News highlights for December 13, 2010

Asian News International
Media may face legal issues for publishing Wikileaks cables
12/11/2010

The controversy created after the release of hundreds of US secret diplomatic cables have raised many important legal issues about national security and freedom of the press under U.S. law, according to Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “In terms of finding a law that has been violated, the question is harder than might appear at first. This is mostly because our tradition of free press makes it hard to punish people for publishing the truth,” he said. Read Full Text
Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21621.aspx

USA Today
Iapetus oddball shape explained
12/13/2010

One of Saturn’s oddest moons, Iapetus, acquired an equatorial ridge, planetary scientists suggest, from a ring of debris that once circled the frozen mini-world. “Some people have proposed that the ridge might have been caused by a string of volcanic eruptions, or maybe it’s a set of faults,” says theory co-author William McKinnon of Washington University in St. Louis, in a statement. “But to align it all perfectly like that — there is just no similar example in the solar system to point to such a thing.” Link to Article See also Tucson Sun
Related news release http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21600.aspx

Chicago Tribune
U.S. agency to investigate baby crib bumpers
12/12/2010

Federal regulators have known for years that bumper pads could pose a suffocation hazard but have failed to warn parents. Three years ago, a Washington University pediatrician sounded the alarm on bumper pad safety. Using data from the safety commission’s files, Dr. Bradley Thach concluded that 27 babies’ deaths were attributed to bumper pads from 1985 to 2005. Thach and many other experts said such deaths are underreported because they can be wrongly labeled Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. Link to Article See also Baltimore Sun, Los Angeles Times, Sun-Sentinel (Miami – Fort Lauderdale, FL), Orlando Sentinel, The Morning Call (Allentown, PA)

Washington Post / The Answer Sheet (blog)
Colleges start revealing early admissions decisions
12/12/2010

High school students around the nation who applied to early-decision programs at colleges and universities are starting to learn their fate ahead of the usual Dec. 15 “reveal” date. Anxious high school seniors who applied to schools such as Boston University and Washington University in St. Louis now know whether their college hunt is over or whether they have to move on to Plan B. Link to Article

Sun-Sentinel.com (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
Sen. Bernie Sanders ends filibuster
12/11/2010

In a rare event, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) held his ground in the Senate for a traditional filibuster, making a symbolic demonstration against the proposed tax compromise. “This is a case where he has a lot of sympathy for his point of view on his side of the aisle,” said Steven Smith, a professor at Washington University in St. Louis who has studied the filibuster. “For him to take a day to express that point of view probably is considered to be a minor cost.” Link to Article See also Los Angeles Times

American Chemical Society News Service
Our Microbial Selves
12/12/2010

Researchers believe that other autoimmune diseases, such as irritable bowel syndrome and Crohn’s disease, are a consequence of an overreaction of our own immune system to the trillions of bacteria living in the gut. In a milestone paper for the microbiome field, Jeffrey J. Gordon and his colleagues at Washington University in Saint Louis reported in 2006 that a person’s gut microbiome affects whether they are obese. Link to Article

ModernMedicine
Familial Alcoholism, Obesity Appear Linked
12/10/2010

There is strong epidemiologic support for a link between familial alcoholism and obesity risk in women, with a less robust linkage found in men, according to new research by Richard A. Grucza and colleagues at the Washington University School of Medicine. Examining data for 2001-2002, the researchers found the odds of obesity were 49 percent higher for women with a family history of alcoholism. Link to Article

The Huffington Post
Sue Fishkoff: Killing, Blessing, and Eating Shabbat Dinner
12/12/2010

The annual Hazon Food Conference is the pre-eminent national gathering of activists in the new Jewish food movement, a growing family of mainly younger Jews who want to make food choices that are in line with Jewish values as well as their moral and political beliefs. Andy Kastner, now the Hillel rabbi at Washington University in St. Louis, shared his thoughts as he skinned and eviscerated his first mammal. It was, he admitted, not an easy experience. Link to Article

Star-Telegram.com (Fort Worth, TX)
Couple’s search for hope leads to controversial treatment in China
12/13/2010

