November 2023 Media Highlights

The Atlantic - Plant seeds are stuck - In Guam, forest trees had relied on seven main species of disperser—six birds and one bat—and the tree snakes decimated them. When [Haldre] Rogers arrived, only one bird disperser remained, and in a limited range, and she says the bat population was down to about 50 individuals. “So, basically, no seed dispersal,” says Rogers, now an ecologist at Virginia Tech.

Wall Street Journal - Capitol Hill Targets Legacy Preferences for College Admissions - Some selective schools, including Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and Amherst College in Amherst, Mass., said they stopped the practice before the Supreme Court’s affirmative-action decision. Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., and Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn., said they would no longer consider an applicant’s legacy status in their admissions practices in more recent months. Colorado lawmakers banned legacy admissions at public universities in the state in 2021.

Nexstar - 5 dog breeds this veterinarian says he’d never own — and why - Mitral valve disease — This heart disease is very common in dogs but it’s especially common in Cavaliers. As explained by Virginia Tech’s Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Cavaliers are also more likely to develop it at younger ages and with a higher severity than other breeds. What’s more, the college says there aren’t that many great treatment options for dogs with the disease. Simpson-Vernon adds, sadly: “Many of them spend their last days coughing and spluttering, struggling to breathe, and ultimately dying of heart failure.”

The Boston Globe - The AI boom is shaking up the tech industry and moving markets. But is it all a mirage? “ - We should not take these claims of multiple-trillion-dollar industries seriously, because these are exactly the kinds of claims you see made about new technologies all the time, and they almost never come true,” said Lee Vinsel, a professor at Virginia Tech who studies the history of technology and tech bubbles. “It’s like we just have collective amnesia.”

The Seattle Times - Seattle rode the wave of the New Economy, yet the downside remains - Virginia Tech professor of science, technology, and society Lee Vinsel offered this benediction: “‘The New Economy’ died in 2002,” he wrote. “I think this moment is worth studying because in many ways it was [a] noteworthy exception to American economic doldrums from the 1970s to the present, and looking at it allows us to see how intelligent people bought into a story and made bad projections based on momentary prosperity.”

San Diego Union-Tribune - Gardening hobby can flourish despite physical limits - Instead of gardening on the ground, try container gardening, which involves growing plants in pots or bins. Put the container at a height that is easy to reach, and make sure you can move the container easily, said Phyllis Turner, 77, a Virginia Cooperative Extension master gardener with arthritis who teaches seminars on adaptive gardening. [Reprinted from September Washington Post]

Science Alert - We're Disrupting Another Major Earth Cycle, And No One's Talking About It - While geological and hydrological processes naturally bring salt up to Earth's surface over long time spans, we're speeding up this natural flow due to mining, land development, and the use of road salts to melt ice. Researchers from the University of Maryland, the University of Connecticut, Virginia Tech and other institutions have all combined their expertise to document what they describe as an "existential threat" to supplies of freshwater.

Newsweek - Tears Shed Over Moment 'Starved and Neglected' Foster Puppy Finds Voice - A group of researchers from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and Arizona State University looked into canine foster caregiving at 19 U.S. animal shelters during the first four months of the coronavirus pandemic.

CNN Romania - Interview with Brian Britt (Virginia Tech PID required to view) - A discussion of the religious and historical background that informs the Israel/Hamas War.

Foreign Policy - Russia Is Shrugging Off Sanctions - By John V.C. Nye, a professor of economics at George Mason University and the Bastiat chair in political economy at the Mercatus Center, and Maria Snegovaya, a postdoctoral fellow in political science at Virginia Tech.

Fox LiveNow - Voters hit the polls for general elections - Voters are hitting the polls today for the 2023 general elections. Karen Hult, professor at Virginia Tech breaks down what's at stake for the state.

Atlas Obscura - How Canned Food Went From Military Rations to Fancy Appetizers - “The canning word, and the reference to the can itself, is kind of secondary,” explains Anna Zeide. Zeide is an associate professor of history at Virginia Tech and the author of Canned: The Rise and Fall of Consumer Confidence in the American Food Industry. In fact, she says, the process of hermetically sealing food and heating the containers to kill any bacteria was originally called “appertizing,”after Appert himself.

