May 2024 Media Highlights

New York Times (also Yahoo News) - How to Know When a Good Dog Has Gone Bad - “We have lots of tools in our tool belt — medication, lots of different behavioral interventions as well — before you get to the step where you’re, like, I can’t handle this dog,” said Erica Feuerbacher, an expert on dog behavior and learning at Virginia Tech. “That’s what I’d want, is that they’d really value their dog’s life and give their dog its best chance of having a full, long life.”

New York Times - How Bad Are Ultraprocessed Foods, Really? - “If you look at the ingredient list and you see things that you wouldn’t use in home cooking, then that’s probably an ultraprocessed food,” said Brenda Davy, a nutrition professor at Virginia Tech.

CNN - Earth’s magnetic field almost collapsed 591 million years ago. It may have allowed complex life to thrive - Traditionally, the rise in oxygen during this time has been attributed to photosynthetic organisms such as cyanobacteria, which produced oxygen, allowing it to build up in the water steadily over time, explained study coauthor Shuhai Xiao, a professor of geobiology at Virginia Tech.

Smithsonian Magazine - Earth’s Magnetic Field Nearly Collapsed 600 Million Years Ago. Then, Weird and Complex Life Evolved - Previously, the scientific consensus held that photosynthesizing organisms like cyanobacteria created the surplus of oxygen during the Ediacaran, and it accumulated in the oceans over time, study co-author Shuhai Xiao, a geobiologist at Virginia Tech, writes to CNN. The new findings don’t necessarily disprove this idea—instead, they might show the Earth gained oxygen in multiple ways.

CNN - Cicadas rising: A visual guide to 2024’s rare dual appearance - How does one cicada compare with the sizes of other insects? Note: Approximate measurements, excludes antennae and wings of insects Sources: National Geographic, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Harvard University, University of Florida, Missouri Department of Conservation, University of Kentucky.

Mashable - Cicadas love to land on people. Experts explain why. - So what's going on? When cicadas emerge, they seek out trees, the places where they often congregate, mate, and ultimately lay eggs on the ends of branches. And to a cicada, trees and people have similarities. "Cicadas land on people because they strongly resemble trees," explained Eric Day, an entomologist and cicada expert at Virginia Tech. "It's rare to see a cicada on the ground."

Axios - Just say no to #NoMowMay in Virginia - Zoom in: In Virginia, timing is the main issue [with] NoMowMay, Virginia Tech turf specialist and associate professor of agriculture Mike Goatley tells the Virginia Cooperative Extension. Dandelions and clover, which would be the primary pollen source for bees if you let your lawn go, actually peak in April in Virginia. And how often you ought to mow depends on what kind of grass you have.

Salon - Fireflies populations are dwindling, but it doesn't take much to provide spaces for them to thrive - “The presence of fireflies indicates a diverse habitat … essential to ensuring future generations are able to enjoy the natural wonder of skies lit up by them,” said Virginia Tech’s Eric Day, an entomologist and manager of the school’s Insect ID Lab, in a recent release. “Where you see them all depends on location. Old hay fields near creeks will have normal populations, but highly manicured lawns rarely have fireflies.”

Axios - Lightning bugs are under threat, but Richmonders can create the right environment for them to thrive - Loss of habitat is the biggest threat to lightning bugs, Eric Day, Virginia Tech's Insect ID Lab manager, tells Axios. That's because the conditions they need to thrive — cold winters, hot and humid summers, damp areas with a variety of native plants or brush, and dark nights — are rapidly disappearing.

Newsweek - Boeing's New Problem Is Far From Its Crisis - "If you look back into the history of launch vehicles, there's also a long history of scrubbing launches for safety and other reasons. This is a normal thing that happens," said Ella Atkins, who is the head of the Kevin T. Crofton Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering at Virginia Tech. "It's not the case that this would be connected to Boeing's other problems, because this is a totally different team at Boeing," Atkins said.

Newsweek - Virginia Map Shows Where State Could Be Underwater From Sea Level Rise - To complicate matters further, Virginia is also sinking. The problem, known as land subsidence, is partly due to natural geological processes and also from human activities such as the extraction of groundwater from deep in the earth. A study by Virginia Tech showed that in some areas, the land in Hampton Roads is sinking faster than the rising sea.

