A Vice article on how race affects mortality and a Fast Company story on a promising alternative to opioids were among about 25 national news stories featuring University of Nebraska-Lincoln faculty and alumni in January 2018.

Following the unexpected death of civil rights activist Erica Garner on Dec. 30, Vice reporter Deborah Douglas delved into how racism can contribute to health problems and shortened lives in a Jan. 2 article. Among her interview subjects was Bridget Goosby, Happold Associate Professor of Sociology at Nebraska. Goosby said low-income black women often experience heart problems and higher rates of obesity and diabetes and that middle-class black women often face social isolation in predominantly white workplaces. She also said black women are more likely than white women to give birth to low-weight or preterm babies.

Paul Blum, Bessey Professor of Biological Sciences at Nebraska and co-founder of startup company Neurocarrus, was quoted in a Jan. 11 Fast Company article on Neurotox, a pain treatment being developed by the startup that doesn’t have the addictive properties of opioids. The treatment injects a protein from a class of bacteria called Clostridium botulinum, which is also used in Botox. The protein is naturally good at delivering materials into cells, but the molecules are too large to cross the blood-brain barrier to produce euphoria. Blum’s team hopes to test it in people within 18-24 months.

Other coverage:

Jody Green, an entomologist with Nebraska Extension, was interviewed for a Jan. 2 Omaha World-Herald article on the effects of winter chill on Japanese beetle and pirate bug populations. The story was picked up by the Norfolk Daily News and a few other media outlets across the country.

Janine Caira, who earned her doctoral degree in parasitology from Nebraska, was profiled for The Washington Post’s Speaking of Science blog on Jan. 2. A distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut, she is one of the world’s top specialists in the tapeworms of sharks and stingrays and has helped discover and name 170 tapeworm species.

Willa Cather Archive researchers Andrew Jewell, Melissa Homestead, Emily Rau and Greg Tunink were interviewed for a Jan. 2 Lincoln Journal Star article on the recent publication of the Nebraska author’s private letters. The story was picked up by at least nine other Nebraska media outlets and nearly 100 others in the United States and Canada, including ABCNews.com, Yahoo News and The Washington Post.

A recent study by University of Nebraska-Lincoln psychology researchers Abbey Riemer, Sarah Gervais and David DiLillo found that drinking alcohol makes men more likely to check out a woman’s body as opposed to her face, especially if they consider that woman to be unfriendly or unintelligent. The study was featured in Men’s Fitness on Jan. 2.

Billionaire investor Warren Buffett’s decision to transfer from the University of Pennsylvania to Nebraska was mentioned in a Jan. 4 Huffington Post article on the importance of preparing for the PSAT. The piece also noted that Nebraska is a school where National Merit finalists are considered for a full-tuition scholarship plus a $2,000 stipend.

Max Perry Mueller, classics and religious studies, was interviewed for a Jan. 4 Religion News Service article on the expected appointment of Russell M. Nelson as the new leader of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The article later appeared in the Salt Lake Tribune.

Mueller was also quoted in a Jan. 15 Washington Post article on pastors across the United States responding to President Donald Trump’s reported vulgarity about less-affluent nations. Mueller gave an account of a sermon by Steve Allen, associate pastor of Grace Chapel in Lincoln. Mueller attends the church. The story was picked up by MSN News and several others across the country.

Elizabeth Burke, a program specialist with the Cather Project at Nebraska, was mentioned in a Jan. 5 Spokane, Washington Spokesman-Review article on the Washington premiere of the song cycle “Prairie Songs: Remembering Antonia,” based on the Willa Cather novel “My Antonia.” The Cather Project commissioned the song cycle, which was written by Brent Edstrom, music professor at Whitworth University in Spokane.

Jerry Volesky, agronomy and horticulture, was interviewed for a Jan. 8 Harvest Public Media story on declining protein levels in prairie grasses potentially causing problems for the grass-fed cattle industry. The story later appeared on NPR.org’s The Salt.

