National Coverage
Getting Your Microbes Analyzed Raises Big Privacy Issues
Minnesota Public Radio (NPR affiliate; on today’s “Morning Edition”)
…Organizers of the American Gut Project are recruiting thousands of people to donate their microbes to science — along with lots of personal information — to help researchers learn more about the trillions of microbes that inhabit the human body. …And there's another angle that's really tricky, according to Eric Juengst, a bioethicist at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. What if someone ends up profiting from research involving invivdual' microbes? Should they get a cut?
U.S. girls keep hitting puberty earlier
The Chicago Tribune (via Reuters Health)
Girls are developing breasts at younger and younger ages, a new study confirms. And upward trends in childhood obesity seem to be playing a major role. The data come from a long-term study of more than 1,200 girls in and around San Francisco, Cincinnati and New York City. Where girls live, meat and dairy in their diets and family stress have also been tied to earlier development, Marcia Herman-Giddens wrote in a commentary on the report. She studies maternal and child health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Skills Practice | Writing Effective Openings
The New York Times (blog – The Learning Network)
… Below are suggestions that may help you decide what and how to write. Complete them all, or just choose the ones that are most helpful for you. Before You Do the Task, You Might …
Learn More About Effective Openings: Read this handout from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s Writing Center that explains in detail the process for writing an effective introduction. https://writingcenter.unc.edu/files/2012/09/Introductions-The-Writing-Center.pdf
Sick student awaits life-saving bone marrow donation
USA TODAY
Sheldon Mba …was diagnosed with paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH), an extremely rare blood disorder that breaks down red blood cells. …The only permanent solution to Mba's sicknesses is a bone marrow transplant… Due to a severe lack of minority donors within the registry, African-Americans only have a 66% chance of finding a match, as compared to Caucasian's 93% success rate, according to Be The Match. Now, Mba is a "sitting duck" desperately awaiting his life-saving "perfect match" to join the registry, says [his physician Philip] Roehrs, a pediatric hematologist oncologist at UNC Health Care.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/11/03/sheldon-mba-bone-marrow/3397507/
State & Local Coverage
Hearst TV CEO, ABC News president to headline colloquium
The Herald-Sun (Durham)
Hearst Television chairman and CEO David Barrett and ABC News president Ben Sherwood will headline the Wade H. Hargrove Communications Law and Policy Colloquium Monday at 5:30 p.m. at the George Watts Hill Alumni Center on the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill campus. The event is free and open to the public. Barrett and Sherwood will discuss “The Future of Television News.”
Issues & Trends
Despite cuts and hikes, North Carolina colleges still a bargain
The Triad Business Journal
Schools in the North Carolina university system have been hit by some of the highest tuition hikes in the nation, but the schools remain a relative bargain compared to the rest of the U.S. According to data released last week by the College Board, North Carolina’s public universities are the 10th-least expensive in the nation, with annual in-state tuition and fees of $6,514.
Robert M. Fearn: An education tradition in NC
The News & Observer (Raleigh; op-ed)
The recent concern with educational quality and finance reminded me of a conversation I had about 50 years ago with a mentor at the University of Chicago, Nobel Laureate Theodore W. Schultz. … We agreed that, historically, North Carolina had placed more emphasis on learning and education than Virginia and South Carolina. … Respect for learning and education is a long tradition in North Carolina. May it ever be so! Robert M. Fearn is an emeritus economics professor at N.C. State University.
50,000 Strong to Change Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed
Can 50 face-to-face courses, one massive open online course and more than 50,000 students working together change higher education? That’s what Duke University professor Cathy N. Davidson hopes, even as she embraces the technological issues of guiding an effort the size of a small city.
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Produced by News Services, Carolina in the News is a sampling of current news media coverage about Carolina people and programs, as well as issues and trends that affect the university. Stories usually will be online and available free for a limited time – often one to two weeks. Expiration dates before stories move to archives vary by media outlet. Some outlets require free user registration or a subscription.
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