#urochester

[lolmythesis]

These people think they know how they will respond to ecological collapse. They are all wrong.

Creative Writing, University of Rochester

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All in at East High

In 2014, a Rochester high school was on the brink of closure. Since then, a partnership with the University has helped East High School to forge a new culture and commitment to revival.”

"It’s now the beginning of year three—and some key numbers have started to move."

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Rochester biologists first to successfully sequence firefly genome

“Fireflies are such amazing creatures. They are one of those iconic species that everyone can recognize and that are really special to a lot of people.”

—Rochester biologist Amanda Larracuente

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Annual Pumpkin Launch 🎃

A story in four acts/photos...

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Climate change for aliens

A new classification scheme updates the Kardashev scale by including the impacts of an exo-civilization's energy use.

For more than 50 years, the Kardashev scale has been the gold standard for classifying hypothetical “exo-civilizations” by their ability to harness energy. A team of researchers led by Rochester astrophysicist Adam Frank have devised a new system that takes into account the impacts of that energy use.

The new system classifies planets based on their ability to generate free energy. This system is composed of five levels, from a Class I planet (far left) that does not have an atmosphere to a Class V planet (far right) where an energy-intensive species establishes a sustainable version of the biosphere. In this system, Earth is between a Class IV and Class V. (University illustration / Michael Osadciw)

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Tom Petty's rock 'n' roll was pure

Petty burst onto the scene during the New Wave era, but he was not of it--he moved forward while earnestly embracing rock's history, passing those values on in ways that continue to shape rock music, John Covach writes.

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A team of surgeons, researchers, music theorists work together to preserve a musician's ability to experience music.

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'Spider-Man: Homecoming' Is A Nearly Perfect Movie For An Imperfect Hero

The new Spider-Man movie comes pretty close to perfection in honoring all that the Spidey comics meant to his many fans, like this once-upon-a-time, 12-year-old, science-obsessed kid, says Adam Frank.

Marvel Studios began building its expansive "cinematic universe" with Iron Man back in 2008. Since then, they've come to dominate the box-office in ways that demonstrate how much the "nerd culture" of my earlier years now represents mainstream pop-culture. I've always been appreciative of how Marvel has used that success to present positive views of science and scientists. But with that success, there can also come a kind of exhaustion with the genre. With Spider-Man: Homecoming, Marvel Studios has given us a smaller-scale story that recovers everything that made Marvel Comics so great.