Duke in the News: May 16, 2007

DUKE LANDS EPA GRANT (Durham) Herald-Sun, May 16 -- Researchers at Duke have landed a $7.7 million grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that will finance a five-year study of the interlocking factors that contribute to premature births and low birth weights among babies born in the South. ... Full story --Also, (Raleigh) News & Observer: Duke Center to Study Variables in Infant Health ... Full story Triangle Business Journal: EPA Grants Duke $8M for Children's Health Study Center ... Full story

COLUMN: THE LAND OF $9 MILLION USA Today, May 16 -- Nobel Prize winner and Duke Vice Chancellor Peter Agre, reportedly considering a run for the Senate from his native Minnesota, "could be the ultimate test of whether merit still plays a significant role in U.S. politics or whether money alone dictates our choice of leaders." ... Full story

OP-ED: LET THE MARKET BULLY HIP-HOP News & Observer, May 16 -- How do you create a socially conscious rapper? You pay him, of course. Duke management professor Aaron K. Chatterji explains. ... Full story

NONPROFITS FACE THREAT TO A TAX LOOPHOLE New York Times, May 16 -- Congress is looking at offshore hedge-fund investments by universities and other nonprofit organizations. A proposed change could affect investment returns for large endowments, including those at Duke, Harvard, and Yale Universities. ... Full story --Also, Chronicle of Higher Education: Colleges' Offshore Hedge-Fund Investments Draw Senate Scrutiny ... Full story

METABOLOMICS MAY AID SCHIZOPHRENIA STUDIES UPI, May 15 -- A Duke study suggests the hundreds of chemicals left behind in a patient's bloodstream by anti-psychotic drugs might be used in future treatments. ... Full story

REGULATORY ACTION SHOWS SQUEEZE ON DRUGMAKERS Reuters, May 15 -- Rather than pushing so hard on drugs already on the market, the pharmaceutical industry may have to re-examine its activities to try to become better at developing new drugs, says Kevin Schulman, director of the Health Sector Management Program at Duke's Fuqua School of Business. ... Full story

WICCANS KEEP THE FAITH WITH A RELIGION UNDER WRAPS New York Times, May 16 -- David Steinmetz, professor of the history of Christianity at Duke Divinity School, discusses Wicca's struggle for acceptance. ... Full story