Category Archives: Culture

Divorced Couples’ Co-Parenting Relationships Can Improve, MU Researcher Says

By Guest PostAugust 19, 2012Culturechildren, communicating issues, conflict, divorced couple, divorced mother, ex spouse, family studies, hostile relationship, human development, kansas state university, marilyn coleman, marriage, mindy markham, the bad, the good, the ugly, university of missouri

Focusing on children instead of relationship problems helps separated couples parent effectively, civilly

COLUMBIA, Mo. – New research conducted at the University of Missouri offers hope for divorced parents and suggests hostile relationships can improve when ex-spouses set aside their differences and focus on their children’s needs.

“Most people falsely believe that, when people get divorced, they’ll continue to fight, to be hostile,” said Marilyn Coleman, Curators’ Professor of Human Development and Family Studies at MU. “We found in our study that’s not always true. Some couples get along from the very beginning, and, for about half of the women we interviewed, the couples whose relationships started badly improved over time.” (more…)

Climate and Drought Lessons from Ancient Egypt

By Guest PostAugust 16, 2012Culture, Environment, Scienceachilles heel, ancient egypt, babylonian, benjamin horton, charcoal, christopher bernhardt, climate, climate change, drought, egypt, egyptian history, evolution of societies, geological record, giza, great pyramid, human history, jean daniel stanley, marcia mcnutt, microscopic charcoal, middle east, modern iraq, nile basin vegetation, nile delta, nile delta sediment, old kingdom, pollen, pyramid building time, spinx, syrian kingdom, ugarit kingdom, university of pennsylvania, uruk kingdom

Using Fossil Pollen to Augment Historical Records

Ancient pollen and charcoal preserved in deeply buried sediments in Egypt’s Nile Delta document the region’s ancient droughts and fires, including a huge drought 4,200 years ago associated with the demise of Egypt’s Old Kingdom, the era known as the pyramid-building time.

“Humans have a long history of having to deal with climate change,” said Christopher Bernhardt, a researcher with the U.S. Geological Survey. “Along with other research, this study geologically reveals that the evolution of societies is sometimes tied to climate variability at all scales – whether decadal or millennial.” (more…)

New Book Explores Noah’s Flood; Says Bible and Science Can Get Along

By Guest PostAugust 14, 2012Culture, Sciencebiblical book, catastrophic deluge, christians, creationism, dam in montana, david montgomery, eastern washington, false dichotomy, galileo galilei, genesis, geological evidence, geological processes, geologist, geomorphologist, glacial lake, global flood, grand canyon, landscape, mesopotamia, mesopotamian stories, missoula, mountaintop, native american, nicolas steno, noah, noahs flood, pacific ocean, regional flood, religious belief, rocks dont lie, roman catholic, scientific reason, st augustine, tibetan plateau, topography, tsangpo river

“I doubt the historic truth about Noah’s Flood will ever be known with certainty. And I don’t think it really matters. The discoveries of science have revealed the world and our universe to be far more spectacular than could have been imagined by Mesopotamian minds. To still see the world through their eyes is to minimize the wonder of creation.”

David Montgomery, “The Rocks Don’t Lie”

David Montgomery is a geomorphologist, a geologist who studies changes to topography over time and how geological processes shape landscapes. He has seen firsthand evidence of how the forces that have shaped Earth run counter to some significant religious beliefs.

But the idea that scientific reason and religious faith are somehow at odds with each other, he said, “is, in my view, a false dichotomy.” (more…)

For Young Adults, Appearance Matters More than Health, MU Research Suggests

By Guest PostAugust 13, 2012Culture, General, Healthappearance, carlia francis, college age, food environment, good nutrition, healthful choice, interactive play, maría len rios, mizzou advantage, nutrition 101, professor of theater, self image, societal message, suzanne burgoyne, unattainable figure, university of missouri, young adults

Research inspires interactive theater, opens dialogue

COLUMBIA, Mo. –When it comes to college-age individuals taking care of their bodies, appearance is more important than health, research conducted at the University of Missouri suggests. María Len-Ríos, an associate professor of strategic communication, Suzanne Burgoyne, a professor of theater, and a team of undergraduate researchers studied how college-age women view their bodies and how they feel about media messages aimed at women. Based on focus group research findings, the MU team developed an interactive play about body image to encourage frank discussions about conflicting societal messages regarding weight, values and healthful choices.