The Weather Network (Canada) - Millions at risk as land sinks beneath major coastal cities, study finds - Researchers from Virginia Tech and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) analyzed satellite data from 2007 and 2020 to measure how much the land sank or rose along the East Coast from Maine all the way to the southern tip of Florida. The analysis found that most coastal cities are subsiding at a rate of 1 mm per year. That may not seem like much, but some communities are subsiding at a rate of 5+ mm per year.

Discover - The Difference Between Zepbound and Ozempic, and How They Work - Though Ozempic and Zepbound are different types, they both serve as GLP-1 agonists. These drugs mimic the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, which is produced in the small intestine after a meal. “The interesting thing about the compound (GLP-1) is it seems to have effects across diverse systems in the body,” says Warren Bickel, a behavioral pharmacologist at Virginia Tech.

Associated Press - Ship that struck Baltimore bridge had 4 blackouts before disaster. Here’s what we know - Stefano Brizzolara, a professor of ocean engineering at Virginia Tech, pointed out that the crew switched to a configuration that hadn’t been used for several months, describing it as like putting on a pair of shoes that you haven’t worn in a long time that have become “hard and stiff.” “Every time you switch to electrical components that are not normally used, the risk of failure increases a little bit,” he said.

NPR Marketplace - David Bieri on food inflation - “That zero point zero percent inflation rate for food is a little deceiving”, says David Bieri. He teaches economics and public policy at Virginia Tech. “Within that category, food pressures for dining at home have gone down, but price pressures for dining out have gone up.” Restaurant menu prices are still catching up to inflation and labor shortages and everything else the pandemic made difficult.

Money - Deflation vs. Disinflation: What’s Better for the Economy? - Thanks in no small part to the Fed’s rate hikes over the past couple years, the massive price increases have abated. As of March, inflation had reached 3.5%. What’s been happening is so far disinflation, according to Jadrian Wooten, an economist at Virginia Tech. With disinflation, prices are still going up... but slower than before. He says deflation, on the other hand, is something “very different.” By definition, deflation is when the price level of goods and services sees a sustained decrease.

Associated Press (also in U.S. News & World Report, Fortune, Fast Company, MSN, and many others) - Katy Perry and Rihanna didn’t attend the Met Gala. But AI-generated images still fooled fans - “It used to be that seeing is believing, and now seeing is not believing,” said Cayce Myers, a professor and director of graduate studies at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication — pointing to the impact of Monday’s AI-generated Perry image. “(If) even a mother can be fooled into thinking that the image is real, that shows you the level of sophistication that this technology now has.”

Fox Business - Why AI Accuracy is Crucial for Road Safety - Fortunately, research institutions are beginning to conduct benchmarking studies to help companies choose providers that can back up their claims. For example, studies by the Virginia Tech Transportation Institute and Strategy Analytics show that the Motive AI Dashcam successfully alerts drivers and managers to unsafe driving behavior 3-4x more than competitors.

Forbes - Why AI Models Need A Tune Up - The primary challenge in this space thus far has come down to determining whether the response from an LLM is adequate without needing further escalation. A study by researchers from George Mason University, Microsoft and Virginia Tech titled "Large Language Model Cascades With Mixture of Thought Representations for Cost-Efficient Reasoning" introduces a function that assesses the adequacy of an LLM's response without relying on additional models, thereby reducing costs significantly.

NBC News - AI image misinformation has surged, Google researchers find - Cayce Myers, a public relations professor and graduate studies director at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, said context manipulations can be even harder to detect than AI-generated images because they already look authentic. “In that sense, that’s a much more insidious problem,” Myers, who reviewed the recent findings prior to being interviewed, said.

Wired - Does String Theory Actually Describe the World? AI May Be Able to Tell - “Does string theory make unique predictions? Is it really physics? The jury is just still out,” said Lara Anderson, a physicist at Virginia Tech who has spent much of her career trying to link strings with particles. “We aren’t at the point of saying these are the rules for our universe,” Anderson said. “But it’s a big step in the right direction.”

Vox - Who’s the father? For these baby animals, one doesn’t exist. - One researcher I spoke to, Warren Booth at Virginia Tech, told me he once believed parthenogenesis was pretty rare in snakes. Then he published a paper about parthenogenesis in one species, and suddenly snake breeders and researchers started sending him specimens and accounts of parthenogenesis from all kinds of reptile species.

