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Today's News Headlines is a comprehensive collection of U of M news clips including select U of M news from local, national and global sources, as well as News Service releases and multimedia content. It is delivered every morning, Monday-Friday.
Today's News: Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Learning Goes Under a New Microscope
Almost everyone in academe daydreams about scrapping the conventional university model and building something from scratch, but few people actually get the chance to try it... Stephen W. Lehmkuhle did, when he was hired in 2007 as chancellor of the University of Minnesota's fledgling Rochester campus.
Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/article/Putting-Learning-Under-a/48997/
Projection For Swine Flu Vaccine Was Too Optimistic
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, says the government's projection for how much swine flu vaccine would be available was too optimistic.
National Public Radio
To listen: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=120044053
Rank-Choice Voting Underway in Mpls
Minneapolis voters are choosing their elected officials in a brand new way Tuesday... Rachel Smith, director of the Election Administration Project from the University of Minnesota joins reporters to understand how ranked choice voting works.
KMSP - TV
To view: http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/dpp/buzz/Mpls
_Preparing_for_Rank_Choice_Voting_nov_02_2009#
Election For St. Paul Mayor Could Be Record Low
It could be a record turnout at the election in St. Paul Tuesday... "We're probably not going to have a high turnout in this election," said political scientist Larry Jacobs of the Humphrey Institute at the University of Minnesota.
WCCO - TV
To view: http://wcco.com/local/Saint.Paul.mayor.2.1287369.html
How Best To Teach Children About Religion?
According to a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life, 92 percent of Americans believe in God... William Doherty agrees. He's an author, therapist and family social science professor at the University of Minnesota.
WCCO - TV
To view: http://wcco.com/local/religion.children.parenting.2.1287590.html
Red Bulls Protect, Teach At Basra Medical School
Anchor Don Shelby, along with photojournalist Tom Aviles, is embedded with the 34th Infantry Division from the Minnesota National Guard known as the Red Bulls... Rath said the University of Minnesota can help these medical students by sending doctors here to teach.
WCCO - TV
To view: http://wcco.com/health/basra.medical.school.2.1286886.html
A consumer group finds which rubber gives users the safest sex
In the heat of the moment when most couples use a condom, they might not be thinking about how their choice of contraceptive might work when inflated with 25 liters of air... "To have this done independently seems like a good idea," said Eli Coleman, director of the program in human sexuality at the University of Minnesota Medical School
ABC News - TV
To view: http://abcnews.go.com/m/screen?id=8978735
Did Wall Street Culture Cause Economic Woes?
How should we reform Wall?Street? The conventional wisdom is slash the mega-bonuses and bring on the regulators (not to mention taxpayers)... Karen Ho, an anthropology professor at the University of Minnesota, sets out to answer these questions in her recently-released book, "Liquidated: An Ethnography of Wall Street Culture."
SmartMoney.com - Wall Street Journal
http://www.smartmoney.com/Investing/Economy
/Did-Wall-Street-Culture-Cause-Economic-Woes/
U names vice provost, dean of Graduate School
The University of Minnesota has named a new vice provost and dean of graduate education... Henning Schroeder is associate dean for research and graduate studies in the College of Pharmacy and was on a committee that assessed controversial plans to restructure the university's Graduate School.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/68800347.html
Access Genetics speeds up process of analyzing, reporting medical tests
Waiting for the results of a medical test can be agonizing... “We can get results out faster, and it’s a more streamlined system than older methods, which required more filling in of paper reports and checking boxes and things like that,” said Anthony Killeen, associate professor and director of medical laboratories at the University of Minnesota.
Twin Cities Finance and Commerce
http://www.finance-commerce.com/article.cfm/2009/11/
03/Access-Genetics-speeds-up-process-of-analyzing-
reporting-medical-tests
Middle-Aged Wolves Retire From the Hunt
It takes wolves a year or two to learn how to hunt, but their ferociousness doesn't last long... "How many times a day is there a scene on the Discovery Channel of a large predator taking down a prey animal?" said Dan MacNulty, an animal ecologist at the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, and Michigan Technological University in Houghton.
