Duke in the News: Jan. 8, 2004

GLOBAL WARMING THREATENS MILLIONS OF SPECIES New Scientist, Jan. 7 -- Global warming may drive a quarter of land animals and plants to the edge of extinction by 2050, a major international study has warned. "The broad conclusions are very solid, and very sound, and very alarming," says Stuart Pimm, an expert in extinctions and biodiversity at Duke University. ...Full story --Also, NPR's All Things Considered: Study Connects Extinction and Climate (Duke biology professor Rob Jackson interviewed; link to audio; transcript upon request.) Full story

MEASURING COSTS OF IRAQ WAR NPR's All Things Considered, Jan. 7 -- Peter Feaver, a former National Security Council staff member who teaches political science at Duke, says the number of servicemen and women who are wounded or become ill in Iraq will run in "the hundreds if not the thousands on a monthly basis." (Link to audio; transcript available upon request.) ...Full story

ANTI-RADIATION PILLS PROVIDE INEXPENSIVE PRECAUTION (Durham) Herald-Sun, Jan. 8 -- People who buy potassium iodide tablets should be careful not to let anybody use them unless told to do so by public health officials responding to a radiation disaster, said Susan Spratt, an endocrinologist at Duke University Medical Center. ...Full story

IRS SEEKS $5.2 BILLION FROM GSK (Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 8 -- The Internal Revenue Service has ordered GlaxoSmithKline, the world's second-largest drug maker, to pay $5.2 billion in back taxes and interest. Richard Schmalbeck, a law professor at Duke University, comments. ... Full story

IGSP ADDS GENOMIC MEDICINE (Duke) Chronicle, Jan. 8 -- The Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy kicked off the new year with the formation of the Center for Genomic Medicine, the critical link connecting scientific research with practical health care models, officials said. ... Full story

DUKE ENDOWMENT ELECTS TRUSTEE Charlotte Business Journal, Jan. 7 -- The Duke Endowment has elected Dennis Campbell a trustee. Campbell served as dean of the divinity school and professor of theology at Duke University from 1982 until 1997. ... Full story

NYSE MAY ASK SPITZER TO RECOUP GRASSO PAYMENT, PERSON SAYS Bloomberg News, Jan. 7 -- Walter Dellinger, a Duke law professor and partner at O'Melveny & Myers LLP in Washington, said he has been hired to advise the board of the New York Stock Exchange on its best course of action in the case of former NYSE Chairman Richard Grasso. ... Full story

BANKING TITAN FINDS SELF IN CROSSFIRE The Providence Journal, Bloomberg, Jan. 8 -- James Cox, a corporate and securities law professor at Duke University, comments on Bank of America's plans as it faces several SEC probes and is under scrutiny for its part in the bankruptcy of Parmalat. ... Full story

ON THE AIR Duke ecology professor Stuart Pimm will talk about the ecological consequences of global climate change on NPR's Science Friday at 2 p.m. this Friday, Jan. 9. Listen live locally on WUNC (91.5 FM) or through your computer (link below). ...Listen