If hanging upside down from a crane while escaping a straitjacket seems like suitable training for today’s topsy-turvy campus environment, then statistician Eric Laber is primed for success. That daring escape is just one of many tricks Laber performed during a 12-year-career as a professional magician. But now he’s distinguished professor at NC State who will be joining the Duke faculty in the departments of statistical sciences and biostatistics and bioinformatics in January. Laber likes using data to solve real-world… read more » about Eric Laber: From Awe-Inspiring Magic to Problem-Solving Statistics
Getting Ideas out of the Lab Duke’s Office of Licensing & Ventures (OLV) oversees the management of innovations resulting from Duke research – from creation, to feasibility and marketing, to protection, and on into licensing to commercial partners, for both startups and existing companies. Our research faculty and staff worked tirelessly in FY20, helping the office break multiple records. OLV received an all-time high of 405 invention disclosures, 26 of them COVID-19 related innovations. Revenue from… read more » about OLV Breaks Idea-Generating Records: FY20
Wilhelmina Reuben-Cooke came to Duke in 1963 as one of the “First Five” Black undergraduates, breaking barriers and entering classroom buildings that had previously been closed to Black students. Now, her legacy as a pioneer at Duke and as a leading lawyer, law professor, university administrator and trustee for both Duke University and The Duke Endowment, will be celebrated by the renaming of one of those classroom buildings after her. The Duke Board of Trustees voted Saturday to rename the Sociology-Psychology Building… read more » about Iconic West Campus Building Named After a Duke Pioneer
A new Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Committee on Anti-Racism has begun meeting regularly, following its formation in late August. The committee is led by Patrick Bayer, Gilhuly Family Distinguished Professor in Economics, whose research focuses on the wide-ranging impacts of racial discrimination, inequality and segregation, including in schools, housing and labor markets, and the criminal justice system. “We will take a comprehensive and unflinching look at the structures that perpetuate racism and drive racial… read more » about Trinity College of Arts & Sciences Launches Committee on Anti-Racism
The National Science Foundation has awarded Duke University a $3 million, five-year Research Traineeship grant to develop a program for graduate students to develop expertise in using artificial intelligence (AI) for materials science research. The aiM (AI for Understanding and Designing Materials), program will fill a vital workforce gap by training the next generation in the new convergent field of materials and computer science research. “To achieve the promise of the U.S. Materials Genome Initiative of… read more » about Filling an AI and Materials Science Training Gap
The Duke University Herbarium houses samples of roughly half of the known mosses in North America. It total, it holds 800,000 specimens. Soon, they will all be available to explore online. A collaboration between Duke and 24 other universities across the country has received a $3.6 million National Science Foundation grant to digitize and study nearly 1.2 million specimens of lichens and mosses housed in their collections. The project will allow for deeper investigation of species that “have global relevance and perform… read more » about Duke Herbarium Part of $3.6 Million Grant
Researchers have found no evidence that the U.S. Supreme Court’s modification of the 1965 Voting Rights Act led to voter discrimination in North Carolina through partisan relocation of polling places. Despite concerns the 2013 decision would lead to such unfairness, a cross-county study of North Carolina elections concludes that the state’s politically appointed county elections officials did not appear to change polling place locations to suppress voters of the opposite party following the ruling. The study looked at… read more » about Study Finds No Partisan Relocating of Polling Places in NC
Earlier this fall, a student in a neuroscience course co-taught by Minna Ng had a COVID-19 scare. Potentially exposed to someone who had tested positive for the virus, the student – who did not contract it – took part in the class from their dorm room. Ng said the student didn’t miss a beat. They were able to participate in discussions and work in small groups with help from the “Zoom Cart” that now accompanies Ng to classes she teaches. “All the students could see each other, and that student could see everyone from… read more » about Zoom Carts Help Keep Semester Rolling
The recent protests over police killings of Black men, and the reaction to those protests by some white Americans, underscores a massively polarized electorate heading into the November election. But to what extent is the nation truly divided, and which voting blocks might play key roles? Three Duke scholars discussed these topics and more Wednesday during a virtual media briefing. Watch the briefing on YouTube. Here are excerpts: ON DISTINCTION BETWEEN WHITE IDENTITY AND WHITE RACIAL DISCRIMINATION… read more » about How Racial Identity and Polarization Could Influence the Election
From Oxford University, then-Rhodes Scholar Rachel Myrick gained an entirely new perspective on U.S. foreign policy. “It was there where I spent a lot of time reading about these big classical debates about international security and thought a lot about America’s role in the world from an international perspective,” says Myrick, who this fall became an assistant research professor in Duke’s political science department. Those long-standing theories and concepts were upended in 2016 with the election of Donald Trump as… read more » about Rachel Myrick: How Political Polarization Is Changing American Foreign Policy
DURHAM, N.C. -- A study published this week in the journal Nature Communications offers some good news in the search for antiviral drugs for hard-to-treat diseases. Researchers have identified a potential new drug candidate against enterovirus 71, a common cause of hand, foot and mouth disease in infants and young children. The compound of interest is a small molecule that binds to RNA, the virus’s genetic material, and changes its 3-D shape in a way that stops the virus from multiplying without harming its human host.… read more » about New Drug Candidate Found for Hand, Foot and Mouth Disease
DURHAM, N.C. -- Close bonds with the opposite sex can have non-romantic benefits. And not just for people, but for our primate cousins, too. Drawing on 35 years of data, a new study of more than 540 baboons in Amboseli National Park in Kenya finds that male baboons that have close female friends have higher rates of survival than those who don’t. Researchers have often assumed that when a male is friendlier to certain females, it’s for the reproductive perks: to better protect his offspring, or to boost his chances of… read more » about Male Baboons With Female Friends Live Longer
