Author Archives: Guest Post

Take Fear Head on, Actor Tom Hanks Tells Yale Seniors

How Yale’s newest graduates make their imprint on the world and on history will be determined by how well they handle fear and inspire faith, Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks told the seniors in his Class Day address on May 22.

In the ceremony on the Old Campus, Hanks urged the soon-to-be graduates to begin their future by coming to the aid of the U.S. veterans of the Iran and Afghan wars, whose “faith in themselves is shadowed by the fear of not knowing what is expected of them next,” he said. (more…)

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Virtual Workout Partners Spur Better Results

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Can’t find anyone to exercise with? Don’t despair: New research from Michigan State University reveals working out with a virtual partner improves motivation during exercise.

The study led by Deborah Feltz, chairperson of MSU’s Department of Kinesiology, is the first to investigate the Kohler effect on motivation in health video games; that phenomenon explains why inferior team members perform better in a group than they would by themselves. (more…)

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Why Russians Think Americans Don’t Own Their Homes

*UA sociologist Jane Zavisca says the two countries are polar opposites when it comes to mortgage financing.*

When the Soviet Union disintegrated in 1991, one of the structural problems the new government and free-market economy had to deal with was housing. Most Russians lived in government-owned apartments that had been built beginning in the late 1950s. The question then became, who owned all of that Soviet-era housing?

In her new book, “Housing the New Russia,” due to be published by Cornell University Press, Jane Zavisca said the new Russian government dealt with it by announcing that this huge stock of apartments was, as of 1992, privately owned. (more…)

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Women, Minority Writers Still Face Obstacles in Hollywood

A new report prepared by a UCLA sociology professor for the Writers Guild of America–West reveals that diverse writers continue to face significant obstacles to employment in Hollywood, particularly in light of the recession.

Darnell Hunt, who is also director of UCLA’s Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, writes that “the current recession has clearly done little to help women, minority and older writers move ahead in the Hollywood industry, relative to their male, white and younger counterparts.” (more…)

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After Japan Nuclear Power Plant Disaster: How Much Radioactivity in the Oceans?

National Science Foundation awards rapid-response grants to establish ocean radionuclide levels from Fukushima

Among the casualties of the March 11, 2011, earthquake and resulting tsunami in Japan was the country’s Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (more…)

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Kartchner Caverns: A Living Microbe Laboratory

In the first extensive genetic survey of microbes living in Kartchner Caverns, UA doctoral candidate Marian Ortiz has shown that some of the cave-dwelling microbes may have anti-microbial and anti-fungal properties

In a hole in the ground, there lives a microbe. Actually, there live several microbes. What are they and how do they survive in conditions practically devoid of resources or other forms of life? (more…)

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