among other things, Skutnik is a regular contributor to the nuclear engineering blog The Neutron Economy, where a version of this post originally ran. In times of crisis, mainstream media can make mistakes – particularly when the… 

Mar 10, 2011

NC State Hosts Lecture On ‘Tea Party In American History’

What: North Carolina State University is hosting a lecture, “The Tea Party In American History.” The guest speaker is Jill Lepore, writer for The New Yorker, professor of history at Harvard University, and author of The Whites of Their Eyes: The Tea Party’s Revolution and the Battle over American History. Who: Sponsored by NC State’s History… 

Mar 9, 2011

How Magnets Work (It’s Complicated)

Occasionally, when looking for scientific issues to write about, I will survey my friends to see whether they have any “fundamental science” questions that I could explore. When someone recently suggested that I find out how magnets work, I thought it would be easy. I was wrong. First of all, I learned that there are… 

Mar 9, 2011

NC State Hosts Civil War Symposium

What: North Carolina State University is hosting a symposium, “The Public History Of The Civil War,” marking the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the war. The symposium will explore the many ways that historians can work together to engage general audiences at battlefields, historic sites and museums. Sessions will address a variety of topics,… 

Mar 8, 2011

Why Rooting For Losers May Save Your Life

If you’re a sports fan, you want your team to win. You especially want your team to win the big games: championships, rivalry games, etc. Be careful what you wish for. A new study shows that big games with close scores are followed by a significant increase in traffic fatalities – but only for fans… 

Mar 8, 2011

Big Games, Close Scores Lead To More Auto Fatalities For Winning Fans

Closely contested major sporting events are followed by a significant increase in traffic fatalities for fans of the winning team, according to new research from North Carolina State University. It turns out there may be more on the line than many sports fans bargained for. 

Mar 7, 2011

Political Narratives On Race, Southern Identity Influence National Elections

New research from North Carolina State University shows how attempts to define the South by Republicans and Democrats may have set the stage for President Obama’s victories in Southern states – and shaped the way Americans view themselves. 

Mar 4, 2011

Research In Action: Helping Homeless Children

Psychologist Mary Haskett has been doing research on childhood development for over 20 years, and her experiences in that field ultimately highlighted a real and growing mental-health crisis facing homeless children around the country. Now she’s calling on her research expertise to do something about it. Haskett, a professor at NC State, is working with eight… 

Mar 3, 2011

Our Online Training Preferences, or Why Clippy Bombed

A new study finds that students in online training courses want to be taught by electronic versions of themselves. The study, by researchers from NC State and George Washington University, were interested in how student performance was affected by changes in the electronic tutorial “helpers” utilized in online training programs. It turns out that students do… 

Mar 2, 2011

Just Like Me: Online Training Helpers More Effective When They Resemble Students

Opposites don’t always attract. A study from North Carolina State University shows that participants are happier – and perform better – when the electronic helpers used in online training programs resemble the participants themselves.