Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:
National Coverage
With exposure to babies, rodent dads’ brains, like moms’, become wired for nurture
The Washington Post
…Sue Carter, a behavioral neurobiologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, has spent her career studying prairie voles: “Sometimes they midwife the birth. They grab the baby and start licking it before it’s even out of the membrane it’s born in.” Carter’s studies, like Lambert’s, have found that virgin male prairie voles, when exposed to pups, experience a surge of the hormones oxytocin and vasopressin, the so-called “love” hormones that encourage social bonding, much as mothers do.
Why Partisans Can't Kick The Hypocrisy Habit (Blog)
National Public Radio
American politics has become like a big square dance. When the music stops after an election, people switch to the other side on a number of issues, depending on whether their party remains in power. …"Democrats support [military] interventions where Democratic presidents lead them," says James Stimson, a political scientist at the University of North Carolina. "Republicans support them when Republican presidents lead."
Peer Pressure for Teens Paves the Path to Adulthood
The Wall Street Journal
…In terms of who is most resistant to peer pressure, researchers have identified some characteristics of kids who are resilient against peer influence, such as those who are more popular, have families with low dysfunction and have high communication skills. But they still don't know why these kids are less susceptible, according to Mitchell Prinstein, a psychology professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who studies popularity and peer influence.
As States Limit Abortion, Future Doctors Fight for Training
The Chronicle of Higher Education
…The teaching of abortion is, of course, fraught with controversy. Many medical schools, with active Christian Medical & Dental Associations and other antiabortion groups, are careful about "not offending people," said Michelle Brown, a student at the University of North Carolina's School of Medicine, at the activism meeting.
Users Do A Lot For Facebook Likes
NBC.com
…Zeynep Tufekci, a professor of sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, called it the "amplification of the potential audience" that seems to have changed the game of photo posting, according to the New York Times. “The fact that the world is going to see you increases the risks you are willing to take,” she said. “We see this all the time on social media in protests, and the same is true for graffiti. It’s performative.”
U.S. News Releases NCTQ Teacher Prep Ratings
U.S. News & World Report
Teaching was once dubbed "the profession that eats its young" and many educators liken their first few years in the classroom to a hazing ritual. The result is an industry that hemorrhages new teachers nearly as fast as it can license them. …Clayton State University in Georgia, Kean University in New Jersey, the University of California—San Diego, University of North Carolina—Chapel Hill and the Peabody College of Education at Vanderbilt University in Tennessee all earned 3.5 stars for graduate programs designed to train future high school teachers.
Keeping Up With Medical Knowledge (Letter to the Editor)
The New York Times
I use textbooks to keep informed about the latest treatment methods in medicine and nursing. Most textbooks today are edited with authors selected for knowledge, experience and ability to synthesize periodical literature into disease and treatment descriptions used in health science schools to teach initiates. (Edward J. Halloran, Chapel Hill, N.C. The writer, a registered nurse, teaches nursing at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill.)
‘Back To Sleep’ Dividends (Letter to the Editor)
The New York Times
Re: “ ‘Tummy Time’ Benefit Unclear” (In Brief, June 11): We were disappointed by this article’s online headline, “ ‘Tummy Time’ May Not Be Needed.” The study under review aimed to determine if the “Back to Sleep” campaign was associated with delays in the age at which infants roll over. (Heather Wasser, Margaret Bentley, Eliana Perrin, M.D., Barbara Goldman, Eric Hodges, and Amanda Thompson, Chapel Hill, N.C. The writers are affiliated with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.)
Segregated Education in Desegregated Schools: Why We Should
Eliminate "Tracking" With "Gifted and Talented" for All
The Huffington Post
…Project Bright Idea, created by state educators in collaboration with experts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Duke University, sought to test whether raising expectations could enhance student performance regardless of race or socioeconomic background. The program, which operated from 2004-2009 in 11 North Carolina school districts, enrolled 5,000 kindergarteners and first and second graders from disproportionately low-income communities.
Surfing Snake Invasion Feared with New Canal
Discovery News
…Those sharks would probably not suffer from the construction of a canal, according to Frank Schwartz, a marine zoologist at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill who has more than 50 years experience studying sharks. The bull sharks may not suffer, but sea snakes entering the lake could be a more serious threat, noted Schwartz. The snake could enter the lake in ocean water brought in through locks and dams built to bridge the elevation differences across the Nicaraguan countryside.
Regional Coverage
‘I don’t want to be only person cured of HIV’
The Seattle Times (Washington)
Early reports identified him only as “the Berlin patient.” But Timothy Ray Brown, the first person cured of HIV, was born and raised in Seattle. …In a sign of the growing optimism about a cure, two other labs also received major NIH grants at the same time as the Hutch. Scientists at the University of California, San Francisco, are working to rev up patients’ immune systems to fight the virus. At the University of North Carolina, the focus is on drugs that will roust out hidden pockets of infection.
State and Local Coverage
UNC to conduct emergency drill
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
UNC will conduct an emergency drill Wednesday between 7 a.m., and 2 p.m., at Davis Library. Actors will portray gunmen, hostages and victims to simulate the university’s response to an actual emergency on campus. Police officers will be stationed around the perimeter of the emergency drill area. Emergency vehicles and personnel will be visible in and around the library area, and uniformed responders will react as they would in an actual emergency.
UNC Campus Update:
http://www.unc.edu/campus-updates/emergency-drill-june-19/
UNC's athletic director mulling upgrades to Smith Center, Fetzer Field
The Associated Press
Athletic director Bubba Cunningham saw North Carolina win a pair of NCAA championships this season and earn recognition as the nation's best women's athletic program. Now he's looking ahead to facility upgrades that could include changes to the home of the Tar Heels' men's basketball team. As Cunningham wraps up his first start-to-finish season with UNC, the Tar Heels are poised for another top-10 finish in the Director's Cup standings – presented to the nation's top overall athletic program – and be the top finisher in the Atlantic Coast Conference.
84 more arrested on ‘Moral Monday’ as protesters decry ‘outsiders’ label
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Researchers from UNC-Chapel Hill fanned out among the throngs of demonstrators outside the North Carolina statehouse Monday in search of demographic information. …Fred Stutzman, one of the eight UNC-CH data collectors, did a sampling of the crowd asking 316 people their ZIP codes, race and age. Their findings showed that five of the respondents were from out-of-state and 311 were from North Carolina, overwhelmingly from the Triangle area but also from such metropolitan regions as Wilmington, Greensboro, Winston-Salem, Asheville and Charlotte.
Related Link:
http://projects.newsobserver.com/node/27808
Issues and Trends
Chapel Hill Council delays cell phone ban, keeps towing rules
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
…Kurt Ribisl, a UNC professor of public health, was one of three people who urged the council to let the cell phone rules go into effect. Ribisl said the dangers of cell phone use while driving hit home for the school’s faculty and students when a female student lost both parents in a cell phone-related traffic accident. “I think we’re setting the norm. I think you’re going to see communities across the nation setting policies like this,” he said.
Treat campus sexual assaults as crimes (Editorial)
The Charlotte Observer
Last Friday, University of North Carolina System President Tom Ross announced a campus security initiative to ensure sexual assault cases are properly investigated and prosecuted, and more broadly that serious campus crimes get the attention they deserve.