We tend to think of stress as a bad thing that affects our health and well-being. But Duke's Bridgette Hard says that the way we think about stress makes a huge difference in how stress affects us. Reframing our ideas about stress can reduce its harmful impacts. Hard is associate professor of the practice of psychology and neuroscience. This video is a part of Duke's series, Extra Credit: Life's Curiosities Explained. To see more, check out the playlist. read more » about Is Stress Always Bad?
Anyone who says females are the ‘gentle sex’ has never met a lemur. Lady lemurs get first dibs on food, steal their mates’ favorite sleeping spots and even attack males, swatting or biting those that annoy them. What gives these female primates the urge and ability to reign supreme while the meeker males give in or get out of the way? New research suggests that female lemurs’ bullying behavior may get programmed early, before birth. A Duke University study shows that a mother lemur’s hormone levels during pregnancy can have… read more » about Lemur Sex Role Reversal Gets Its Start in the Womb
Political Science Professor Michael Munger discusses the California bill that distinguishes between contractors and employees. Read his full article on The Hill. read more » about Michael Munger: Distinguishing contractors from employees
The state of refugees in 2019: -- Some 65 million people do not live in their native country. Of those, between 22 million and 25 million people are classified as refugees (half of them are children). -- About half of the world’s refugees live on the border of a conflict zone. -- Because of changes in warfare – the use of drones, aerial attacks and suicide bombers, for example -- more than 80 percent of the victims in wars in Syria and Iraq have been civilians. “There are now more people fleeing than ever, including… read more » about Refugees in 2019: ‘Now More People Fleeing Than Ever’
Next Thursday, Sept. 19, comedienne, actress and self-dubbed “upper ghetto godmother,” Marsha Warfield, perhaps best known for her wise-cracking bailiff ‘80s-sitcom character, Roz, on NBC’s “Night Court,” will visit Duke University. Warfield is a special guest for the Duke University course “Dick Gregory and the History of Black Comedy” course, taught by Professor Mark Anthony Neal, the James B. Duke Professor of African & African American Studies. The course features guest appearances by professional comedians, critics… read more » about Duke’s Black Comedy Class Brings ‘Upper Ghetto Godmother’
DURHAM, N.C. -- This fall, Duke University will be admitting seven students that have four legs instead of two. In the first program of its kind, the Duke Canine Cognition Center will welcome to campus seven puppies from Canine Companions for Independence, the leading assistance dog non-profit in the U.S. The puppies are part of a long-term study funded by the National Institutes of Health to assess the effects that different rearing strategies have on the behavior and cognitive development of assistance dogs. The dogs will… read more » about Duke Puppy Kindergarten Admits Seven New Students
Senior Lecturer of Cultural Anthropology Robin Kirk discusses the aftermath when a Confederate statue was toppled in Durham, N.C. Read her full article in the American Scholar. read more » about Reflections on a Silent Soldier
Justin Sherman started teaching himself computer coding in 8th grade. Around the same time, he took his first civics class. Each topic interested him, though he didn’t see similarities between them at the time. During high school, amid then-President Obama’s re-election campaign, Sherman watched a lot of presidential debates. He was also on a robotics team. Again, he thought about these topics separately. Then in 2013, whistleblower Edward Snowden leaked classified government documents to journalists that revealed… read more » about On Hacking, Ethics and Op-Eds: How Justin Sherman Became a Cybersecurity Policy Wonk
The political headlines coming out of the United Kingdom this past week were shocking: A rebellion of Conservative Party members in Parliament threw the party into a civil war and put Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans on Brexit into doubt. However, perhaps, the biggest surprise might be this: Why hasn’t the same thing happened in the United States? Both Johnson and U.S. President Donald Trump are political disrupters, proudly willing to ignore traditional political norms and practices. For Trump, that disruption has been… read more » about Explaining Why Conservatives in Britain Rebelled, But Republicans in Congress Have Not
Klugh Jordan, who grew up playing the piano and started cello lessons four years ago, wanted to enhance her physical movements during public performances. Last fall, she audited a Duke University Music Department undergraduate course, “Alexander Technique for Performing Musicians,” a practice for improving posture, movement and breathing. “When I performed in front of people, I would forget to breathe and feel my back tense up,” said Jordan, a senior cost accounting analyst for Duke Financial Services. “The course… read more » about Take an Academic Class at Duke
The work of James B. Duke Professor of Mathematics Jonathan Mattingly appeared in numerous media outlets this fall — including this News & Observer article — following the N.C. Supreme Court's decision that political maps for the state were unconstitutional and must be redrawn. Mattingly, who testified as an expert witness in the case, leads a nonpartisan research group "Quantifying Gerrymandering" that grew out of a project initiated by a Duke mathematics undergrad. read more » about Mathematician's research influences NC ruling
Duke students headed out this summer around Durham, the United States and the world to extend their education through learning experiences that combined classroom study, research and community work. Many returned with experiences that will shape their Duke education and life beyond graduation. *** Duke summer programs takes student learning out into communities Explore, study, serve. Repeat. Duke students headed out this summer around Durham, the United States and the world to extend their education through learning… read more » about Summers Were Made for Student Learning and Service
Political Science Professor Eddy Malesky and a lecturer from the Australian National University surveyed people in Vietnam to see if those in developing countries prioritize the economy or the environment. Listen to the results during their podcast on Rocking Our Priors. read more » about "Fish or Steel?": Dr Quynh Nguyen & Professor Eddy Malesky
Duke University participates in team using artificial intelligence to study the masterpiece, The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. Read how this technology differs from the previous X-ray process in Cosmos. read more » about AI reveals the hidden layers of great art