“During our focus group conversations, we learned that young people don’t think about nutrition when it comes to eating,” Len-Ríos said. “They think more about calorie-counting, which isn’t necessarily related to a balanced diet.” (more…)

Urban Poor Plagued By ‘Burdens of Place’

By Guest PostAugust 11, 2012Culture, Economy, Generalamerica, bmi, body mass index, burdens of place, digital mapping, igor vojnovic, journal, lansing, michigan state university, obesity tax, resident behavior, socioeconomic data, supermarket chains, united states, urban design, urban neighborhood, urban poor

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Most of America’s urban cores were designed for walking but offer little in the way of supermarkets, healthy restaurants and other amenities for residents to walk to, according to a study led by a Michigan State University scholar.

The study is one of the first to show that poor residents living in declining urban neighborhoods want healthy food choices – evidenced by their willingness to travel long distances to find them. Past research has generally assumed that poor people will shop at whatever store is closest. (more…)

Press Freedom Leads to Happiness, Environmental Quality, MU Study Finds

By Guest PostAugust 9, 2012Culture, Media, Politicsbruno takahashi, democracy, Economy, edson tandoc, environmental degradation, environmental quality, freedom, government, happy, information, life satisfaction, predict, press, united nations, university of missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Freedom of the press is viewed by many as a cornerstone of democracy. But can it actually help improve people’s lives and make them happy? Researchers at the University of Missouri have found that citizens of countries with press freedom tend to be much happier than citizens of countries without free presses. Edson Tandoc, Jr., a doctoral student in the MU School of Journalism, says that press freedom directly predicts life satisfaction across the world.

“We already know that having reliable, objective news sources can benefit democracy, but in this study, we found that press freedom also benefits communities by helping improve the overall quality of life of citizens and, in the process, by also making them happier,” Tandoc said. “People enjoy having an element of choice about where they get their news. Citizens of countries without a free press are forced to rely on the government for information, when what people really want is diversity in content where they are free to get the information they want from the source of their choosing.” (more…)

‘Documents that Changed the World’: A podcast series from Joe Janes

By Guest PostAugust 5, 2012Culture, Media, Politicsaids quilt, andrew brink, Barack Obama, bayeux tapestry, bill of rights, birth certificate, british broadcasting corp, change, credit card, declaration of independence, documents, elastic, france, history, joe janes, john snow, magna carta, mickey mouse, mystery of cholera, phrase, physician, podcast, president, steamboat willie, storytelling, the jazz singer, unabomber manifesto, university of washington, websters dictionary, world

The phrase occurred to Joe Janes out of the blue one day and immediately appealed to him. From there, ideas began to flow quickly.

Janes, associate professor in the University of Washington Information School, had been a fan of the British Broadcasting Corp. radio series “A History of the World in 100 Objects” and thought those shows effectively blended history and storytelling.

He got to wondering, what if he took a similar approach to information, telling about the twists and turns of history — through documents? (more…)

New Book Explores Fears About Muslims in The West

By Guest PostAugust 4, 2012Culture, General, Media911 era, anti catholicism, anti semitism, burqas, crusades, Europe, ground zero, irrational suspicion, jehovah witnesses, jews, liquor store, martha nussbaum, mormons, mosque, muslim headscarves, muslim terrorism, muslims, native americans, nazism, new york city, religious prejudice, religious tolerance, roman catholics, strip clubs, switzerland, terrorism, united states, wars of religion, western societies

Fears of terrorism in Europe and the United States have deteriorated into an irrational suspicion of Muslims, which will continue until the West turns its critical eye inward, argues University of Chicago professor Martha Nussbaum in her new book, The New Religious Intolerance: Overcoming the Politics of Fear in an Anxious Age.

While fear is an important natural emotion, its self-centered nature makes it susceptible to irrational distortions that are harmful to others, writes Nussbaum, the Ernst Freund Distinguished Service Professor of Law and Ethics in the Law School and Philosophy. (more…)