January 23, 2003
News Makers
NEED TO FEED: A recent story in the San Francisco Chronicle examined the problem of obesity in America. A root of the problem, according to Michael Schwartz, a UW professor of medicine, is all in our heads. “The brain is hard-wired to consume food. The basic drive is to consume with abandon.” MAPPING PATTERNS: A recent story in the Christian Science Monitor looked at the work of a UW researcher. Robert Tyler, an oceanographer in the Applied Physics Laboratory, has shown that the ocean’s magnetic fields can be detected via satellite. The technology may help with the tracking of large-scale ocean circulation patterns. Variations in these patterns over time represent “a key factor in addressing climate and global change concerns,” Tyler said. LANGUAGE LEARNING: Researchers interviewed for a recent Los Angeles Times story offered mostly positive news for parents raising their children in bilingual homes. Such children are able to filter out distractions and their brains mature more rapidly than children in monolingual households. The UW’s Patricia Kuhl, director of the Center for Mind, Brain, and Learning, told the Times, there is still much to be learned. “We are nowhere near knowing what it implies,” she said. YOU’VE GOT SPAM: A recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle lamented the increasing presence of spam e-mails and considered what could be done to stop them. Unfortunately, the UW’s Anita Ramasastry, an assistant professor of law, didn’t offer much hope. “Whether we like it or not, commercial actors have a right to free speech too,” she told the Chronicle. “At the end of the day, there’s always going to be spam.” Newsmakers is a periodic column reporting on coverage of the University of Washington by national press services.
