Duke in the News: Sept. 25, 2007

BIG GIFT FOR DUKE HEALTH STUDY (Raleigh) News & Observer, Sept. 25 -- The largest gift in the history of Duke's medical school, $35 million, on Monday marked the beginning of a landmark health study in North Carolina. ... Full story --Also, Charlotte Observer: Duke Will Track Health of Kannapolis ... Full story WRAL.com: Duke Gets $35 Million for Disease-Fighting Study ... Full story (Durham) Herald-Sun: Medical Center Given $35M ... Full story Herald-Sun: Murdock Receives White Coat After Huge Gift ... Full story Duke Med News: Largest Gift in Duke University School of Medicine History to Fund Landmark Study ... Full story

BOLLINGER STANDS TALL IN CONTROVERSY Newsday, Sept. 25 -- Duke law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, an expert in academic freedom, says Columbia University President Lee Bollinger's introductory critique of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Monday was "exactly the right thing to do in a situation like this." ... Full story

WHAT'S WEIRDER THAN A BLACK HOLE? MAYBE A NAKED ONE Wired Science, Sept. 25 -- A team of Duke and Cambridge researchers has outlined a new twist on the theory of relativity, in which a fast-spanning black hole might shed some of the natural shields that keep scientists from observing it directly, becoming what they call a "naked" singularity. ... Full story --Also, Duke News: Seeking Objects 'Weirder Than Black Holes' ... Full story

DUKE PRESIDENT PLANS CHANGES TO ATHLETICS Herald-Sun, Sept. 25 -- Duke President Richard H. Brodhead is signaling that he wants to improve Duke's football team, the newspaper reports. ... Full story

FRESH THINKING ON DRINKING Financial Times, Sept. 22 -- Weekly Standard senior editor Christopher Caldwell reviews Duke public policy professor Phil Cook's new book, "Paying the Tab," a comprehensive study of the effectiveness of alcohol control policies. ... Full story

SHINGLES VACCINE PROVES PAINFUL Washington Post, Sept. 25 -- Dr. Kenneth Schmader, chief of geriatrics at Duke University Medical Center who heads the research committee for the American Geriatrics Society, says a "free-for-all" in the pricing of a shingles vaccine has resulted in patients not being immunized. ... Full story

WITH FEAR AND WONDER IN ITS WAKE, SPUTNIK LIFTED US INTO THE FUTURE New York Times, Sept. 25 -- Alex Roland, a historian of technology at Duke and a former NASA historian, reflects on the space race. (See page 2.) ... Full story

WHEN IT GOES WRONG... The Economist, Sept. 20 -- Duke professor Steven Schwarcz discusses securitization and the transfer of risk, the process by which a generation has prospered -- until now. ... Full story

CHURCH NURSES AIM TO FILL IN U.S. HEALTH CARE GAPS New York Times, Reuters, Sept. 23 -- Alyson Breisch, who trains parish nurses at Duke and also nurses at her own church, discusses a growing congregational nursing movement. ... Full story

ON THE AIR Martha Reeves, visiting professor of women's studies and sociology at Duke, will be among the guests today on North Carolina Public Radio's "The State of Things," talking about women who opt to stay at home with children, in what has been called a "return to traditionalism." ... Details/listen