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U.S. Citizenship May Be Determined At Random

By Guest PostMarch 12, 2012Politicsact, americans, civics knowledge, data, fate, immigrant, immigration officer, immigration services, michigan state university, naturalization, noncitizenship, paula winke, sat, test, united states, us citizenship, uscis

EAST LANSING, Mich. — The fate of nearly half a million immigrants hoping for U.S. citizenship may have been determined randomly, at least in part, according to a new study by a Michigan State University researcher who found the high-stakes civics test isn’t a reliable measure of civics knowledge.

To be awarded citizenship, immigrants must correctly answer six of 10 questions on the verbally administered civics portion of the U.S. Naturalization Test, said Paula Winke, assistant professor of second language studies. (more…)

One Year after Triple Disasters, Japan Continues to Struggle

By Guest PostMarch 3, 2012Environment, Generalbureaucratic red tape, catastrophe, coastal city, coastal communities, earthquake, ethan segal, evacuation zone, fukushima nuclear power plant, haiti, hurricane katrina, Japan, japanese government, japanese history, katsurao, michigan state university, nuclear meltdown, rikuzen takata, tepco, tokyo electric power, triple disasters, tsunami

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A year after Japan was struck by triple disasters – earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown – many citizens cannot find regular work and face the possibility of never returning to their homes and seeing their communities disappear, according to a Michigan State University scholar.

Ethan Segal, associate professor of Japanese history, made two trips to Japan following the March 11, 2011, catastrophe, spending close to two weeks in the northeastern part of the country that was most directly affected. (more…)

Book Sheds New Light on U.S. Presidents and Race

By Guest PostFebruary 24, 2012Culture, Politicsamerican presidents, Barack Obama, black america, black poet, central michigan university, department of agriculture, documentary history, eric freedman, first black president, george washington, jeremiah wright, michigan state university, phillis wheatley, presidents, pulitzer prize, shirley sherrod, stephen jones, thomas jefferson, united states

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A new book co-authored by Michigan State University associate journalism professor Eric Freedman uses rarely seen documents, letters and other written material to shed new light on how American presidents have dealt with issues related to blacks.

Titled “Presidents and Black America: A Documentary History,” the book is designed for everyone from advanced scholars to casual readers of history. (more…)

Making The Bones Speak

By Guest PostFebruary 21, 2012Scienceafrican skeleton, african sun, albania, ancient egypt, andrea clowes, angela soler, anthropologist, bones, british museum, carolyn hurst, cate bird, derek welsby, dietary habits, excavation, forensic scientist, fourth cataract, giltner hall, kailey shelton, lindsey jenny, margaret zywicki, merowe dam, michigan state university, middle ages, mis island, nile river, nubian bones, nubian remains, nubians, sex, skeletal collection, sudan, todd fenton, tracey tichnell, trauma, unexplored culture, yellow scorpion

EAST LANSING, Mich. — In a narrow, modest laboratory in Michigan State University’s Giltner Hall, students pore over African skeletons from the Middle Ages in an effort to make the bones speak.

Little is known about these Nubians, meaning the information collected by graduate and undergraduate students in MSU’s Forensic Anthropology and Bioarchaeology Program will help shed light on this unexplored culture. (more…)

Studying The Evolution of Life’s Building Blocks

By Guest PostFebruary 20, 2012Sciencealbert szent gyorgyi, ancient life, bacterium, basic module, beginning of life, beginning of time, british columbia, building block, chemical building block, chemical reactions, evolution, evolution of life, geneticists, michigan state university, molecular complementarity, molecular paleontology, origin of life, paleontologists, physiologist, robert root bernstein, species, vancouver, vitamin c

VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Studying the origin of life at its building blocks offers a unique perspective on evolution, says a researcher at Michigan State University.

Robert Root-Bernstein, MSU physiology professor, will answer the question of why a physiologist studies the origin of life at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science Feb. 16-20 in Vancouver, British Columbia. (more…)

Ethanol Mandate Not the Best Option

By Guest PostFebruary 14, 2012Economy, Environmentamerican coalition, amount of pollution, consumers value, corn based fuel, crude oil, e85, environmental economics, ethanol, ethanol price, gasoline, government mandate, michigan state university, per gallon, price of gas, protect the environment, renewable fuel, soren anderson, taxed fuel, united states

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Many people are willing to pay a premium for ethanol, but not enough to justify the government mandate for the corn-based fuel, a Michigan State University economist argues.

Soren Anderson studied the demand for ethanol, or E85, in the United States. He found that when ethanol prices rose 10 cents per gallon, demand for ethanol fell only 12 percent to 16 percent on average. (more…)

U.S. Workers Are ‘Giving Away The Store,’ Costing Firms Billions

By Guest PostFebruary 11, 2012Economycable tv, clay voorhees, ethics, florida state university, free good, groundbreaking study, hamburger, illegal practice, insurance, michael brady, michael brusco, michigan state university, ramifications of sweethearting, recreation, retail, service employees, sports, sweethearting, tit for tat

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Nearly 70 percent of the nation’s service employees give away free goods and services – from hamburgers to cable TV – costing companies billions of dollars a year, according to a groundbreaking study.

Clay Voorhees, study co-author and marketing expert at Michigan State University, said one of the best ways to combat this illegal practice – called “sweethearting” – is through better screening of job candidates. (more…)

Moonlighting Enzyme Works Double Shift 24/7

By Guest PostFebruary 1, 2012Nature, Sciencearabidopsis, atp synthase, building block, chloroplast, david Kramer, energy, france, gamma, Germany, michigan state university, moonlighting enzyme, new function, nutrient, photosynthesis, plant enzyme, protein, root, root hair, subunit

EAST LANSING, Mich. — A team of researchers led by Michigan State University has discovered an overachieving plant enzyme that works both the day and night shifts.

The discovery, featured in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academies of Science, shows that plants evolved a new function for this enzyme by changing merely one of its protein building blocks. (more…)

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