Discovery Channel
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/11/03/wolves-hunt.html
Lions' taste for human flesh dissected
A notorious pair of man-eating lions that teamed up to terrorize Kenyan labour camps more than 100 years ago did not have the same taste for human flesh, a new study suggests... "Their divergent diets are mostly relevant for illuminating this one particular case," says Craig Packer, an animal behavioural scientist at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, which makes it difficult to extrapolate to other lions.
Nature News
http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091102/full/news.2009.1045.html
Dutch Scientists: Kids Should Skip Flu Vaccine
Dutch scientists ignited a controversy Friday by suggesting that children would be better off skipping the seasonal flu vaccine this year — a proposal flatly rejected by other health experts... “The best shot parents have at protecting their kids is to get them a shot in the arm or up the nose,” said Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Diseases Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota. “Parents should get whatever vaccine is available and approved.”
Ethio Planet
http://www.ethioplanet.com/news/2009/11/03/dutch
-scientists-kids-should-skip-flu-vaccine/
Links Between City Walkability And Air Pollution Exposure Revealed
A new study compares neighborhoods' walkability (degree of ease for walking) with local levels of air pollution and finds that some neighborhoods might be good for walking, but have poor air quality. Researchers involved in the study include University of Minnesota faculty member Julian Marshall and University of British Columbia faculty Michael Brauer and Lawrence Frank.
Science Daily
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091102171728.htm
Family physicians' partnership with Coke draws criticism
The American Academy of Family Physicians announced in October that it was partnering with Coca-Cola Co., the world's No.1 soft-drink maker, "to develop consumer education content on beverages and sweeteners."... Dr. Blackburn, professor emeritus in the division of epidemiology and community health at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health, said "no professional society should accept funding from such companies."
American Medial News
http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2009/11/02/prsc1103.htm
White House summit could turn new leaf for tribes
The list of decades-old grievances that Native American nations have lodged against the federal government is lengthy and a source of great acrimony... And it doesn't hurt that America's first black president is a minority, said David Wilkins, a professor of American Indian studies at the University of Minnesota.
Greenbay Press Gazette
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/article/
20091103/GPG0101/911030539/1207/GPG01
Patient Tales: Case Histories and the Uses of Narrative in Psychiatry
Patient Tales is a thorough analysis of the uses of narrative in psychiatry, based on the historical documentation of single case reports from the earliest known medical records of British asylums to the clinical case conferences in the American Journal of Psychiatry. Dr. Berkenkotter is a professor in the Department of Writing Studies at the University of Minnesota and the author of articles on case histories in psychiatry.
American Journal of Psychiatry
http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/cgi/content/full/166/11/1300
In Tough Economic Times, More Homeowners Look to Roommates to Help Make Ends Meet
Last year, Lori Gordon lost half her nest egg but gained a new friend about half her age... There’s no way to track how many of today’s new roommates were brought together by economic forces, said Marilyn Bruin, associate professor in the University of Minnesota’s housing studies program.
RIS Media
http://rismedia.com/2009-11-02/in-tough-economic-times
-more-homeowners-look-to-roommates-to-help-make-
ends-meet/
10,000 B.C.: Area woman hopes to preserve land for archeological research
A Carver County woman is hoping her land will be recognized as an important archeological site and that it will be preserved under the permanent protection of the Archeological Conservancy... Three weeks ago Emerson and Kent Bakken, an archeologist and teaching assistant at the University of Minnesota, reviewed an extensive collection of items — including points (arrowheads), scrapers, axes, drills, scrapers other stone tools — reportedly found on the property.
Chaska Herald
http://www.chaskaherald.com/news/history/10-000-b-
c-area-woman-hopes-preserve-land-archeological-
research-111
Middle school reaches out to Spanish speakers
Most studies on education agree that parental involvement is crucial to student achievement... Through the Blue Zones initiative, Leslie Lytle, a professor in the Department of Health at the University of Minnesota, worked closely with Mary Nelson, District 241 food service sirector.
Albert Lea Tribune
http://www.albertleatribune.com/news/2009/nov/
03/middle-school-reaches-out-spanish-speakers/
Cash-strapped colleges outsource their e-mail
It takes manpower and money to run an e-mail system, and colleges and universities have less of both these days... This week, the University of Minnesota joins thousands of schools — including Macalester College and Hamline University, both in St. Paul — in beginning to convert to Google.