Michael Tomasello’s book “Becoming Human: A Theory of Ontogeny” (Harvard University Press, 2019) has received the 2019 Williams James Book Award from the American Psychological Association, among the most prestigious awards in the field. In making the award, the association lauded the book as offering “an exceptionally broad, multi-level, and cross-cutting scope [that] engages with basic, enduring questions. It exemplifies the best that can be accomplished from the standpoint of a truly general psychology.” The book… read more » about Michael Tomasello Receives William James Book Award
Peat moss. Most people think of it as the brownish stuff that gardeners add to potting soil. But to one Duke-led team, peat moss plays a key role in slowing climate change by keeping 370 million metric tons of carbon dioxide a year out of the atmosphere -- equivalent to the emissions spewed by nearly half the car traffic in the U.S. Now, thanks to a three-year, $3.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy, the researchers are poised to better understand how global warming could affect peatlands and their vast… read more » about Duke-Led Team Wins $3M Grant to Study Peatlands and Climate Change
Duke evolutionary geneticist John Willis examines the monkeyflower mystery and shares his findings in Science magazine. read more » about Meet the monkeyflower, a weed that may hold the key to zebra stripes and other biological mysteries
Over the past 50 years, John Aldrich and David Rohde have shared many academic milestones. They met as graduate students at the University of Rochester. Both launched their teaching careers at Michigan State University. And they both ended up as political science professors at Duke. On Friday, they will share the American Political Science Association’s Barbara Sinclair Legacy Award. The award – named after a former colleague who also earned a Ph.D. at Rochester -- recognizes “the work of a scholar or set of scholars… read more » about Aldrich and Rohde: 50 Years of Shared Milestones
Two chemists from the Trinity College of Arts & Sciences and the Pratt School of Engineering have been nationally recognized for their work in mentoring and materials science by the American Chemical Society. Kathy Franz, chair and professor in the Department of Chemistry, received this year’s ACS Award for Encouraging Women into Careers in the Chemical Sciences. She was nominated by two former graduate students – Louise Charkoudian (’08) and Kathryn Haas (’10). “Kathy’s faith in me gave me the ambition to pursue my… read more » about Professors, Alumna Honored by American Chemical Society
Many people turn to the Internet to find a Mr. or Ms. Right. But lemurs don’t have to cyberstalk potential love interests to find a good match — they just give them a sniff. A study of lemur scents finds that an individual’s distinctive body odor reflects genetic differences in their immune system, and that other lemurs can detect these differences by smell. From just one whiff, these primates are able to tell which prospective partners have immune genes different from their own. The ability to sniff out mates with… read more » about Love at First Whiff
Duke professors Blake S. Wilson B.S.E. ’74, Ph.D.’15 and Leonard White will be honored for their contributions to advancing research in the fields of hearing loss and brain development, respectively. The awards will be presented by President Vincent E. Price and the Duke Alumni Association during Founders’ Weekend Sept. 26-28. Wilson will receive the Distinguished Alumni Award, the Duke Alumni Association’s highest honor given to alumni who have made outstanding contributions in service to Duke and toward the betterment… read more » about Alumni to Honor Two Faculty for Research, Teaching Advancements During Founders' Weekend
Duke Economist Professor Timur Kuran discusses his theory of Preference Falsification — which explains the world wide surge toward populism and is now threatening to rewrite the core tenets of modern ecomomics — in a podcast on The Portal. read more » about Timur Kuran: The Economics of Revolution and Mass Deception
Attaching its head to its tail to form a ring, a 3-millimeter larva of the goldenrod gall midge squeezes some internal fluids into its tail section, swelling it and raising the pressure like an inner tube. When the adhesive bond between the head and tail can no longer hold, the tension is sprung, launching the worm into a high, tumbling flight that will carry it 20 to 30 body-lengths away in a tenth of a second at speeds comparable to a jumping insect with actual legs. The direction of flight is somewhat random and the worm… read more » about Leaping Larvae! How Do They Even Do That Without Legs?
Since 1902, the Hindman Settlement School has been improving the lives of residents of rural eastern Kentucky. Brent Hutchinson has been the organization’s executive director for seven years, balancing the funding needs of the non-profit that has 21 full-time employees and serves around 6,000 people. A few years ago, when Hutchinson realized it was time for the organization to evolve, he turned to Duke. Hutchinson took an Executive Certificate in Nonprofit Leadership program offered by Duke Continuing Studies which helped… read more » about Duke Continuing Studies Celebrates 50 Years
The loss of Toni Morrison, the acclaimed author who died Monday, prompted Duke professor emerita Karla Holloway to reach for one of Morrison’s novels. “In 'Sula,’ Toni Morrison wrote, ‘It is sheer good fortune to miss somebody long before they leave you,’” Holloway said. “The great irony of this loss is that it’s her words, even at this extraordinary moment, that are better said, better crafted, more carefully curated than any we might compose for the occasion of her passing.” Holloway, the James B. Duke Professor Emerita… read more » about Toni Morrison Remembered as a 'Writer for This Age'
Duke music professor Thomas Brothers shares insights from his recent book about The Beatles’ creative collaboration on the anniversary of Abbey Road. … read more » about It Was 50 Years Ago
Growing up, Torie Smith lived in fear of her gym class’ annual mile run. She recalls feigning illness in an attempt to dodge it. That’s why it’s a surprise that, over the past two years, she’s run around a dozen races, including two half-marathons. Smith runs almost daily and rarely ventures out for anything that doesn’t cover at least three miles. “I would have never thought I’d have been a runner, ever,” said Smith, the clinical team lead with Duke Life Flight. For Smith, part of finding her identity as a runner was the… read more » about Employee Athletes Among Us