Business Insider - The Asian longhorned tick spreading across the US can clone itself thousands of times and even kill cattle - "The tick will be a nuisance and it is spreading," Kevin Lahmers, a clinical associate professor at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, told Insider. "It will cover most of the eastern half of the US — that's most likely."

Smithsonian - An Invasive Tick That Can Clone Itself Is Spreading Across the U.S., Threatening Livestock - “The tick will be a nuisance, and it is spreading,” Kevin Lahmers, an anatomic pathologist at the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine who was not involved with the study, tells Jenny McGrath of Business Insider. “It will cover most of the eastern half of the U.S.—that’s most likely.”

Business Insider - Dolly Parton, Taylor Swift, and more celebrities with species named after them - Derek Hennen is a Taylor Swift fan. "Her music helped me get through the highs and lows of graduate school, so naming a new millipede species after her is my way of saying thanks," the Virginia Tech researcher said in a statement. The Nannaria swiftae is an invertebrate that helps decompose plant matter, an important process for returning nutrients to the ecosystem in the Appalachian Mountains. They do not, however, weave little webs of opacity.

Business Insider - Naming a species after a celebrity may do more harm than good - A Virginia Tech researcher made headlines for naming a millipede after Taylor Swift. It seemed like a smart move, as everyday arthropods rarely make history, and this sort of publicity can help bring awareness, according to a recent paper.

New York Times - Why We’re Still Breathing Dirty Indoor Air - “The push for clean water is considered one of the 10 biggest public health advances of the last century, and air should be no different,” said Linsey Marr, an expert in airborne transmission of viruses at Virginia Tech.

Associated Press - Biden declares emergency over lead in water in US Virgin Islands - But experts consulted by The Associated Press said the frightening results may be false because they came from testing that does not meet EPA standards. “The data should be thrown into the garbage,” said Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech lead and water expert who helped identify the lead problems in Flint, Michigan.

NPR - Close friends can help you live longer but they can spread some bad habits too - "We need different people," says Rosemary Blieszner, a professor emerita of human development and family science at Virginia Tech who was not involved with the new study. "We need the emotional satisfaction of feeling close to people, and feeling like you belong to a group, and to have your self-worth reinforced, and to share interests with others."

TIME  -  U.S. Virgin Islands Is in a State of Emergency Over Lead in Water. Here’s What to Know - Some experts are concerned that the way samples were collected led to a misleading assessment of lead levels in the water. Marc Edwards, a Virginia Tech professor of civil and environmental engineering who helped identify the high lead levels in Flint, Michigan, said that he suspected the data was not sampled correctly.

USA Today - Does Black Friday or Cyber Monday have better deals? How to save the most in 2023 -  “Black Friday and Cyber Monday are still big shopping days − there will be plenty of deals... However, of late, consumer interest has been dwindling,” Rajesh Bagchi, a professor of marketing at the Pamplin College of Business at Virginia Tech told USA TODAY.

Newsweek - Alzheimer's Mystery Could Be Solved by New Brain Probe - The research is being undertaken by professors Xiaoting Jia and Harald Sontheimer of Virginia Tech and professor Song Hu of the Washington University in St. Louis.

Los Angeles Times - Often overwhelmed on big campuses, rural college students push for support - Inspired by the Chico initiative, Virginia Tech plans to create a physical space for rural students, said Amy Azano, a professor of adolescent literacy and rural education there. Even though the 38,000-student university is surrounded by rural communities, she said, it can still be overwhelming for rural students.