Star Tribune
http://www.startribune.com/local/68822742.html
Low sex drive? Testosterone gel could help -- or not
Pharmaceutical companies promote testosterone gel as an elixir for old men with low energy or low sex drive — but researchers at the University of Minnesota will put those claims to the test.
Pioneer Press
http://www.twincities.com/ci_13698262?nclick_check=1
PolyMet paves the way on big Minnesota copper-nickel-pgm-gold projects
Recently Mineweb reported on progress being made by Duluth Metals, holder of perhaps the biggest position on the Duluth Complex, which is reckoned to host one of the world's largest undeveloped repositories of copper, nickel and PGMs, including the world's third largest accumulation of nickel sulphides, and one of the world's largest accumulations of polymetallic copper and platinum group metals... The University of Minnesota has independently estimated the total economic impact to be approximately $250 million a year.
Mineweb
http://www.mineweb.co.za/mineweb/view/
mineweb/en/page36?oid=91839&sn=Detail
Watch for ‘moldy corn,’ U of M Extension experts warn
The late harvest, wet weather and high moisture corn have contributed to reports of moldy corn across the state, and producers should pay careful attention before handling, storing or feeding the crop to livestock, University of Minnesota Extension experts warn... “If the corn is not harvested and dried properly, various fungi may continue to grow,” said Extension plant pathologist Dean Malvick.
Morris Sun Tribune
http://www.morrissuntribune.com/event/article/id/19527/
ARPA-E – are its energy projects crazy or revolutionary?
Last week, the US Department of Energy announced a series of new energy-efficiency projects that could, according to the press release, “fundamentally change the way we use and produce energy.”... For example, a University of Minnesota project uses two symbiotic organisms to create gasoline directly from sunlight and CO2.
Christian Science Monitor - Bright Green Blog
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2009/11/02
/arpa-e-%E2%80%93-are-its-energy-projects-crazy-or
-revolutionary/
The Clean Energy Scam
As a full-time resident of the Midwest (Iowa-born, Illinois-resident), the section of the United States that stands to benefit most from the newfound emphasis on ethanol and the development of biofuels, the April issue of Time magazine, with an article (pp. 40-45) by Michael Grunwald entitled “The Clean Energy Scam” caught my attention... In 2004, two University of Minnesota researchers predicted that the world's hungry would drop to 625 million by the year 2025.
Media Channel
http://mediachannel.org/stockinvestmentsonline
/2009/11/02/john-alexander-scam/
Is there a link between city walkability and air pollution exposure?
A new study compares neighborhoods' walkability (degree of ease for walking) with local levels of air pollution and finds that some neighborhoods might be good for walking, but have poor air quality... Researchers involved in the study include University of Minnesota faculty member Julian Marshall and University of British Columbia faculty Michael Brauer and Lawrence Frank.
Science Codex
http://www.sciencecodex.com/researchers_discover
_links_between_city_walkability_and_air_pollution_
exposure
Swine flu shot is not something to joke about
Last week, a sheet detailing some of the “risks” related to the swine flu vaccine was passed around in a class of mine... “We are going to be overwhelmed with potential events,” said Mike Osterholm, a public health expert at the University of Minnesota.
Hofstra Chronicle
http://www.hofstrachronicle.com/editorial-op-ed/
swine-flu-shot-is-not-something-to-joke-about-1.856400
Government Appoints Task Force To Handle H1N1 Vaccine Propaganda
The U.S. government has appointed what the media is ludicrously billing as an “independent” group of health advisors whose job it will be to whitewash adverse reactions to the swine flu vaccine and “explain” them to the public as mere coincidence... “We are going to be overwhelmed with potential events,” said Mike Osterholm, a public health expert at the University of Minnesota.
Prison Planet
http://www.prisonplanet.com/government-appoints-
task-force-to-handle-h1n1-vaccine-propaganda.html
University of Minnesota Supercomputing Institute to hold Open House on Wednesday, Nov. 4
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_146281.html
Henning Schroeder named new University of Minnesota vice provost and dean of graduate education
http://www1.umn.edu/news/news-releases/2009/UR_CONTENT_145902.html