December 4, 2008
Newsmakers
OBAMA BABY BOOM?: “‘Hope and euphoria,’ says UW sociologist Pepper Schwartz, ‘are a serious aphrodesiac,'” a post-election article in Newsweek states while discussing the possibility of a swell in birth rates because of Barack Obama’s election. Schwartz said, “If the amount of alcohol, happy people and major functions on election night is any indication, I suspect we’ll indeed see a boom.”
TEST AS TOOL: In a recent article, The Chronicle of Higher Education discussed whether colleges and universities have overinflated the importance of standardized tests in admissions, and quoted Philip A. Ballinger, UW director of admissions, along the way. The occasion was the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, held in Seattle. The article stated that Ballinger — “known as one of the most thoughtful practitioners in his field” who has described standardized tests as “an exclusionary engine” — understood that such tests are neither all good nor all bad.
“A test score is a contextual animal, not a line in the sand,” he said, later, adding, “I hoped we could recognize that test scores are not just a pinpoint of data but a symbolic tool, a tool of communication, a political tool, a public relations tool. I think we’ve done that.”
THE BIG STEP: The International Herald Tribune, the global edition of The New York Times, discussed robotics and artificial limbs in a recent article about Ossur, the Icelandic group behind the prosthetics of the double-amputee who made a bid to compete in the 2008 Olympics.
The science of replacing limbs is advancing quickly but still needs a major breakthrough. But that may not be far off, according to the UW’s Yoky Matsuoka, associate professor in the Computer Science and Engineering, who is working to control arms and hands by nerve signals.
“I think we are already witnessing the beginning of the big step,” Matsuoka said via e-mail of the prospect of de-coding the nervous system. “Of course, a complete decoding and perfectly natural control may not happen in our lifetime.”
CANCER IN AFRICA: A recent article in Newsweek about breast cancer victims in Africa suffering from lack of treatment heavily quoted Dr. Ben Anderson, UW professor of surgery and chair and director of the Breast Health Global Initiative at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. Fifty-five percent of breast cancer deaths occur in developing countries, Anderson said, and this could increase in coming years, as western Africa has a relatively young female population. “By 2020, and particularly by 2050, these populations will age and there will be much more of this disease.”
No one knows why a particularly aggressive form of the disease is more common among African and African-American women. “It may be that the breast cancers that African and African-Americans get are more prone to be aggressive. Or it may be that Caucasians are more likely to be screened regularly so that their breast cancer is detected at earlier stages.”
IT COULD HAPPEN ANYWHERE: The New York Times recently ran an article on the growing problem of child abandonment in Nebraska after passage of a law that was intended to prevent so-called “dumpster babies.” The article quoted Mark Courtney, dean of the UW School of Social Work, saying that the same thing “would happen in any state.” Courtney said, “These days there’s a huge void in services for helping distressed families.” Abused or neglected children are taken by the child welfare system and juvenile offenders make their way into the justice system, both of which situations prompt them to get counseling. But troubled children who don’t fit those categories, even in families with health insurance, fall through the cracks, Courtney said.
Newmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services.
