Duke in the News: July 30, 2007
Breakthrough Offers MS Sufferers Hope of New Treatment | Duke Surplus Is Lifeline for Ugandan Hospital | NASA Investigation Reveals Some Astronauts May Have Flown While Drunk, and more!
GENETIC BREAKTHROUGH OFFERS MS SUFFERERS HOPE OF NEW TREATMENT (London) The Times, July 30 -- In the most significant genetic breakthrough in multiple sclerosis research in three decades, scientists at Duke and around the world say they have unearthed a gene that can increase the risk of developing the autoimmune disease by 30 percent. ... Full story --Also, New York Times: Advances Cited in Research on Multiple Sclerosis ... Full story (Raleigh) News & Observer: Duke Team Helps Pinpoint Genes That Increase MS Risk ... Full story Washington Post, HealthDay News: Second Gene That Increases MS Risk Found ... Full story
DUKE SURPLUS IS LIFELINE FOR UGANDAN HOSPITAL News & Observer, July 30 -- An influx of medical equipment from Duke will be a quantum technological leap for the massive New Mulago Hospital in Kampala, built in the 1970s by dictator Idi Amin and displayed prominently in the recent film "The Last King of Scotland." ... Full story
NASA INVESTIGATION REVEALS SOME ASTRONAUTS MAY HAVE FLOWN WHILE DRUNK NBC's Today Show, July 28 -- Alex Roland, a Duke professor of space history, discusses an investigation that has uncovered signs that astronauts have flown drunk and others were aware that drinking before missions was commonplace. (Transcript not available online; e-mailed upon request to dukenews@duke.edu.) --Also, Toronto Star: Straighten Up And Fly Right ... Full story
OP-ED: WHY PAKISTAN NEEDS A NEW LEADER News & Observer, July 30 -- Sahar Akhtar, a visiting scholar in Duke's economics department and a doctoral candidate in philosophy at Duke, says Pakistan needs "a popular civilian leader unburdened by ties to extremists." ... Full story
SOLICITOR FACES TOUGH CHOICE IN GONZALES PROBE USA Today, July 30 -- Erwin Chemerinsky, a constitutional law professor at Duke, says the matter of appointing a special prosecutor to investigate Attorney General Alberto Gonzales for allegedly lying to Congress "is the classic case where it has to be looked at by someone other than the Justice Department." ... Full story
DOWNLOADING HEAVEN Newsweek, Aug. 6 -- The audio-Bible craze poses a question: should Jesus and Madonna (the singing one) go on the same iPod? Lauren Winner, an assistant professor at Duke Divinity School, comments. ... Full story
THE FUTURE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY? HOW ABOUT MICRO-ROBOTS? BusinessWeek, July 25 -- Bruce Donald, a computer science and biochemistry professor at Duke, likens his "machine," which is as wide as a strand of human hair, to a robot. (Watch a video from a recent lecture he gave at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.) ... Full story
2007 NATIONAL CIVIL RIGHTS MUSEUM FREEDOM AWARD RECIPIENTS ANNOUNCED (Memphis) WMC-TV's Action News 5, July 26 -- Duke historian John Hope Franklin and a former NBA superstar will share top honors from the National Civil Rights Museum this fall. ... Full story