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Tuesday, March 1 2011

News

New radio program podcast examines ‘science’ of parenting

Parents have a new source for sound advice on raising kids and teens - the "Science of Parenting," a new monthly radio program podcast from Iowa State University Extension. The show offers research-based parenting advice from experts across the country, said program host Douglas Gentile (photo right), an associate professor of psychology and extension specialist at Iowa State. Co-host Mike Murray (photo left) -- a mechanical engineer with ISU's Facilities Planning and Management -- brings the "parent-on-the-street perspective" to the program.

Global ISU study: Invasive species widespread, but not more than at home range

Invasive plant species have long had a reputation as being bad for a new ecosystem when they are introduced. As it turns out, they aren't any more abundant away from home than they are at home.

News release.

Salk Institute researcher and ISU's first Science Bound graduate to speak March 7

Salk Institute photo

Salk Institute plant scientist Charles Stewart Jr., graduated from Iowa State in 2000, the university's first Science Bound graduate. He will return to speak on "Fighting Hunger: A DNA Engineer's Path to Science and Success," at 8 p.m. Monday, March 7, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. A research associate at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, San Diego, Stewart studies how plant enzymes make chemicals that are important to medicine and agriculture. Stewart's talk is part of the 20th anniversary celebration of Science Bound, Iowa State's program to increase the number of ethnically diverse Iowa youth pursuing science, technology, engineering and math careers. His talk is free and open to the public.

News release.

Daily Beast columnist and CNN political contributor John Avlon will speak March 8

Author, political columnist and voice-of-the-center John Avlon will present "Putting Labels Aside: Not Left, Not Right, Just Forward," at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 8, in the Memorial Union Sun Room. Avlon specializes in the analysis of the independent movement and is a CNN political contributor. He is a senior political columnist at the Daily Beast, and author of "Independent Nation: How Centrists Can Change American Politics" and "Wingnuts: How the Lunatic Fringe is Hijacking America." His talk is free and open to the public.

News release.

Anumantha Kanthasamy

Anumantha Kanthasamy

ISU research raises hope for solving Parkinson’s disease puzzle

Anumantha Kanthasamy of ISU's College of Veterinary Medicine has discovered a protein pathway that may hold the secret to understanding Parkinson's disease. He has been working to understand the complex mechanisms of the disease for more than a decade and believes this recent discovery offers hope for the cure.

News release.

Jane Smiley will speak about her Atanasoff bio March 3

Photo by Michael Lionstaer

Pulitzer prize-winning author Jane Smiley will speak about her most recent nonfiction book, "The Man Who Invented the Computer: The Biography of John Atanasoff, Digital Pioneer," at 8 p.m. Thursday, March 3, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. The book tells the story of Atanasoff, an Iowa State physics professor who invented the first electronic digital computer in the basement of Physics Hall before he was diverted into war work in 1941. Smiley taught at Iowa State University from 1981 to 1996. Her presentation is free and open to the public.
News release.

Iowa State, Ames Lab researchers describe the pump that bacteria use to resist drugs

A research team led by Edward Yu of Iowa State University and the U.S. Department of Energy's Ames Laboratory is identifying the structure of pumps that allow bacteria to resist toxins. Their discoveries are published in the Feb. 24 issue of the journal Nature.
News release.

Iowa State selected for 'Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2011'

Iowa State University is among 50 public colleges nationwide -- and the only public school in the state -- named to the Princeton Review Best Value Colleges for 2011. The selection criteria covered more than 30 factors in three areas: academics, cost of attendance and financial aid.

USA TODAY presents: The Princeton Review Best Value Colleges.

More info.

Best-selling author of "Stuff White People Like" will speak at ISU March 2

Christian Lander, a New York Times best-selling author who satirizes white culture, will present a talk about "Stuff White People Like" at 8 p.m. Wednesday, March 2, in the Memorial Union Great Hall. Lander's blog by the same name is a tongue-in-cheek list of things upper-middle-class Caucasians enjoy such as irony, having two last names, Whole Foods, kitchen gadgets, recycling and writers workshops. His talk is free and open to the public.
News release.

ISU economist's report assesses Obama health care plan moving forward

In a report he authored for the new issue of IAbiz magazine, ISU economist David Swenson points out that very large fractions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) of 2010 have some impact on commerce and Iowa's workers in general, small businesses in particular, and on the state's important and diverse insurance industry.

David Correll, a College of Business Ph.D. student and co-founder and president of ISU BioBus, looks forward to using the group's new processor to make biodiesel for CyRide bus No. 18.

David Correll, a College of Business Ph.D. student and co-founder and president of ISU BioBus, looks forward to using the group's new processor to make biodiesel for CyRide bus No. 18.

Students to process waste vegetable oil from ISU Dining to fuel CyRide bus

BioBus, an entrepreneurial student initiative, hopes to soon recycle waste vegetable oil collected from ISU Dining's Union Drive Marketplace facility and turn it into biodiesel to power a CyRide bus. The BioBus students are installing their new processor in their Biorenewables Research Laboratory headquarters over the next couple of weeks and hope to produce their first supply of fuel to run a CyRide bus by the beginning of March.
David Frankel

David Frankel

Black History Month’s sobering news: MLK dream alive for few, says researcher

David Frankel, associate professor of economics, looked at public school enrollments from every school district in the country and found that school segregation between blacks and whites has improved only slightly from 1987 to 2007.

News release.