Despite warnings that stem cells harvested from umbilical cord blood cannot cure blindness, multiple sclerosis and other conditions, people still flock to China, Thailand and other countries each year in search of cures for seemingly incurable conditions. Many doctors and scientists are not convinced. “It’s basically 21st-century snake oil,” said Dr. Lawrence Tychsen, professor of ophthalmology in pediatrics and neurobiology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Link to Article

KansasCity.com (Kansas City Star)
Childhood hunger affects thousands in KC area
12/11/2010

“For a country with the amount of resources we have, to have kids going hungry is obscene,” said Mark Rank, professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis and an expert on poverty. “People don’t realize what poverty and childhood hunger are doing to the country,” he said. “Not ensuring that kids have enough nutritional food, is perhaps one of the most foolish things you can do from a policy perspective.” Link to Article

KTVI-TV (St. Louis, MO)
Fox 2 News in the Morning – Researchers begin 21-year study of children’s health in St. Louis
12/10/2010

Researchers at St. Louis University are ready to begin a landmark study that will follow St. Louis children from before birth to age 21 to learn more about certain birth defects, learning problems, autism, asthma, obesity and other issues that affect children. Researchers at Washington University, all four Southern Illinois University campuses and the St. Louis office of the Battelle Centers for Public Health Research and Evaluation also will contribute to the study. Link to Broadcast

KTVI-TV (St. Louis, MO)
Fox 2 News Edge
12/10/2010

A recent wave of cyber-attacks launched against company websites by supporters of WikiLeaks is raising concern about the safety of online transactions. Washington University computer science professor Patrick Crowley says the latest wave of attacks is more of a public relations campaign, one that does not pose a serious threat to Internet security. Link to Broadcast

STLtoday.com
Is pro football too dangerous?
12/12/2010

The recent emphasis on concussions has been a major impetus in the altering of National Football League rules regarding questionable hits. Dr. Mark Halstead, director of the sports concussion program with Washington University and a Rams team doctor, released a report on concussions in children this year. He said as recently as 10 years ago, high school players with concussion symptoms would be allowed to return to action as soon as they felt better. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Rocket science is a blast for Mars investigator Ray Arvidson
12/12/2010

Closeup feature offers Q&A with Ray Arvidson, 62, deputy principal investigator for NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Mission and the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University. Arvidson describes his work as “a blast” and says he’s working on a new Mars rover for launch in September. Link to Article

STLtoday.com
Why the secrecy surrounding A-B InBev CEO Carlos Brito’s talk in St. Louis?
12/11/2010

Anheuser-Busch InBev CEO Carlos Brito was in St. Louis on Thursday to give a speech at Washington University as part of the Olin School’s Century Club Business Series. The media were not allowed. And attendees were admonished to not film or record the event. But why the secrecy? Last month Brito gave a speech at the Stanford Graduate School of Business, which posted an article about the speech — and a 52-minute YouTube clip. Link to Article

News in higher education

www.STLtoday.com

Getting lesson in debit
12/12/2010

Colleges increasingly are forcing students to enroll in high-fee debit card programs as a way to trim administrative cost and boost revenue. The cards are a good deal for the schools — they save money on cutting refund checks, and they often get paid by the outside financial institutions that manage the debit accounts. But the programs can have the effect of draining financial aid money that’s intended to pay for students’ living expenses. Link to Article

New York Times
A Fight for the 2012 Democratic Convention

12/13/2010
Democrats are judging Charlotte, Cleveland, Minneapolis and St. Louis on criteria like hotel room availability, airport size, local transportation systems and fund-raising ability. Link to Article

New York Times
Getting ahead in India means getting out of town

12/13/2010
A rising number of students in India’s rapidly expanding younger population want, and can pay for, a better education abroad. Link to Article

New York Times

China’s army of graduates faces struggle
12/12/2010
Villagers who will work in China’s factories are in demand, but many college graduates seeking professional jobs find their value plunging. Link to Article

CNN
Virginia Tech to slow to spread word about shooter
12/10/2010
Virginia Tech violated federal campus security law when it waited too long to inform students about a shooter on the loose during a 2007 rampage that killed 32 people, the U.S. Department of Education says in a new report. Link to Article See also Boston Globe

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