Escape the Room
Alabama Public Radio – July 8
Picture this: you find yourself in an unfamiliar room. The only obvious exit is locked and there are no windows. Hidden in the room are locked boxes, random clues, and secret keys—all things you’ll need to escape. But you’d better hurry, because you only have 60 minutes to get out… Escape rooms are a growing trend across America and this form of escapist entertainment, literally speaking, has just reached Alabama. Three different escape room businesses have opened in the state since April. Kim Parker’s one of the co-owners of Breakout Tuscaloosa … Dr. Matthew Payne is an assistant professor at the University of Alabama. He teaches in the Department of Telecommunication and Film and studies video games. Payne says playing games can provide more than just entertainment. “They are an escape, but at the same time allow us to work through emotional issues, cognitive issues, under the larger auspices of simply playing a game.”
Sorry, say boffins, the LHC still hasn’t sucked us into a black hole
The Register (U.K.) – July 8
The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) has still failed to produce microscopic black holes, according to a new analysis of data from the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) collaboration. The idea, beloved of theoretical physicists, lawyers, and cranks others, is that collisions even down to the Tera-electron-volt (TeV) scale could produce microscopic black holes. If they did pop up, it would be more than a curiosity: it would provide empirical support hitherto lacking for the notion that there are extra dimensions we haven’t seen before. This, in turn, would give scientists a new angle for investigating the nature of gravity. In this paper at arXiv, the University of Alabama’s Shaqoi Hou and Benjamin Harms and the University of Mississippi’s Marco Cavaglia reckon they’ve ruled out micro black holes with 95 per cent certainty. What the paper does offer is a lower boundary for micro black hole formation. If the black hole decays into Standard Model particles, Hou’s group reckons they can’t form at mass less than 5.2 -6.5 TeV; if the decay leaves a remnant black hole after decay, the mass can’t be lower than 2.2-3.4 TeV. To get those values, the group first ran computer models of how black holes should form in LHC collisions, if they form at all; and compared the simulation data with experimental data from the CMS collaboration.
Heroin use increases across the country
WVUA (Tuscaloosa) – July 8
A new study shows that heroin use has increased all across the country, and among different people than you might expect. Throughout the country drug task forces and treatment centers alike are attempting to curb an up-swing in the heroin epidemic. It’s a drug that’s cheaper and more readily available than you might think. It’s an old drug with a new problem and a new clientele. “This is the same class of drugs as prescription pain killers,” said Dr. Tricia Witte. She says it’s not always the drug addict in the alleyway using heroin. It’s the everyday people, the person next door that starts with a prescription pain-killer and can’t stop. “The very next phase they are going to move to is heroin. It’s a lot cheaper and it’s surprisingly easier to get a hold of than a prescription pain pill is.” According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, heroin use among women has doubled over the past decade. Experts say these days it could be a housewife addicted to this hard-core drug.
UA professor wins Harper Lee fiction award
Crimson White – July 8
As a child, Deborah Johnson would sit on her parents’ and grandparents’ laps and listen to them read. The idea of reading to her was something warm and comforting. While the rest of her family went into medicine, she had one dream for her future, something she always wanted
to do: writing. For her novel, “The Secret of Magic,” Johnson will receive the 2015 Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. Monique Fields, manager of communications, said the award was created five years ago to commemorate the 50th anniversary of “To Kill a Mockingbird” and former University of Alabama law student and author, Harper Lee. The award, authorized by Lee and cosponsored by the University’s School of Law and the ABA Journal, is given annually to a work of fiction that best illuminates the role of lawyers in society and their power to effect change. Previous winners include John Grisham, Michael Connelly and Paul Goldstein. Johnson, who beat out 16 entries including finalists Linda Fairstein and Robert Dugoni, is the first woman and black author to win this prize.
Former UA Professor to discuss Gorgas’ life
Crimson White – July 8
Tuscaloosa residents will have the opportunity to learn about the person behind the campus-famous surname Gorgas at a lecture Thursday evening. Sarah Woolfolk Wiggins, a former UA history professor and Gorgas historian, will present the lecture on Amelia Gayle Gorgas in the Jemison-Van de Graaff Mansion. Light refreshments will be available beginning at 5:15 p.m. with the lecture to follow from 5:45-6:30 p.m. This lecture is part of the Tuscaloosa County Preservation Society’s Sundown Lecture Series. “Our mission here at the [Tuscaloosa County] Preservation Society is to educate and let people know what preservation is all about: what it has been in the past, what it is now and what it needs to be in the future,” said Lucy Murphy, event coordinator for TCPS. “The Sundown Lecture Series is our outreach program to, more or less, get the community involved and let them know what’s happening and why preservation is important.”
Education Roundup
IamOhio.com – July 8
Columbus Grove student wins scholarship: COLUMBUS GROVE — Brianna Wicker, of the Columbus Grove Senior High Band, has been awarded the Al Best Memorial Scholarship. This $1,000 scholarship was created to honor the memory of Al Best … Range Kleen awards scholarships: LIMA — Range Kleen has awarded Ashley Strawn and Kaitlyn O’Connor as the 2015-2016 Range Kleen Scholarship Award Recipients. Strawn attends Bowling Green State University and O’Connor attends the University of Alabama, both majoring in different areas of human development and family studies. The Student Scholarship Program is designed to foster excellence to the next generation, according to a news release. Potential recipients are dependents of Range Kleen Associates and are selected based on academic achievements. Range Kleen Manufacturing Inc. is a Lima-based company manufacturing household products sold to major retail chains globally since 1971.