uncnews.unc.edu

Here is a sampling of links and notes about Carolina people and programs cited recently in the media:

International Coverage

You are what you drink!
The Courier-Islander (Canada)
Barry Popkin got into the science of nutrition 45 years ago because he wanted to end hunger. Twenty years later, Dr. Popkin shifted gears. His goal now is to get people of the world to weigh less. One of his targets is our choice in what we drink. "Soft drinks are linked to diabetes and obesity in the way that tobacco is to lung cancer," says Popkin, a professor of Global Nutrition at the University of North Carolina.

National Coverage

Ridding body of old "zombie" cells slows aging process, study shows
CBS News
It's not quite the fountain of youth, but Mayo Clinic scientists may have hit upon a way to slow the aging process. The key, they report in a tantalizing new study, is purging the body of senescent cells - old "zombie" cells that no longer work as they should. ..."I am very excited by the results," Dr. Norman E. Sharpless, University of North Carolina expert on aging, told the Times. "It suggests therapies that might work in real patients."

From the Diddy Bow to Bo Diddley
"The Story" American Public Media
We regularly check in with Bill Ferris, one of this country's most outstanding folklorists. Today, Dick Gordon talks with Bill about the "single strand" instruments that led the way to the blues that we know today. Bill was in rural Mississippi with a tape recorder in the 1970s, when for the first time in his life he heard a single strand of wire being played as a musical instrument. The wire was fixed to the side of a wooden shack, and played with a bottle.

AHA and ACC Update Secondary Prevention Guidelines
Forbes
...“Unless improvements are made in your behavior and medical therapy, the same blood vessel problem that caused your first heart attack or stroke can occur again – and may result in death – so long-term changes need to be initiated to get the vascular disease under control,” said Sidney C. Smith, Jr., M.D., chair of the guideline writing group and professor of medicine at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. The guidelines are important because increasing numbers of older adults are living with cardiovascular disease, and in clinical practice many patients are not getting indicated therapies, Smith said.

Screen-spy program can read texts and emails
New Scientist.com
Next time you're tapping off a private text message or sensitive email in a public place, consider this: someone could be reading every letter you type from up to 60 metres away. "We can be in the second floor of a building and read a phone on the ground," says computer vision researcher Jan-Michael Frahm, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Frahm and Fabian Monrose, also of UNC-Chapel Hill, have built a program, dubbed iSpy, that can identify text typed on a touchscreen from video footage of the screen or even its reflection in windows or sunglasses.

State and Local Coverage

NC State, UNC chancellors convene for forum on economy
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University will sponsor a forum “A Way Forward: Building a Globally Competitive South,” on Nov. 17 in Cary. UNC-Chapel Hill Chancellor Holden Thorp and NC State Chancellor Randy Woodson plan to attend the free public forum from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., with a reception to follow, at the world headquarters of business analytics software company SAS at 100 SAS Campus Drive in Cary.
UNC Release:
http://uncnews.unc.edu/content/view/4887/67/

Study to track best college paths to finding good jobs
The Triangle Business Journal
...A federally funded project by the Center for the Analysis of Postsecondary Education and Employment will analyze student transcripts and various forms of state employment information to see how a student’s chosen course of study impacts his or her future employability, according to Arne Kalleberg, a professor of sociology at UNC-Chapel Hill and a lead researcher on the project.

Fun...At A Hospital? UNC Health Care Holds Annual Fair
WCHL 1360-AM (Chapel Hill)
Friday, UNC Health Care will hold its 6th Annual Multicultural Fair at UNC Hospitals, to promote tolerance and celebrate Chapel Hill’s diversity. UNC Health Care internal communications specialist Ginger Moore says employees and outside vendors alike get involved in the fair. "We invite all employees," she says, "but then on top of that we have outside vendors who come in to sell handmade cultural crafts."

Duke sees big rise in Early Admission applicants
WNCN-TV (NBC/Raleigh)
...UNC-Chapel Hill, for example, has a non-binding Early Action program but dropped its binding Early Decision in 2002. "We want to encourage students to approach their education seriously, not by using strategy, and we hope to contribute to a national climate that encourages thoughtful choice," Chancellor James Moeser said at the time.

UNC eyes tuition hike as high as $2,800 a year
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
In the aftermath of record state budget cuts, North Carolina's public universities are bracing for an angst-ridden debate over tuition increases this year - with some large hikes under consideration. A tuition advisory group at UNC-Chapel Hill will gather in a few weeks to vote on a recommendation to raise tuition and fees by as much as $2,800 for in-state undergraduates - an increase of nearly 40 percent if enacted in one year. Recognizing that such an increase might not be palatable, the panel will consider whether it should be spread out over two, three or maybe four years, Provost Bruce Carney said.

Banking on Helping the Banks
The Triangle Business Journal
Community bank specialist Tony Gaeta had been a practicing attorney for nearly three decades when, back in 1999, he decided it was time to go out on his own. ...Gaeta has been a long-time lecturer at the Center for Banking and Finance in the UNC-Chapel Hill School of Law.

Coaches heat up UNC, N.C. State rivalry
The News & Observer (Raleigh)
Even by the standards of the often heated rivalry between UNC-Chapel Hill and N.C. State, Thursday was an eye-popper. N.C. State coach Tom O’Brien became so angry that he was shaking after hearing UNC interim coach Everett Withers’ comments about N.C. State’s academics, responding that UNC had committed a “triple play” of NCAA violations. UNC-Chapel Hill chancellor Holden Thorp and N.C. State chancellor Randy Woodson exchanged apologies.

Issues and Trends

Coalition wants town to cancel Halloween
The Chapel Hill Herald
Saying that Halloween on Franklin Street has “morphed into a costumed drunkfest,” the local Coalition for Alcohol and Drug Free Teenagers is calling for the Town of Chapel Hill to stop sponsoring the event.