Forbes - Explore Virginia’s New River Valley: What To Do Near Virginia Tech - The New River Valley in Southwest Virginia is a scenic vacation spot and the home to Virginia Tech, a large public university in Blacksburg, Virginia. It’s located in Montgomery County which touches three river drainages – New River, James River, and Roanoke River – so there’s an abundance of outdoor activities available. You’ll also find a classic cinema, a charming bookstore, an innovative arts center, and lots more. Here are the things you shouldn’t miss when you visit the valley.

Business Insider - The best senior dog food in 2024, with advice from veterinarians - 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.

Newsmax - Scientists Solve Mystery of Urban Cockroach Origin - According to Warren Booth, an associate professor of urban entomology at Virginia Tech, the German cockroach is a major public health issue because of its links to disease spread, food contamination, and its role in triggering asthma and allergies.

New York Times - How the Cockroach Took Over the World - “It makes perfect sense,” said Dini Miller, a professor of urban pest management at Virginia Tech who was not involved in the study. “We provided them with food, moisture and warmth. And they have just been with us basically ever since.”

New York Times - What Trump Looks Like to Historians - Laura Belmonte, a history professor and the dean of the Virginia Tech College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences, told the BBC: “The moment I found jaw-dropping was the press conference Trump had with Vladimir Putin in 2018 in Helsinki, where he took Putin’s side over U.S. intelligence in regard to Russian interference in the election. I can’t think of another episode of a president siding full force with a nondemocratic society adversary.”

Today - Why do teens say, ‘Fax, No Printer’? | Kelly Elizabeth Wright, a postdoctoral research fellow in language sciences at Virginia Tech, tells TODAY.com: “It follows from similar youth-aligned usage, such as ‘I’m picking up what you’re putting down’ and ‘say less,’ giving us a window into the long time tradition of publicly and jovially hyping up those with whom we align.”

AARP Bulletin - The AARP Guide to Modern Problems and Their Solutions - “AI content has been increasing rapidly, and a problem with artificial intelligence is that it makes it easier to create disinformation, especially when fabricated images can be add- ed that seem to back up the story. But closely vetting all the information we come across online would be too much for anyone. So focus your fact-checking energy.” —Julia Feerrar, head of digital literacy initiatives and associate professor at the University Libraries at Virginia Tech

Mother Jones - “No Mow May” Won’t Fix Our Biodiversity Problems - The imperatives to remove lawns span a range of concerns: managing scarce water, building climate resiliency, boosting biodiversity, and even supporting mental health. As J. Leighton Reid, a restoration ecologist at Virginia Tech, put it, any change is probably better than the status quo. “It almost goes without needing evidence to say that a lawn has lower biodiversity than a native ecosystem,” he said. “I mean, that’s just inevitably going to be the case.”

C-SPAN - The West Virginia Mine Wars - Virginia Tech lecturer Taulby Edmondson discussed unionization efforts in the West Virginia mining industry that led to a series of armed conflicts in the 1910s and 1920s. Virginia Tech is located in Blacksburg.

CNN - These innovative airline cabin concepts could be the future of flying - Meanwhile the University of Virginia Tech worked with Boeing, All Wheels Up and Collins Aerospace on its Wheelchair Space and Securement System (WSSS). This hook-based device works to allow wheelchair users to stay in their wheelchairs for the duration of the flight. This design’s now the basis of Collins Aerospace’ wheelchair aircraft solution – on display at this year’s Aircraft Interiors Expo and attracting a lot of industry buzz.

New York Post - Home prices could play an important role in the 2024 election — and the reason might surprise you - “The counties that make the national results flip parties, they do well,” says [Sherwood] Clements, a collegiate assistant professor of real estate at Virginia Tech. “Whatever counties voted for Biden last time and vote for Trump this time, if you believe our research, they’re going to have home prices rising if Trump wins.”

AARP Magazine - Washed Away - Water doesn’t discriminate by age, of course. In the devastating floods that hit Southern California in February — caused by a record-setting “atmospheric river” of rain — people of all ages lost power, lost their homes. Nine lost their lives. But the impact of flooding specifically on older people is “often underappreciated,” says Anamaria Bukvic, a Virginia Tech assistant professor who studies that impact.

Forbes - Naked Economy Seats And Cabin Innovations At AIX 2024 - The airline industry wants to improve air travel’s mobility and accessibility, ensuring dignity for disabled passengers. Other innovations for this year’s Crystal Cabin Awards, which will be given out during AIX, include Virginia Tech’s Calhoun Honors Discovery Program students’ proposal of their own Wheelchair Space and Securement System (WSSS), which would secure wheelchairs on adaptable economy seats.