Duke in the News: Jan. 26, 2007

SPOT IN BRAIN MAY CONTROL SMOKING URGE USA Today, Jan. 26 -- New findings about a brain region that might play a key role in addiction may lead to better therapies for smokers who want to quit, says Jed Rose, director of the Center for Nicotine and Smoking Cessation Research at Duke University Medical Center. ... Full story --Also, Los Angeles Times: How the Urge to Smoke Can Just Vanish ... Full story Washington Post: Health Highlights -- Fetal Nicotine Exposure Causes Brain Changes Linked to Addiction (Duke study) ... Full story (South Africa) Health24.com: Cannot Quit? Mom Might Be to Blame ... Full story

COMMENTARY: IT IS UP TO CONGRESS TO CHANGE THE MISSION Huffington Post, Jan. 25 -- Citing Duke law professor Christopher Schroeder's constitutional interpretation, a syndicated columnist argues it is the responsibility of Congress to provide the scope of the mission in Iraq. ... Full story

PROFESSORS SAY PROSECUTOR MISHANDLED DUKE CASE (Raleigh) News and Observer, Jan. 26 -- Duke law professors Thomas Metzloff, James Coleman, and visiting professor Michael Tigar discuss state ethics charges against D.A. Mike Nifong and the role of the press in trying high-profile cases. ... Full story --Also, Duke Chronicle: Has Lax Case Changed Alum Support, Giving? ... Full story Duke News: Duke and Men's Lacrosse (special website with background information) ... Full story

DUKE ANIMAL PHYSIOLOGY PROFESSOR DIES AT AGE 91 (Durham) Herald-Sun, Jan. 26 -- Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, 91, a retired professor of physiology at Duke and internationally recognized authority on animal physiology, died Thursday. ... Full story

RTI, DUKE PART OF $5M CHERNOBYL RADIATION STUDY (Raleigh) Triangle Business Journal, Jan. 25 -- Duke University and RTI International are teaming up with UNC-Asheville and a Ukrainian institution to study the health effects of exposure to radiation. ... Full story --Also, Duke Chronicle: Study Looks at Chernobyl Effects ... Full story

BIRD EXTINCTIONS MAY QUICKEN (Melbourne) Florida Today, Jan. 23 -- A group of biologists, including Stuart Pimm at Duke, say if nothing's done, birds could go extinct 50 times faster, eliminating about 1,200 species by century's end. ... Full story

OP-ED: MONEY TO PRESERVE N.C.'S LAND News & Observer, Jan. 25 -- Ron Sutherland, a Ph.D. student in the Nicholas School of the Environment and Earth Sciences at Duke, calls for a modest and progressive development tax to fund new investments in land and water conservation. ... Full story

A TRIANGLE EQUAL TO THE SUM OF ITS HOOPS The New York Times, Jan. 26 -- At this time of the year in the Triangle, even if you are not a fervent fan, you must share the deep regional certainty that basketball is really, really important. ... Full story --Also, Washington Post: Creating a Big-Time Rivalry ... Full story

DUKE CONTACTS NCAA ABOUT RULE Charlotte Observer, Jan. 26 -- Duke athletics officials are talking with the NCAA over whether Duke Sports Medicine's sponsorship of a high school basketball tournament violates an NCAA rule. ... Full story

BOOMER DOOM: FALLING VICTIM TO THE CULTURE OF YOUTH Knoxville News Sentinel, Jan. 23 -- "The boomers are carrying forward into old age some risky behaviors that they've been living with and dying from since they were young adults," says Dr. Dan Blazer, a Duke professor of psychiatry and behavioral science specializing in geriatrics. ... Full story

PED MED: BRAIN STUDIES YIELD AUTISM CLUES UPI, Jan. 24 -- Duke child psychiatrist Dr. Helen Egger leads a team gaining insights into autism by studying the peculiar behaviors of 50-month-old tykes who as babies had endured untold misery in Romanian orphanages. ... Full story