Dmitri Talapin, associate professor in chemistry, was one of 10 young scientists from around the world who delivered a message that “Scientific Research is a Global Necessity” to political, scientific and business leaders participating in the 2011 Science and Technology in Society forum last October in Kyoto, Japan.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — To help keep the symptoms of muscular dystrophy at bay, doctors say patients should maintain a positive attitude and be as active as possible; complete inactivity can make the disease worse. Lucky for Mo Gerhardt, negativity and inactivity aren’t in his vocabulary.
Gerhardt, who exudes positive energy, is an academic adviser at Michigan State University, color commentator for the MSU women’s basketball team, motivational speaker, a multiple medal winner in international powerhockey (electric wheelchair hockey) and author of the new book, “Perspective from an Electric Chair.” (more…)
*University-Vikings partnership helps children lead healthier lives*
Even if you’re not a football fan, you’ve probably noticed the Minnesota Vikings in the news a lot, whether it’s in regard to the 2011 season or their push for a new stadium.
What often goes unnoticed is the team’s record of community engagement and financial benevolence. Over the years the Vikings have given millions to the local community.(more…)
ANN ARBOR, Mich.— Among the more important findings from this year’s Monitoring the Future survey of U.S. secondary school students are the following:
Marijuana use among teens rose in 2011 for the fourth straight year—a sharp contrast to the considerable decline that had occurred in the preceding decade. Daily marijuana use is now at a 30-year peak level among high school seniors.
“Synthetic marijuana,” which until earlier this year was legally sold and goes by such names as “K2” and “spice,” was added to the study’s coverage in 2011; one in every nine high school seniors (11.4%) reported using that drug in the prior 12 months.
Alcohol use—and, importantly, occasions of heavy drinking—continued a long-term gradual decline among teens, reaching historically low levels in 2011.
Energy drinks are being consumed by about one third of teens, with use highest among younger teens. (more…)
Arizona State Museum zooarchaeologist Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman and her students are analyzing the remains of an early American president’s dining table.
Arizona State Museum archaeologists are looking through historic table scraps in an effort to find out more about the kitchen of America’s fourth president and author of the U.S. Constitution.
For about a decade, Barnet Pavao-Zuckerman and her students from the University of Arizona have been part of ongoing excavations at Montpelier, the home of James and Dolley Madison. The archaeology of Montpelier’s grounds offer some light on what day-to-day life was like from the pre-Revolutionary War era to well into the 18th century. (more…)
*A new study of health insurance in nine Chinese provinces shows that individual coverage surged within a two-year time frame, from 2004-2006, coinciding with new government interventions designed to improve access to health care. The changes were most dramatic in rural areas.*
PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Health care coverage increased dramatically in parts of China between 1997 and 2006, a period when government interventions were implemented to improve access to health care, with particularly striking upswings in rural areas, according to new research by Brown University sociologist Susan E. Short and Hongwei Xu of the University of Michigan. The findings appear in the December issue of Health Affairs.
Led by Xu, a former Brown graduate student, the study analyzed data from the China Health and Nutrition Survey, which follows households in nine provinces that are home to more than 40 percent of China’s population. Xu and Short specifically focused on patterns of coverage among rural and urban residents. (more…)
COLLEGE PARK, Md. – Over the past decade, attacks and plots by homegrown terrorists in the United States have increased, the work of extremists from across the political spectrum – roughly 40 percent of it by so-called ‘lone wolf,’ non-aligned actors – says an analysis by the National Consortium for the Study of Terrorism and Responses to Terrorism (START) based at the University of Maryland.
EAST LANSING, Mich. — Racial minorities pay systemically more for basic water and sewer services than white people, according to a study by Michigan State University researchers.
This “structural inequality” is not necessarily a product of racism, argues sociologist Stephen Gasteyer, but rather the result of whites fleeing urban areas and leaving minority residents to bear the costs of maintaining aging water and sewer infrastructure. (more…)