A gift from the estate of Myers B. “Bud” Cather, a distinguished commercial artist, advertising executive and Air Force bomber pilot, will help students in the School of Art, Art History and Design at Nebraska. An Associated Press article on the new endowment appeared in several Nebraska media outlets and more than 30 others across the country.

A team of Australian researchers is conducting the first human tests of a new ingestible electronic capsule that can be used to predict flatulence. Benjamin Terry, engineering, wrote an editorial that accompanied the scientific publication in the journal Nature Electronics on Jan. 8. A story citing Terry appeared across the Patch network Jan. 9.

The university’s Extreme Light Laboratory contributed to the exhibition “light” at the KANEKO gallery in Omaha. Articles on the exhibition appeared in The Washington Post, Lincoln Journal Star and Omaha World-Herald.

Brad Lubben, Nebraska Extension, delivered a presentation on the new federal farm bill Jan. 4 at an agriculture forum in Dickinson, North Dakota. The Mitchell (South Dakota) Daily Republic ran an article on the farm bill and forum Jan. 11.

Nebraska Engineering students Said Al Barumi and Abdulmajeed Al Naabi were featured in a Jan. 16 Lincoln Journal Star article on the University of Nebraska campuses becoming popular destinations for students from Oman. The story was picked up by the Beatrice Daily Sun, Columbus Telegram, Grand Island Independent, Hastings Tribune, Scottsbluff Star-Herald and more than 30 other media outlets across the country.

Brian Baugh, finance, was featured in a Jan. 17 WalletHub piece on 2018’s cities with the highest and lowest credit-card debts.

Researchers from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Harvard Medical School and MIT have designed a smart bandage that precisely delivers medication. The bandage was mentioned in a Jan. 18 Huffington Post article on technology leading to smarter wound care.

Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns was interviewed for a Jan. 16 Q&A in The New York Times on his private quilt collection. Twenty-eight quilts from the collection are on display in a new exhibition at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum at Nebraska. An article on the exhibition also appeared in the Lincoln Journal Star on Jan. 21.

Josephine Potuto, law, was quoted in a Jan. 24 New York Times article on the NCAA’s inquiry into sexual abuse by former Michigan State University doctor Larry Nassar.

The Quality Improvement Center for Workforce Development, led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, is leading a national research project designed to improve recruitment and retention of child welfare staff. The Mount Vernon (Ohio) News ran a story on Jan. 30 on Knox County (Ohio) Children Services participating in the project.

In a Jan. 31 piece for The Conversation, David Bressoud, DeWitt Wallace Professor of Mathematics at Macalester College, calls for an “active learning” approach to calculus instruction. He mentions the Student Engagement in Mathematics Through an Institutional Network for Active Learning (SEMINAL) project, which is co-led by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The piece was picked up by more than a dozen media outlets across the country.

The university’s Midwest Roadside Safety Facility was mentioned in a Jan. 30 ESPN.com article on safer barriers at the Fort Worth (Texas) Stock Show and Rodeo. Brad Barnes, president and general manager of the rodeo, consulted the Nebraska center and other organizations before a new flex-wall system was installed in the Will Rogers Memorial Center in Fort Worth. The Midwest Roadside Safety Facility also developed the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier used by NASCAR.

On Jan. 31, the National Science Foundation’s Science 360 website featured a University of Nebraska-Lincoln video on a new technique for soft robotics. Stephen Morin, chemistry, and his colleagues have detailed a method for more strongly bonding plastics with silicones, offering new possibilities for fabricating fluid-carrying channels that are commonly used to direct the motion of soft robotic components.

Faculty, administration, student and staff appearances in the national media are logged at http://newsroom.unl.edu/inthenews.
 If you have additions to this list, contact Sean Hagewood at shagewood2@unl.edu or 402-472-8514. If you have suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.