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Wednesday, January 11 2012

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Iowa State education professor can address education reform

Education reform is a top 2012 legislative priority in several states and Iowa State's Jeffrey Brooks (at right) has studied how reform plays out within schools. An associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies, Brooks is author of "The Dark Side of School Reform: Teaching in the Space between Reality and Utopia." He has conducted over a decade's worth of research on the effects, consequences and benefits of reform.

Iowa State University events will honor Martin Luther King Jr.

Campus and community celebrations and two notable speakers are among Iowa State's activities to honor the life of Martin Luther King Jr., Nobel Peace Prize winner and civil rights activist. The traditional Ames community birthday celebration will be on Monday, Jan. 16, at the Ames Middle School. Iowa State's Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Celebration, featuring music and speakers, is set for 4 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in the Memorial Union. On Jan. 26, the documentary, "Black American Gothic," looks at the urban migration from Chicago to Iowa City. And on Feb. 2, NBC correspondent Touré, will discuss his book, "Who's Afraid of Post-Blackness." All events are free and open to the public.

Students clean up the food chain in Iowa FIRST LEGO League Championship

Hundreds of Iowa students will be cheering, screaming and learning during the annual Iowa FIRST LEGO League Championship Jan. 14 at Iowa State University's College of Engineering. There will be science and engineering action from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in Howe Hall. The event is free and open to the public.

ISU scientist helps find structure of gene-editing protein named Method of the Year

In the two and a half years since Adam Bogdanove of ISU and colleagues discovered how a class of proteins find and bind specific sequences in plant genomes, researchers worldwide have moved fast to use this discovery. Now, the next step has been taken by determining the 3-D structure of a TAL effector bound to DNA. The research is now in the journals Science and Nature.

Gentile cites positive, negative effects of video games on the brain in Nature Reviews article

Douglas Gentile, an Iowa State associate professor of psychology, cites positive and negative effects of video games on the brain in a new article he coauthored in the December issue of Nature Reviews/Neuroscience. In the "Brains on video games" article, six experts shed light on the current understanding of the ways in which playing video games can affect cognition and behavior.

Astronomers, Iowa State’s Kawaler discover planets that survived their star’s expansion

Iowa State University's Steve Kawaler has helped a research team use data from NASA's Kepler Mission to discover two Earth-sized planets that survived their star's red-giant expansion. The discovery is published in the Dec. 22 edition of the journal Nature.