Trinity College of Arts & Sciences
DURHAM, N.C. -- The humble peat bog conjures images of a brown, soggy expanse. But it turns out to have a superpower in the fight against climate change. For thousands of years, the world’s peatlands have absorbed and stored vast amounts of carbon dioxide, keeping this greenhouse gas in the ground and not in the air. Although peatlands occupy just 3% of the land on the planet, they play an outsized role in carbon storage -- holding twice as much as all the world’s forests do. The fate of all that carbon is uncertain in… read more » about Climate Change Alters the Hidden Microbial Food Web in Peatlands
DURHAM, NC – Living in a poorer neighborhood is linked to accelerated brain aging and increased dementia risk early in life, regardless of income level or education, a Duke University-led study finds. The study, which appears March 14 in the Alzheimer’s Association’s journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia, suggests that targeting disadvantaged neighborhoods for dementia prevention programs and encouraging clinicians to consider a patient’s address could help lower dementia risk. “If you want to prevent dementia, and you’re… read more » about Poor Neighborhoods Linked to Elevated Dementia Risk and Faster Brain Aging
DURHAM, N.C. -- It might look like a roll of chicken wire, but this tiny cylinder of carbon atoms -- too small to see with the naked eye -- could one day be used for making electronic devices ranging from night vision goggles and motion detectors to more efficient solar cells, thanks to techniques developed by researchers at Duke University. First discovered in the early 1990s, carbon nanotubes are made from single sheets of carbon atoms rolled up like a straw. Carbon isn’t exactly a newfangled material. All life on… read more » about Tiny Tunable Nanotubes
What is a valuable body? In her “Bodies at Work” class, Emily Lim Rogers showed students that the answer depends very much on whom, where and when you ask. By taking them on a voyage in time and space, the Assistant Professor of Cultural Anthropology invited students to challenge the modern idea that productivity is inevitably tied to ableness. Embedded in a system where productivity is often imposed on them from an early age, but challenged by their own disabilities — or empathetic to those around them — students craved… read more » about Louder Than Words: Student Art Projects Redefine Valuable Bodies
As he reflected on the turmoil in 2020, Harrison explored how he could facilitate socially conscious artmaking in the classroom. (Photo courtesy of Iyun Ashani Harrison) It was 2020, and Iyun Ashani Harrison was still one year away from accepting his position with the Dance Program. He spent most of his time in his California hills apartment on lockdown from the pandemic and surrounded by wildfires — while the rest of the country was also on fire. “The intersections of COVID-19, the… read more » about When Isolation Ignites Change: New Course Fuses Arts Activism with Technology
If you bought a phone in the past few years, chances are you barely ever type your password anymore: your face unlocks not only your phone, but also your social media, your Duke MyChart portal and even your banking app. While extremely convenient, the popularization of face recognition technology (FRT) isn’t without risks. For the past few years, Cynthia Rudin, Earl D. McLean, Jr. Professor of Computer Science, has been part of a DHS- and FBI-sponsored National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine… read more » about The Flip Side of Safety is an Attack on Privacy: Regulating Face Recognition Technology
Esther Kim Lee, Frances Hill Fox Professor of Theater Studies, was awarded the 2023 Barnard Hewitt Award for Outstanding Research in Theatre History for her book Made Up Asians: Yellowface During the Exclusion Era. The Barnard Hewitt Award is given annually to the best book in theater history or related disciplines and is widely considered the most significant prize in the field. The awardee is also given a $2,000 prize. Lee’s book looks at how yellowface, the practice where white actors portrayed… read more » about Esther Kim Lee Wins Barnard Hewitt Award
When Andrea E. Woods Valdés, chair of the Dance Program, extended a residency to Juel D. Lane this Fall, she gave the choreographer carte blanche with his creative process. What materialized was an original work contemplating what dance classes will look like in the future and addressing how to maintain the authenticity that defines our individuality. “Discovering Your Voice: A Dance Class” debuted at the fall concert November Dances and featured eight student dancers: Michela Annamaria Arietti, Alyah Burnett-Baker, Indigo… read more » about Juel D. Lane’s Residency Imagines the Future of Dance Classes
“Latino history is Duke history.” Cecilia Márquez is spreading the word, and the Hunt Family Assistant Professor of History is far from alone in that effort. From course offerings to faculty research to entire programs of study, Latinidad — a Spanish-language term often used by scholars to refer to the cultural and social identity of people of Latin American descent — is expanding at Duke, reflecting changes in student population. “Latinos, Latinas, Latinx, Latines” — all terms that have evolved over time and… read more » about Expanding Scholarly Perspectives Reflect Latinidad at Duke
Economics has historically been a male-dominated field. Even now, only around 1/3 of economics Ph.D. students are women. While progress is being made, many young women are left to parse the heavily-patriarchal system on their own (interviews for faculty jobs in hotel rooms, anyone?). Tirza Angerhofer, Ph.D., ‘28, is trying to change that. Through the Women in Economics group, she reached out to female faculty and female Ph.D. students in economics-related disciplines such as economics, public policy and… read more » about Creating Connections, Fostering Opportunities: Duke's Women in Economics Initiative
Graduating in 2022 with a B.S. in Biology, a minor in Music and a certificate in Sustainability Engagement from the Nicholas School of the Environment, Pooja Lalwani credits her Duke Music courses for enhancing her STEM scholarship. “The arts at Duke definitely taught me a lot about health and medicine,” she says. “Academically, I was really interested in music therapy and utilizing music as a way to enhance memory.” As an undergrad, Lalwani took elective courses that integrated her three interests, biology, music and… read more » about A Prescription for Harmony: How Music Enhances the Pre-Med Journey
read more » about New Duke Study Declares “The Future Is Fungal” – A New Era for Boreal Biodiversity
read more » about Tracie Canada: The Myth of the College Football Family Has Nothing to do With Love
We like our summers in July and our snow in December. Leap Year ensures it remains that way, explains Duke physics professor Ronen Plesser in this short video. Plesser breaks down the math behind adding a day to the calendar every four years so that we remain in sync with the Earth’s rotation around the sun. The annual gap between the calendar year and the Earth's rotation “accumulates at the rate of one day every four years, and after a hundred years, you’re 25 days or a… read more » about What Is So Special About Leap Year?
