February 14, 2002
Newsmakers
DISSENTING VOICE: A recent story in the Columbus Dispatch examined the controversy surrounding genetically altered grass. The grass, which is being produced by scientists at the Scotts Company, is supposed to better sustain heavy and repeated doses of weed killers. The company says it’s a time saver that will allow families to spend more time together rather than pulling weeds. A UW professor isn’t convinced. “They’re asking the public to assume risks so a relative few can benefit financially,” Philip Bereano, a professor of technical communication, told the Dispatch.
HIP MORMONS?: A recent New York Newsday article about Mormonism and the religion’s growth around the world quoted the UW’s Rodney Stark. “The Book of Mormon says, ‘Jesus came to us too,'” said Stark, a professor of sociology. Stark told Newsday that the spread of the religion has a lot to do with a strong missionary presence throughout the world and with the world’s reaction to those missionaries. In some parts of the world, Mormonism is downright chic, Stark said. “In a way, becoming a Mormon is like becoming American — becoming more Western.”
CHANGING BAD HABITS: Exercise may be the best preventive medicine to a host of ailments, but getting Americans to buy into healthy habits isn’t easy, a UW researcher recently told the New Orleans Times-Picayune. “In American society, the philosophy runs counter-current to the idea of a healthy lifestyle,” said John O’Kane, an assistant professor of orthopedics and sports medicine. “We don’t want to eat right, we want to take a pill. We don’t want to exercise or quit smoking, we want to have a very slick heart procedure to clean out our coronary arteries when we’re 50. We want to do what we want and then have technology fix it.”
SAVING OKIE CULTURE: A recent story in The New York Times talked about the effort to save Okie culture in California. The Okies — a once derogatory term used in reference to the farmers from the nation’s midlands who came to California in search of prosperity during the 1930s — and their plight were the subject of John Steinbeck’s 1939 novel, The Grapes of Wrath. “It’s a generation passing,” said UW associate professor of history James Gregory. “Because their experience was memorialized by artists and writers, they are an important and very special part of the American memory.”
UNDERSTANDING WOMEN’S BODIES: Doctors have labeled stages of reproductive aging and can place women in one of the seven categories by measuring hormone levels and menstrual cycle patterns. The effort is intended to help women prepare for the changes their bodies are going through. But researchers are having difficulty agreeing on the categories, according to a UW researcher. “The terminology is all garbled,” UW professor Michael Soules recently told the Los Angeles Times. “There is premenopause, perimenopause, the menopause transition. Everyone knew these terms weren’t really defined.” Soules, who directs the division of reproductive endocrinology, says the lack of definition creates problems for researchers. Studies of perimenopausal (the years just prior to menopause) women, for example, often look at people who differ in symptoms and age. That makes it difficult to apply any findings to the development of consumer products.
Newsmakers is a periodic column reporting on coverage of the University of Washington by national press services.
