John Hibbing, Foundation Regent University Professor of Political Science, was the guest on National Public Radio’s Hidden Brain podcast on Oct. 8. He discussed the psychological and neurological differences between conservatives and liberals.
Hibbing said about 30 to 40 percent of people’s political attitudes comes from genetics and the rest comes from environment and upbringing. He said understanding these biological underpinnings of political beliefs should help people have more empathy for others with whom they may disagree.
“I believe we have always had this very same division, this very basic difference between people who are fairly sensitive to threats and think we need to be vigilant and those people who are more into experimentation and trying new things,” Hibbing said. The interview was picked up by more than 30 public-radio stations across the country.
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Adam Houston, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, is leading an ambitious new study to use drones to track tornadoes in the Great Plains. The goal is to better understand the causes of tornadoes. Articles on the research appeared in the Grand Island Independent, Lincoln Journal Star, Norfolk Daily News, Omaha World-Herald, Scottsbluff Star-Herald, Drone Below and Unmanned Aerial Online.
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Inside Higher Ed published an article Oct. 22 on a study co-authored by Jeffrey Stevens, psychology, showing that listing study authors alphabetically unfairly penalizes those whose last names are at the end. The study suggested journals using alphabetically ordered citations should switch to chronological ordering to minimize bias.
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Kenneth Price, English, was interviewed for an Oct. 22 New York Times article on Walt Whitman’s Civil War reporting. Whitman was a wartime correspondent for the Times.
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The Extreme Light Laboratory at Nebraska is one of the founding members of LaserNetUS, a new research network intended to unite the nation's most powerful laser facilities. Stories on the network appeared on Bioengineer.org, Phys.org, Tech Site and Technology Today.
