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Duke in the News: Jan. 9, 2004

$72-Million Gift Completes Duke Campaign | Bush Seeks Manned Mars Trip | Chemical Company: No Brain Tumor Link, and more

$72-MILLION GIFT COMPLETES DUKE CAPITAL CAMPAIGN WITH A FLOURISH Chronicle of Higher Education, Jan. 9 -- Duke University announced on Thursday that it had received a gift of $72-million, the largest in its history, from two alumni, Peter M. and Ruth Virginia Lilly Nicholas, of Boston. The bulk of the money, about $70-million, will be used to to strengthen study of the environment. ... Full story --Also, (Raleigh) News & Observer: $72 Million Gift to Duke Sets University Record Full story Charlotte Observer: Donations for Duke Swell Over $2 Billion (Free registration required.) Full story (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun: $72M Duke Gift Caps Fund-Raiser Full story (Duke) Chronicle: Largest Gift Ever: Nicholases Donate $72M Full story WRAL.com: Duke Caps $2.3 Billion Campaign With Record $72 Million Gift Full story

BUSH SEEKS MANNED MARS TRIP Chicago Tribune, Jan. 9 -- "It's hard to think of it in any other terms except absurd," Alex Roland, a former NASA historian and a professor of history at Duke University, said of President Bush's expected proposal to send U.S. astronauts back to the moon within the next decade and then on to Mars. (Free registration required.) ... Full story

CHEMICAL COMPANY: NO BRAIN TUMOR LINK New York Times, Jan. 9 -- Clear links between brain tumors and environmental factors are hard to prove, experts say. "No one has yet nailed an environmental factor, not even cell phones," said Dr. Henry S. Friedman of the Brain Tumor Center at Duke University. (Free registration required.) ... Full story

CONVERSATION: 'A SMALL NATION' PBS NewsHour, Jan. 8 -- Gwen Ifill spoke with photographic historian Deborah Willis, who recently wrote "A Small Nation of People" about a 1900 exhibit of photos by W.E.B. Du Bois, some of which go on display today at Duke University's John Hope Franklin Center. (Transcript not available online; link provided to home page.) ...Full story --Also, (Durham, N.C.) Herald-Sun: Duke Show Features 1900 Du Bois Photos Full story

ROWSEY IS PUT TO DEATH (Raleigh) News & Observer, Jan. 9 -- John Booth, a Duke University assistant professor of anesthesiology, said that given the high doses of drugs that North Carolina prison officials say they use, it is quite unlikely that death row inmates feel pain during executions. ... Full story

ALTERNATIVE MODES OF TRANSPORT PICK UP SPEED AT DUKE, RDU WRAL.com, Jan. 8 -- The Segway, used by police at Duke University, has two wheels, travels 12.5 mph and turns heads just about everywhere on campus. ...Full story

HIP CLICKS USA Today, Jan. 8 -- A link to Duke University's experts on pop culture, arts, film, theater and other cultural topics is featured among reader-approved Web sites. ... 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. today, Jan. 9. Listen live locally on WUNC (91.5 FM) or through your computer (link below). ...Listen