Duke in the News: Jan. 27, 2003
Balancing Research, Rescue | Saving Science Funds During Hard Times | Troops Start Trend With Sperm Banks | Educator Decries Foreign Language Gap, and more...
Monday, January 27, 2003
DUKE CENTER JUGGLES PRESERVATION, SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF
LEMURS
Charlotte Observer, Jan. 26 -- Tree-dwelling creatures with
imploring gazes, the Duke University Primate Center's lemurs and
lorises are cute and endangered. They're also invaluable sources of
information, living specimens of animals that hopped, skipped and
scampered across the Earth 60 million years ago. Therein lies the
tension.
Full story
SAVING SCIENCE FUNDS DURING HARD TIMES
(Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 27 -- Q&A with Nan Nixon,
assistant vice president for federal relations at Duke, about the
prospects for higher education funding in the next year. ...Full
story
TROOPS START TREND WITH SPERM BANKS
USA Today, Jan. 27 -- A recent study by Duke University says that
some rats exposed simultaneously to three chemicals used in the
Persian Gulf became sterile. The study is being cited as dozens of
soldiers bank their sperm before shipping out to the Mideast. ...Full
story
--Also, Los Angeles Times: Troops Take a Personal Precaution
Full story
RADIOACTIVE DUMP ON WILDLIFE REFUGE RAISES LIABILITY
CONCERNS
New York Times, Jan. 27 -- John F. Ahearne, former chairman of the
federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and now a lecturer in risk
and regulation at Duke University, says it is difficult to assess
whether the development of nuclear weapons was worth long-term
environmental contamination of islands southwest of Hawaii. (Free
registration required to access article.) ...Full
story
EDUCATOR DECRIES FOREIGN LANGUAGE GAP
(Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun, Jan. 26 -- As the United States
prosecutes a war on terrorism in Afghanistan, many Americans can
barely find the country on a map. It's a shameful fact, the
president of the American Council on Education told a crowd of
about 300 college professors and specialists in international
education in Durham this weekend. ...Full
story
NICOTINE-REDUCED CIGARETTES MARKETED
Boston Globe, Jan. 27 -- The first tobacco CEO to admit
smoking is addictive is offering a new cigarette made with
genetically modified tobacco that lets smokers choose their level
of nicotine. Vector Tobacco Inc. is also funding research at Duke
University on how Quest affects smokers' nicotine intake and urge
to smoke. ...
Full story
STUDENTS 'DUKE IT OUT' WITH CONTROVERSIAL
SPEAKER
Fox News, Jan. 27 -- A student group is accusing Duke University of
rolling out the red carpet to a "terrorist." ...Full
story
--Also, Duke News: Speaker Invitation Launches Campus Debate
Full story
CELEBRATING ANOTHER YEAR
(Myrtle Beach) Sun-News, Jan. 27 -- Duke University's oldest
graduate was still solving The New York Times crossword puzzle
daily when she was nearly 95. Today, at 111, Ruby Markham Drakeford
still opens and reads her mail, reads newspapers' headlines nearly
every day and remains independent. ...
Full story
--Also, (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun: At Age 111, She Relishes
Dessert, Smells the Flowers
Full
story
OP-ED: CHEAP SAND, EXPENSIVE EROSION
(Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 24 -- "It is clear that the
state cannot rely on the Corps of Engineers to do the right thing
along the North Carolina coast," in the view of Orrin Pilkey, James
B. Duke professor of geology, emeritus, at Duke, and Andrew Coburn,
coastal research associate in the Program for the Study of
Developed Shorelines at the Nicholas School of the Environment and
Earth Sciences at Duke. ...
Full story
DEEP THINKERS MISSING IN ACTION
Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 21 - Even at elite campuses, some
students and faculty fret over anti-intellectualism. At the center
of a continuing discussion is an article by Duke University's Prof.
Stuart Rojstaczer titled, "When Intellectual Life is Optional for
Students." ...Full
story
DUKE STUDYING EFFECTS OF MEDITATION ON
HEALTH
Charlotte Observer, Jan. 27 -- Researchers at Duke University
Medical Center are studying whether practicing meditation and
relaxation techniques can lower blood pressure by reducing the
effects of stress, according to James Lane, associate research
professor of medical psychology in the department of psychiatry and
behavioral medicine. ...
Full story
LETTER: STATE HEALTH PLAN, NOT DUKE, ENDED
CONTRACT
(Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun, Jan. 27 -- Kenneth Morris, vice
president and chief financial officer of Duke University Health
System, comments on the 'unilateral action' of the State Employee
Health Plan in terminating its contract with Duke. ...
Letter