April 8, 2010
Newsmakers
PR PUFF?: When IBM announced plans in February to make its software available to colleges via “cloud” computing services, the Chronicle for Higher Education discussed the move in its Wired Campus column, asking was the announcement just “corporate puff”? They quoted Ed Lazowska, holder of the Bill & Melinda Gates chair in computer science and engineering, who perused the IBM Web site and e-mailed, “looks like PR to me. Every company makes software available for free for educational purposes — no news there.”
H1N1 VIEW: Though the H1N1 pandemic seems to have calmed, the Washington Post reported in late February that disease experts aren’t yet willing to say there might not be yet more waves of swine flu infection to come. The article noted that the epidemic tends to slow down when a large number of children in an area get infected, recover and become immune, and quoted Ira Longini, professor of biostatistics and a disease modeler with the UW and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. “With this virus, once about half the children are infected … then you really can’t sustain the transmission unless the infectivity goes up for some reason,” Longini said. The article ended by saying that like all pandemics, H1N1 “will eventually infect — but not necessarily sicken — nearly everybody on Earth who isn’t already immune,” though it may take years. Longini added, “We’re going to have this virus for many decades to come. And we don’t know what it’s going to do next.” Read the story here.
INDOOR/OUTDOOR TRAINING: The headline in the Los Angeles Times story asked, “Winter training: Faster and safer indoors?” But five paragraphs in comes “the sad answer” — basically, no, “you really cannot get the same training effect with indoor substitutes.” The article went on to include several quotes from Peter Cavanagh, UW professor of orthopaedics and sports medicine. “I think most athletes know that,” Cavanagh said. “That’s why they are out there in all seasons.” One major difference with indoor training is the lack of wind resistance, he said. “The important variable here is speed relative to the air.” Also, he said, “If you run all the time on a smooth surface you are not training all muscles in your legs and feet that you need to run on the road,” adding, “If you are going to race under certain conditions, you might as well train there.” Read the story here.
Newmakers is a periodic column reporting on the coverage of the University of Washington by the national press and broadcasting services.
