In the national news, October 2015

Wed, 11/04/2015 - 08:44

Undergraduate Carissa Raymond's discovery, under the tutelage of Ross Secord, Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, of a multituberculate mammal fossil received extensive worldwide coverage, from Time on Oct. 5 to National Public Radio's Morning Edition on Oct. 7. ABC News was among scores of outlets that picked up an Associated Press version. Scientific American, Nature World News and LiveScience were among many other outlets that reported on the rodent-like creature that survived the dinosaur extinction.

In the lead-up to the Oct. 13 announcement of the Man Booker Prize, Reuters reported Oct. 9 that “The Fishermen,” a novel by Chigozie Obioma, English, was among six candidates prestigious award. Obioma and author Marlon James, the eventual winner of the prize, were interviewed by the BBC on Oct. 9. Obioma also was announced Oct. 6 as the 2015 winner of the Emerging Voices fiction award by Financial Times. After the prize was announced, a writer for Nigeria's The Sun reflected upon James win and Obioma's nomination for an Oct. 17 column. Obioma spoke with The Creators Project, a Vice.com art blog, Oct. 29 about the future of fiction in Nigeria. Obioma grew up in Nigeria, but was educated in Cyprus and the U.S. before his arrival at UNL.

Kwame Dawes, English, was interviewed on Jefferson Public Radio during an Oct. 16 visit to Southern Oregon University. He spoke about life, art and his interactive site, “Living and Loving with HIV in Jamaica.”

Sherilyn Fritz, biological sciences, was quoted in an Oct. 28 Science article about scientists’ efforts to understand why the Amazon is so biologically diverse.

The Daily Beast quoted Raymond Haymes, anthropology, for an Oct. 6 story about the Ishango bone, an artifact perhaps 20,000 years old that is believed to be one of the first examples of humans conceiving of numbers. The baboon fibula has notches engraved on its surface and some experts believe it was used as a lunar calendar. The Daily Beast also cited Hames Oct. 19 for a story about a controversial book about the anthropology of human sexuality.

Ken Nickerson, biological sciences, was featured in an Oct. 9 report about faculty who keep working past traditional retirement age. Produced by education news site The Hechinger Report, the story was carried by a number of National Public Radio outlets.

Mario Scalora, psychology, was among experts quoted in an October Mother Jones report on efforts to prevent mass shootings on college campuses. Scalora also was quoted in two Oregon Live stories that followed up on October’s mass shootings at Umpqua Community College in Oregon, where eight students and a professor were killed. An Oct. 12 story picked up by The Associated Press and carried nationwide quoted Scalora about cooperative efforts between police, mental health providers and UNL officials to prevent targeted violence.

A new study by Philip Schwadel, sociology, that identified national differences in the levels of religious belief among the college-educated, was covered Oct. 27 by Deseret News and Oct. 26 by Phys.Org.