News highlights for January 28, 2010

Associated Press

Bristol Palin won’t appear on Mo. abstinence panel

01/28/2011

Washington University in St. Louis says Bristol Palin won’t be speaking there next month after all. The decision comes after some students expressed outrage over Palin being paid with student-generated funds. The daughter of former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin had been invited by the university’s Student Health Advisory Committee to be part of a panel discussion on abstinence on Feb. 7. The university issued a statement Thursday night saying the advisory committee and Palin decided “the message that they intended on sharing would be overshadowed by controversy.”
 Link to Article See also New York Daily News, TMZ, Huffington Post, Zeitgeisty Report, New York Post, Fox News, CBS News, Reuters, Boston Herald, Campus Progress, Slate, Pitch Weekly, Wonkette, Student Operated Press, The Hill, ABC News, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, St. Louis Beacon, Inside Higher Education.

USA Today
Retired NFL players misuse painkillers more than general population
01/28/2011

Retired NFL players use painkillers at a much higher rate than the rest of us, according to new research conducted by investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The researchers say the brutal collisions and bone-jarring injuries associated with football often cause long-term pain, which contributes to continued use and abuse of painkilling medications. “More than half used opioids during their NFL careers, and 71 percent had misused the drugs,” says principal investigator Linda B. Cottler, PhD, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at Washington University. Link to Article See also CBC News (Canada), ESPN, Agence France Presse, St. Louis Riverfront Times, Yahoo News, U.S. News & World Report, Dallas Morning News 

Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21789.aspx

PBS/NOVA

Making stuff smaller with David Pogue
01/26/2011

David Pogue takes NOVA viewers to an even smaller world in “Making Stuff: Smaller,” examining the latest in high-powered nano-circuits and micro-robots that may one day hold the key to saving lives. Pogue visits the Washington University labs of Sam Wickline to discuss nanotechnology research on a new technique that delivers cancer-fighting bee venom using swarms of tiny “nanobees.” The Wickline segment begins about 45 minutes into the hour-long program, which can be viewed online.

Link to online video
Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/14432.aspx

Interfaith Radio

A brief history of unholy speech
1/26/2011

Say “Oh my God” or even “Jesus Christ” in a moment of anger, and no one bats an eyelash. Not so in 16th century Europe. Taking God’s name in vain could get you stoned, burned or even branded with a “B” on your forehead. David Lawton, professor of English at Washington University in St. Louis and author of Blasphemy, tracks the long history of laws against irreligious speech, spanning Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Link to online audio

G.I. Jobs

OFFICER SUCCESS STORIES | Olin graduate is Director of Sales for Kensey Nash Corporation

01/27/2011

Jack Benecke, former artilleryman and West Point graduate, is featured as an officer success story. By 2000, he was out of the Army and studying finance, marketing and economics at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Benecke, 34, is now director of sales for Kensey Nash Corporation. Based in St. Louis, he leads a platoon of 30 sales representatives from across the country. Link to Article

Patently-O: Patent Law Blog

Patent Law Blog (Patently-O): Printed matter doctrine

01/28/2011

Kevin Collins, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, has written a new Patently-O Patent Law Journal essay discussing the August 2010 decision in King Pharmaceuticals, a case most notable for its extension of the printed matter doctrine from objects claims that recite written texts as limitations to method claims that recite speech acts as limitations. His essay addresses the necessary next step in the continuing refinement of the printed matter doctrine. 
Link to Article

KTVI-FOX2ow.com

Public gets update on Arch grounds redevelopment
01/26/2011

“The Arch — you don’t ever get tired of it,” says lead designer of new Arch grounds Michael Van Valkenburgh. “Every time I come to town I am in awe of the Arch. It’s just one of those things — it’s magic.” It will take an estimated 578 million dollars to fulfill Van Valkenburgh’s vision. Starting January 31st, the plan will be on display in the Arch lobby then move to the Missouri Botanical Gardens, then to the campus of S.I.U.E., on to the Missouri History Museum, then a final stop at Washington University. The target date for completion is October of 2015. Link to Article

St. Louis Magazine

People change – WUSTL chemist becomes ‘cheese-ologist”
01/28/2011

Bill Courtney mostly loved being a chemist, and there were many reasons he loved working at Washington University. But by summer 2009, after working his way to a management slot at the university’s Genome Center, he started to think about what would really make him happy. That quest, and an “unnatural obsession with macaroni and cheese,” led him to open the Cheese-ology restaurant in The Loop last summer. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Allowing states to enter bankruptcy conceals real problem

01/28/2011

Newt Gingrich, the Republican firebrand whose “Contract with America” shook up Washington in 1994, now wants to shake up cash-strapped states like Illinois and California by allowing them to go bankrupt. This cure, however, is worse than the disease. “What is troubling is that a state would not be seen as a reliable entity to do business with,” says Dan Keating, who teaches bankruptcy law at Washington University Law School. Link to Article

