Duke in the News: Jan. 27, 2003

DUKE CENTER JUGGLES PRESERVATION, SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF LEMURS Charlotte Observer, Jan. 26 -- Tree-dwelling creatures with imploring gazes, the Duke University Primate Center's lemurs and lorises are cute and endangered. They're also invaluable sources of information, living specimens of animals that hopped, skipped and scampered across the Earth 60 million years ago. Therein lies the tension. Full story

SAVING SCIENCE FUNDS DURING HARD TIMES (Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 27 -- Q&A with Nan Nixon, assistant vice president for federal relations at Duke, about the prospects for higher education funding in the next year. ...Full story

TROOPS START TREND WITH SPERM BANKS USA Today, Jan. 27 -- A recent study by Duke University says that some rats exposed simultaneously to three chemicals used in the Persian Gulf became sterile. The study is being cited as dozens of soldiers bank their sperm before shipping out to the Mideast. ...Full story --Also, Los Angeles Times: Troops Take a Personal Precaution Full story

RADIOACTIVE DUMP ON WILDLIFE REFUGE RAISES LIABILITY CONCERNS New York Times, Jan. 27 -- John F. Ahearne, former chairman of the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission and now a lecturer in risk and regulation at Duke University, says it is difficult to assess whether the development of nuclear weapons was worth long-term environmental contamination of islands southwest of Hawaii. (Free registration required to access article.) ...Full story

EDUCATOR DECRIES FOREIGN LANGUAGE GAP (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun, Jan. 26 -- As the United States prosecutes a war on terrorism in Afghanistan, many Americans can barely find the country on a map. It's a shameful fact, the president of the American Council on Education told a crowd of about 300 college professors and specialists in international education in Durham this weekend. ...Full story

NICOTINE-REDUCED CIGARETTES MARKETED Boston Globe, Jan. 27 -- The first tobacco CEO to admit smoking is addictive is offering a new cigarette made with genetically modified tobacco that lets smokers choose their level of nicotine. Vector Tobacco Inc. is also funding research at Duke University on how Quest affects smokers' nicotine intake and urge to smoke. ... Full story

STUDENTS 'DUKE IT OUT' WITH CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKER Fox News, Jan. 27 -- A student group is accusing Duke University of rolling out the red carpet to a "terrorist." ...Full story --Also, Duke News: Speaker Invitation Launches Campus Debate Full story

CELEBRATING ANOTHER YEAR (Myrtle Beach) Sun-News, Jan. 27 -- Duke University's oldest graduate was still solving The New York Times crossword puzzle daily when she was nearly 95. Today, at 111, Ruby Markham Drakeford still opens and reads her mail, reads newspapers' headlines nearly every day and remains independent. ... Full story --Also, (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun: At Age 111, She Relishes Dessert, Smells the Flowers Full story

OP-ED: CHEAP SAND, EXPENSIVE EROSION (Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 24 -- "It is clear that the state cannot rely on the Corps of Engineers to do the right thing along the North Carolina coast," in the view of Orrin Pilkey, James B. Duke professor of geology, emeritus, at Duke, and Andrew Coburn, coastal research associate in the Program for the Study of Developed Shorelines at the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke. ... Full story

DEEP THINKERS MISSING IN ACTION Christian Science Monitor, Jan. 21 - Even at elite campuses, some students and faculty fret over anti-intellectualism. At the center of a continuing discussion is an article by Duke University's Prof. Stuart Rojstaczer titled, "When Intellectual Life is Optional for Students." ...Full story

DUKE STUDYING EFFECTS OF MEDITATION ON HEALTH Charlotte Observer, Jan. 27 -- Researchers at Duke University Medical Center are studying whether practicing meditation and relaxation techniques can lower blood pressure by reducing the effects of stress, according to James Lane, associate research professor of medical psychology in the department of psychiatry and behavioral medicine. ... Full story

LETTER: STATE HEALTH PLAN, NOT DUKE, ENDED CONTRACT (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun, Jan. 27 -- Kenneth Morris, vice president and chief financial officer of Duke University Health System, comments on the 'unilateral action' of the State Employee Health Plan in terminating its contract with Duke. ... Letter