News highlights for February 3, 2011

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.

CBS interactive / cnet UK

Can 3D movies and games damage your eyes, or those of your children?
2/3/2011

So are all we all risking blindness by gawping at 3D displays and movies through those dangerously uncool glasses? Dr. Lawrence Tychsen, professor of pediatrics and ophthalmology at Washington University in St Louis, has been making baby Rhesus monkeys wear 3D glasses all day for three months, the New York Times reports. The results of this study were that — thankfully — the monkeys developed perfectly normal eyesight. Link to Article

The New York Times

Medical detectives find their first new disease
02/02/2011

The Undiagnosed Diseases Program at the National Institutes of Health relies on teams of specialists who use the most advanced tools of medicine and genomics to try to figure out the causes of diseases that have baffled doctors. Recently, the program linked a genetic mutation to a metabolic pathway problem. The discovery is very important, said Dr. Dwight Towler, a bone endocrinologist at Washington University in St. Louis (who was not part of the study), because it can help researchers understand signals for calcification in different parts of the body. Link to Article

World Interior Design Network

WUSTL’s Family Learning Center by Ross Barney Architects goes green
2/3/2011

Ross Barney Architects has integrated energy-efficient equipment and lighting features into Washington University’s new child-care facility on the North Campus. The facility, opened in September 2010, features lighting controls; a thermally efficient building envelope; regional, recycled and rapidly renewable materials; and native and adapted planting. Link to Article

Bustler

Symposium: Architecture Is All Over
02/03/2011

Scheduled for Feb. 12 in Toronto, Architecture is All Over is a one-day, international symposium featuring provocative papers from emerging thinkers and challenging conversations between established scholars. The third session, “Negentropic Machines,” will feature speculative proposals for architecture as it could become, including a presentation by Patty Heyda (Washington University in St. Louis) arguing for architecture’s emergence in the waste zones created by large-scale urban infrastructural development. Link to Article

theday.com


David Dorfman Dance grooves to Sly and the Family Stone
02/03/2011

Dancer David Dorfman says, simply, “I’ve always been the biggest, biggest fan of Sly and the Family Stone.” During his first week as a freshman at Washington University at St. Louis, the school hosted a concert by Sly and the Family Stone. Dorfman, now an acclaimed choreographer and head of the David Dorfman Dance troupe, is returning to Sly with his new work, “Prophets of Funk – Dance to the Music.” Link to Article

Wandering Educators
WUSTL to host International Service and Higher Education conference March 30-April 1
02/03/2011

The International Service and Higher Education: At the Threshold of a New Era conference will be held March 30 to April 1, 2011, on the Danforth campus of Washington University in St. Louis. This symposium is convened by the Center for Social Development and the Gephardt Institute for Public Service at Washington University and DukeEngage of Duke University. Link to Article

The Orange County Register

New rules might curb head shots
02/01/2011

An NFL injury survey found that 16 percent of players were on injured reserve at some point in 2010, compared to 11 percent from 2002 through 2009. Nearly 6 percent of players were found to have suffered a concussion compared to 4 percent in 2009. Another survey of 644 retired NFL players, by Washington University in St. Louis, showed that 49 percent had been diagnosed with a concussion but 81 percent felt they had suffered undiagnosed concussions, and the group averaged three concussions apiece. Read Full Text

St. Louis Business Journal

Measuring the storm’s economic impact
02/02/2011

Quantifying the economic damage to local businesses caused by this week’s snowstorm is nearly impossible, said Steve Fazzari, an economist with Washington University in St. Louis. “I would say that in the grand scheme of things, shutting the region’s economy down for two or three days in the winter is not likely to be a major factor in how one assesses the strength of the economy in 2011 for two reasons: First, it’s just a few days. Second, much of what gets put off over a short period will likely be rescheduled later,” he said. Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch / Editorial

A bankrupt idea: The GOP’s latest not-so-subtle attack on public employees
2/2/2011

One of the more extreme notions being floated by Republicans is bankruptcy for individual states. In truth, allowing states to declare bankruptcy might make it all but impossible for them to issue affordable bonds. As Washington University bankruptcy-law professor Dan Keating told the Post-Dispatch’s Dave Nicklaus, investors no longer would see states as “a reliable entity to do business with.” Link to Article

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

PETA asks Wash U. to air “Sex Talk” ad in place of Bristol Palin’s speech
2/2/2011

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is suggesting that the organization’s “Sex Talk” ad, which promotes a lifetime of abstinence for cats and dogs, be aired in place of Briston Palin’s canceled talk about teen abstinence at Washington University. Link to Article

KSDK-TV

Wash U students out of Egypt
02/02/2011

Two students from Washington University have made it safely out of Egypt. They were studying abroad when the political unrest erupted last week. One of the students made it to Greece. The other student, who was in Alexandria, is now in Prague. Link to Broadcast

STLtoday.com
Free Saturday seminar series addresses ‘Value of Justice’
02/03/2011

Washington University in St. Louis will host a free Saturday Master of Liberal Arts (MLA) Seminar Series in February titled “The Value of Justice.” The annual seminar series features WUSTL experts from the areas of philosophy, social work, political science and anthropology to address one of the most enduring concepts in social, religious, ethical and political thinking: the idea of justice. The MLA Saturday lecture series is free and open to the public. Link to Article

News in Higher Education

BBC News

University cuts ‘Pfizer warning’
02/02/2011

University leaders are warning that research budget cuts could risk a “domino effect” in the United Kingdom after Pfizer’s recent announcement of plans to close a research facility in Kent. The Russell Group of leading UK universities also echoed fears about the future of research. Link to Article

Boston Globe

Study: Students need more paths to career success
2/2/2011

The current U.S. education system is failing to prepare millions of young adults for successful careers by providing a one-size-fits-all approach, and it should take a cue from its European counterparts by offering greater emphasis on occupational instruction, a Harvard University study published Wednesday concludes. Link to Article

Washington Post

Peace Corps’ 2011 college rankings; D.C., Va. schools on top
2/1/2011

The University of Colorado at Boulder, The George Washington University in Washington D.C. and the University of Mary Washington in Virginia top the Peace Corps’ 2011 rankings of colleges and universities. Link to Article

Huffington Post

The 13 largest university endowments
1/31/2011

Colleges and universities are reporting modest increases in their endowments, indicating a return to “relative normalcy,” according a recently released report from Common fund and the National Association of College and University Business Officers. The report shows that endowment investments yielded an average 11.9 percent return this fiscal year, a healthy increase from last year’s dismal average of -18.7 percent. Link to Article

For additional higher education news (subscription may be required):
The Chronicle of Higher Education
Inside Higher Ed
University Business

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