The Guardian - He’s correctly predicting the US’s most critical elections. He’s still in college - In the lead-up to election day, [Chaz] Nuttycombe, a 24-year-old senior at Virginia Tech, had predicted that the Republican candidates would win both. But his final forecast in Virginia gave Democrats a 61% chance of winning control of the house of delegates and a 71% chance of holding control in the state senate. (Also referenced in Politico’s Playbook)

Earth - House finches become more social when they're sick Contrary to the widespread practice of social distancing in humans, house finches exhibit an increased tendency to socialize when they are sick, particularly during feeding times. This is the conclusion of a recent study led by Marissa Langager, a Ph.D student in the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Earth - Rabies-infected vampire bats may extend their habitat into the U.S. - A study led by Virginia Tech PhD student Paige Van de Vuurst has recently shed light on the alarming prospect of vampire bats extending their habitat into the United States, potentially bringing with them an ancient and deadly pathogen – rabies.

Smithsonian - The Watermen of the Chesapeake Bay and More Captivating Programs in December Monday, December 11 - The American Civil War and the World: In this fascinating presentation, Paul Quigley, director of the Virginia Center for Civil War Studies and the James I. Robertson, Jr. associate professor of Civil War history at Virginia Tech, explores international perspectives on the Civil War, ranging from ideological affinities to economic calculations to strategic considerations.

Fortune - A new study on the Mediterranean diet offers the strongest proof yet that it’s associated with healthy brain aging - “This study, for the first time, demonstrates deficits in important dietary antioxidants in Alzheimer’s brains,” Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine professor C. Kathleen Dorey said at the time, in a news release about the study. “We believe eating carotenoid-rich diets will help keep brains in top condition at all ages,” she added.

Inside Higher Ed - Campus Engagement Tip: Create Spaces for Student Success - Virginia Tech — Brain Gym: As part of a new Innovation Campus, located in North Potomac Yard, Va., Virginia Tech will add a Brain Gym within the first academic building. Unlike a wellness space or low-sensory space, the brain gym is meant to occupy your brain in “resetting after hard events at work,” according to the space designer.

The Chronicle of Higher Education - Where Do Turkeys Go After Pardons? College. - In 2016, the National Turkey Federation started sending the turkeys to Virginia Tech, which created an enclosure dubbed “Gobbler’s Rest” for the occasion.

The Chronicle of Higher Ed - Can This University Make Scooters Safer? - Virginia Tech considers itself a “living laboratory,” said Mike Mollenhauer, the transportation institute’s division director of technology implementation and the principal investigator for the study. The institute has also conducted research on self-driving cars and road-safety technology.

Fox News Edge - Discussing war at the Thanksgiving table - Todd Schenk, Associate Professor in the School of Public and International Affairs at Virginia Tech, says it's the job of the host not only to set the table and mood of the meal, but also to help establish boundaries before digging into the conversation is long. [Cision clip via WVBT - aired on local Fox stations]

Scripps - Food banks need more help than usual this season - (Aired on local stations across US) “A lot of food banks around the country are facing this dual issue of people aren't giving as much and the people going there are needing more,” said Jadrian Wooten, an associate professor of economics at Virginia Tech.

Verify - Refrigerated Thanksgiving leftovers are safe to eat for 4 days - Minh Duong, a postdoctoral associate of food safety at Virginia Tech, says food sitting in the refrigerator for more than four days allows bacteria, called spoilage microorganisms, to build up, which is why leftovers can sometimes have a rank smell or look unappealing when stored for too long. “When in doubt, throw it out,” said Duong. “It's not worth making yourself sick or your loved ones sick just to have that extra Thanksgiving meal.”

Verify - No, hot food doesn’t need to cool down before going in the fridge - Minh Duong, a postdoctoral associate of food safety at Virginia Tech, said it’s important to set refrigerators to 40 F or lower and to have adequate airflow. “Something you might want to try to avoid is stacking containers on top of each other,” Duong said. “This will allow you to prevent uniform distribution of the air in your fridge.”

Insider - The best senior dog food of 2023 - Wet dog food has a higher moisture content, typically 75% to 78%, whereas dry dog food contains only about 10% to 12% moisture. This is a perk for pups prone to dehydration or ones with reduced kidney function, which is common in older dogs, says Dr. Mark Freeman, a veterinarian and assistant professor of community practice at Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine.