Arts and Sciences in the national news: September 2014

Photo Credit: World map
by Mike O'Connor Mon, 10/06/2014 - 08:52

A number of science publications reported on the experiment byTimothy Gay and Joan Dreiling, physics, that confirmed an explanation why the double helix structure of DNA molecules has a right-handed twist. Their work was reported by Nature, Scientific American, Physics Today, and Chemistry World, among others. Stories began appearing in mid-September and continued through the end of the month.


A national project to improve diversity in college computer scienceprograms was featured in a Sept. 24 Bloomberg Businessweek article. UNL is one of 15 universities participating in the three-year program.


The Armenian Weekly reported Sept. 17 on UNL’s plan to host a major conference in March 2015 on the 100th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. It is organized by Bedross Der Matossian, history. Another publication, the Armenian Reporter, announced the upcoming conference in a Sept. 27 article.


Wheeler Winston Dixon,
 film studies, offered his observations why YouTube is such a successful marketing tool in a Sept. 8 story on Ecommerce Times. Wall Street Cheat Sheet also used his comments in a Sept. 17 story. Dixon also contributed to a Sept. 25 article in The Advocate, in Louisiana, about an unusual one-screen, throwback theater in New Orleans.


A recent study by John Hibbing and Kevin Smith, political science, about the biological underpinnings of political differences, was featured by the British Psychological Society on Sept. 4.


Nam Kyu Kim,
 political science, investigated the relationship between economic shocks and political coups in a Sept. 23 post on the Washington Post’s Monkey Cage political science blog.


David Loope,
 earth and atmospheric sciences, was quoted in a Sept. 23 LiveScience article about the Moqui Marbles, the round iron-coated stones that litter the ground at sites in Arizona and Utah.


Indian Country Today Media Network reported Sept. 10 that Alex Mallory, a history and political science junior, was UNL’s first recipient of a Udall scholarship. That $5,000 award goes to students who plan careers related to the environment and to Native American students who plan careers related to tribal public policy. Mallory is a member of the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska. On Sept. 15, Indian Country Today reported that Mallory also has been named a National Child Awareness Month Youth Ambassador and will receive funding and training to lead an initiative to educate Native youth leaders on suicide prevention techniques.


Dennis Molfese
 and concussion research at the Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior  was featured Sept. 5 on BTN’s LiveBig Program.