News highlights for October 19, 2010

CisionPoint news monitoring provides this small sampling of the university's daily news coverage. Click headline to read full text via Cision or link directly to the online article where available. For questions or comments about this service, or to add or delete a name from the mailing list, please contact Gerry Everding.

Discovery News
Neanderthal children were large, sturdy
10/19/2010

Newly identified remains of a Neanderthal infant are the youngest ever found in northwest Europe. WUSTL physical anthropology professor Erik Trinkaus, a leading expert on Neanderthals, said the new study presents “well-reasoned and reasonable” conclusions. “We are limited in the numbers of fossils we have, and this is a welcome addition to help us get a better handle on the real variation that was there,” he said. Link to Article See also MSNBC

Discovery News

Cavemen ground flour, prepped veggies
10/18/2010

A new study suggests that human ancestors made bread and soups from cattail flour 30,000 years ago. Erik Trinkaus, a professor of physical anthropology at Washington University, told Discovery News that the people at that time, likely members of the Gravettian culture, were “very effective at exploiting lots of resources, making the oldest textiles, having elaborate burials and clothing, and producing a variety of forms of art.” Link to Article

Men’s Health
Best supplements for men
10/19/2010
Men’s Health pinpointed 17 life-enhancing supplements that help counter man’s most common health problems, including plant stenols for high cholesterol. Why they work: Chemical cousins of prescription statins, these plant-derived substances block cholesterol from being absorbed by your intestines, keeping it from ever reaching your arteries. Washington University researchers found that people who consumed 2 grams (g) of plant stanols daily for 6 weeks cut their LDL cholesterol by 10 percent. Link to Article

Big Think
Mapping the brain (The Human Connectome)
10/19/2010

A new project, dubbed ” The Human Connectome ,” will take five years and cost $30 million, will map out approximately 100 billion neurons and150 trillion synapses. One of the leaders of the project, Dr. David Van Essen, PhD, chief of the Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, Washington University, says the project “seems, at times, daunting and overwhelming but will provide us a critical baseline for understanding not only what typical brain connectivity is but what the nature of the variability in brain circuits are and how that relates to normal differences in behavior.” Link to Article

St. Louis Beacon

Water, water everywhere: WU freshman represented U.S. at Stockholm water meeting
10/19/2010

Rebecca Ye, a freshman at Washington University, already has a major scientific accomplishment under her belt. Ye represented the United States in the Stockholm International Water Institute’s Junior Water Prize Competition. “It was an amazing, inspiring experience,” said Ye, who is from Maine. “I was fortunate to be chosen for this once-in-a-lifetime event.” Link to Article


News in higher education

New York Times

Bank crisis shifts demand for MBAs
10/18/2010

Demand for graduates from business schools is rising this year, despite a hesitant global economic recovery, according to a survey of corporate recruiters published this month by the education and study abroad company Quacquarelli Symonds. Link to Article

Chicago Tribune

DKE fraternity chapter at Yale comes under fire after pledges chant obscenities
10/18/2010

A Yale fraternity whose pledges chanted obscenities last week as they marched on Yale’s campus has come under the scrutiny of its national board of directors. In a letter to the Yale community, Dean Mary Miller wrote, “I speak for the University in expressing my outrage that such words were shouted on this campus.” Link to Article

Christian Science Monitor

College tax credit to expire: What you need to know

10/18/2010

Every family with a kid in college gets up to a $2,500 tax credit for each year of college, through 2010. But the college tax credit will go back to 2008 levels unless Congress decides to extend it. President Obama has renewed his push for it, saying “I am calling on Congress to make this tax credit permanent so it’s worth up to $10,000 for four years of college – because we’ve got to make sure that in good times or bad, our families can invest in their children’s future and in the future of our country.” Link to Article

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The Chronicle of Higher Education
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