DURHAM , N.C. -- Many humans live to see their 70s and 80s, some even reach 100 years old. But life is much shorter for our closest animal relatives. Chimpanzees, for example, rarely make it past age 50, despite sharing almost 99% of our genetic code. While advances in medicine and nutrition in the last 200 years have added years to human lifespans, a new study suggests there could be a more ancient explanation why humans are the long-lived primate. Part of the secret to human longevity, researchers say, may lie… read more » about Your Cells Look Young for Their Age, Compared to a Chimp’s
Jonathan Mattingly, James B. Duke Distinguished Professor of Mathematics, was interviewed on the mathematics of gerrymandering and the way computer generated maps can detect the problem. Read the article at Science News. read more » about How Next-gen Computer Generated Maps Detect Partisan Gerrymandering
After teaching a doctoral course for the past five years that mixes in-person learning and online class sessions, Duke Divinity School’s Curtis Freeman is an online teaching veteran. Curtis Freeman has embraced the challenge of teaching online. Photo courtesy of Duke Divinity School. But with COVID-19 limiting in-person classes this fall, and making Freeman’s class an entirely online affair, even he knew he’d need to keep evolving. “The delivery and interaction with students is different this fall,” said Freeman,… read more » about Lessons From Teaching in a Pandemic
The willingness of left-leaning religious congregations to engage in political activity has spiked in the Trump era, new research shows. In particular, many American congregations report becoming substantially more involved in immigration issues, likely in response to the administration’s controversial, hardline stances. And Black Protestant congregations report a surge in political activity since 2012, perhaps in reaction to the ongoing and increasingly visible abuse of Black men by police, the article found. “… read more » about In Trump Era, More Progressive Churches Get Politically Active
Duke employees and alumni have a chance to share their expertise and help students with their writing through the Duke Reader Project. The Duke Reader Project is seeking Duke alumni, staff and faculty – called “readers” – to assist undergraduate students with assignments in writing courses for the fall and spring semesters. By participating, Duke alumni and employees use their knowledge to help students improve their communication and reasoning skills. “There is a tremendous amount of knowledge that employees… read more » about Help Students One Word at a Time
May 6, 2021 Update: Jonathon Yuly and his co-authors, including Peng Zhang and David Beratan, were awarded Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences's 2020 Cozzarelli Prize for their paper on electron bifurcation. The award is given annually to six research teams whose articles have made "outstanding contributions to their fields." You can hear Yuly describe the paper in the video above or in an episode of PNAS's Science Sessions… read more » about PhD Student Solves 40-Year Bioenergetics Mystery
Brian Hare, professor of Evolutionary Anthropology, and Vanessa Woods, a research scientist in the same department, joined Alan Alda's radio show Clear+Vivid to discuss what their research tells us about humanity's essential ingredient. Listen at the Clear+Vivid website. read more » about On Humanity’s Essential Ingredient
Sarah Gaither, Assistant Professor of Psychology and Neuroscience, writes about the way Kamala Harris's nomination sheds light on black female experiences. Read the article at Psychology Today. read more » about Black Women: The Invisible Warriors
DURHAM, N.C. -- You know the type: Loud. Swaggering. Pushy. The alpha male clearly runs the show. Female alphas are often less conspicuous than their puffed up male counterparts, but holding the top spot still has its perks. Wearing the crown means privileged access, like never having to wait your turn. And now, a study of female baboons points to another upside to being No. 1: less stress. In a Duke University-led study, researchers describe how, after 18 years of collecting fecal samples from 237 female baboons in… read more » about Baboon Matriarchs Enjoy Less Stress
Although he left office nearly a decade ago, the man known to millions simply as Lula remains Brazil’s single most influential politician, says John French, Duke professor of history. Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva led strikes against the country’s military dictatorship, founded the Workers’ Party and became president of Latin America’s largest country after his fourth attempt at election in 2002. Lula has spoken out against the right-wing incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the COVID-19 pandemic and… read more » about Professor John French on Lula, Former Brazilian President (and the Country’s COVID-19 Problem)
A cluster of new classics professors are expanding our view of the past. When the 2020–2021 academic year began, Duke’s Department of Classical Studies looked a lot different than it had when the previous year ended. Over the summer, the department welcomed four new professors—a cluster of hires that accounts for nearly 50 percent of the department’s faculty. Their presence alone is a significant addition to Duke’s classics expertise and teaching, but equally as important is who was hired. The four new professors cover the… read more » about The Complicated Classical World
In the upcoming election, North Carolina voters will have a lot of sway. Republican President Donald Trump and his Democratic challenger, former Vice-President Joe Biden, are locked in a tight race thus far. As a Southern state that often leans Republican in presidential elections, North Carolina could change the course of the entire national election if Biden can eke out a win here, three Duke experts said Thursday during a media briefing on the relevance of the Tar Heel state this election season. Watch the briefing on… read more » about How NC Votes Likely to Determine National Outcomes, Experts Say
Duke University researchers Jungsang Kim and Christophe Monroe will join peers from the national labs, universities, federal agencies and industry on a new National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee (NQIAC) recently announced by the U.S. Department of Energy and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). The NQIAC’s mission is to “counsel the Administration on ways to ensure continued American leadership in quantum information science” and was established by Executive Order as part of the… read more » about Duke Joins Peers on New National Quantum Initiative Advisory Committee
Writing with Kraig Beyerlein from Notre Dame, professor of Sociology Mark Chaves argues that his research on the National Congregations Study shows there is "surging political activism among religious progressives in what appears to be a direct response to Trump administration policies." Read the article at CNN. read more » about Trump Can't Take the Evangelical Vote for Granted