St. Louis Business Journal

40 UNDER 40 | Clifford Holekamp: Senior Lecturer, Olin Business School
01/28/2011

Nevermind the saying “those who can’t do, teach” — those who did well, teach well. That’s why professors at Washington University’s Olin School of Business brought Clifford Holekamp back to the classroom. Holekamp, a graduate of the Olin MBA program and now a senior lecturer at the business school, is profiled as one of the St. Louis Business Journal’s 2011 40 Under 40 winners. The 40 Under 40 class also includes bankers, builders, lawyers, human resource execs and even a cellist, all of whom will be honored at an awards dinner, Thursday, Feb. 17, at the Renaissance Grand Hotel downtown. Link to Article

St. Louis Beacon

Thirty-year evolution in printmaking
1/27/2011

Back in 1981, Roy Lichtenstein’s marriage of lithography and silkscreen in “Study of Hands” was considered cutting-edge. Building on such early experiments, innovation in printmaking has taken a quantum leap over the past 30 years. The evolution of printmaking from the ’80s through the present is the theme of “Island Press: Three Decades of Printmaking,” opening Friday, Jan. 28 at Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. Originally called the Washington University Collaborative Printmaking Workshop, Island Press was established in 1978 at WUSTL’s Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts. Link to Article

St. Louis Beacon

Sharing the gift of life: Kidney patients have more options
01/27/2011

From the moment it’s implanted, a new kidney often finds itself in a battle with the host’s body and that fight takes a toll. Dr. Surendra Shenoy, director of the Living Donor Transplant Program at Washington University, says that while dialysis is a substitute for the kidney’s normal ability to flush waste, it is anything but easy on the body. Over decades, it can even shorten the lifespan of a patient. “It’s just a replacement therapy,” he said. “It’s not a normal situation.” Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Full contact on ice

01/28/2011

Playing hockey is not for milksops. “It’s sort of like full-contact baseball, but on ice,” says Isak Quakenbush, 20, of Fairbanks, Alaska, who plays for the St. Louis Bandits in Chesterfield. At 6-feet-5 and 235 pounds, Quakenbush towers above most of his teammates. “Wow, that’s big … even by NHL standards,” said Dr. Rick Wright, team doctor for the St. Louis Blues and professor of orthopedic surgery at Washington University. Link to Article

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News in Higher Education

ST. Louis Post-Dispatch

Tuition increase approved by University of Missouri curators
01/28/2011

Students at the four University of Missouri campuses will see their tuition increase an average of 5.5 percent. The system’s Board of Curators voted 5-3 Friday morning on a tuition increase aimed at offsetting some of the fiscal pain resulting from Gov. Jay Nixon’s plan to cut 7 percent of the state’s higher education spending. Link to Article

New York Times

Despite Obama’s call, no rush in R.O.T.C.’s return to campus
01/28/2011

Limited resources and low student interest will most likely keep colleges from opening their doors to military recruiters, regardless of the president’s request. Link to Article

New York Times

University endowments increase after losing ground in 2009
01/27/2011

The value of university endowments increased an average of 11.9 percent for fiscal 2010, making up most of the ground lost in the previous year, according to the comprehensive Nacubo-Common fund Study of Endowments, released Wednesday. Still, endowments at the 850 colleges and universities included in the study — representing $346.5 billion in assets — are not back to their pre-recession levels. Link to Article

Science Insider

NIH reorganization draws scrutiny from Congress
01/27/2011

Biomedical scientists aren’t alone in questioning a plan by National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Francis Collins to create a new center to spur drug development. Last week, a staffer for a key congressional committee asked NIH and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for a long list of details about the reorganization. Researchers have flooded NIH with concerns about the reorganization. And Congress is concerned too. Link to Article

Science Insider

Train 100,000 science and math Teachers? Obama plan leaves unanswered questions
01/27/2011

President Obama’s State of the Union promised that the federal government would help universities train 100,000 new elementary and secondary school science and math teachers over the next decade. But in addition to being a tough goal for the government to achieve, even if it did, its likely impact on U.S. science and math education is debatable. Link to Article

Science Insider

Obama proposes big boost for blue-sky energy research agency
01/26/2011

Following last night’s declaration by President Barack Obama of a “Sputnik Moment” on competitiveness and energy innovation, the Department of Energy will request big increases on two signature Administration energy-research initiatives: the blue-sky research Advanced Research Projects Agency-E (ARPA-E) agency and the interdisciplinary Energy Innovation Hubs. Link to Article See also White House Fact Sheet

Chicago Tribune

Evanston denies it plans rental crackdown
01/26/2011

Evanston officials on Wednesday sought to allay the fears of Northwestern University students upset over a reported crackdown on rental units housing more than three unrelated residents. Because of complaints from residents, the city has said it would increase scrutiny of illegally altered and overcrowded rental properties, most of them student housing. More than 4,000 students have signed a petition urging Evanston to alter the antiquated law. Link to Article

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The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business