Organic Orchard

September, 2009

The next time you bite into a crisp, tart, pesticide-free apple or savor locally grown, organic blackberries, spare a moment to think of horticulture professor Curt Rom.

Transportation Twist

October, 2009

Frank, a senior analyst for Proctor and Gamble, is late for the second time this week thanks to a fender bender that brought morning rush hour traffic to a crawl on Interstate 540. He'll have to work late again to get his report ready for the meeting tomorrow. With light rail transit in place, Frank could use his 27-mile commute from Fayetteville to Bentonville to work on his report, catch up on his e-mail or read the newspaper. One less car payment would free up some extra dollars for groceries, gas and a summer trip to Disney World that the kids are counting on... 

Virtual Pompeii

September, 2009

What was life like in an ancient Roman city?

To answer that question, a classicist might refer to Pliny's histories or Vitruvius' handbook for Roman architects. An archeologist might pull out field notes documenting the length and breadth of foundations of this apartment block or that villa. With luck, the archeologist may even have been able to recover some pottery not disturbed by looters or brush dust from a fresco not yet faded by the sun. Historians might refer to census and tax records or the laws and proceedings of the Roman senate. And a tourist might offer photos of worn paving stones or the arches of the Coliseum.

Copyright Conundrum

September, 2009

If you haven't seen it already, go to YouTube, type "prince lenz" in the search box and watch "Let's Go Crazy #1," a 29-second video of a cute toddler pushing a toy cart and dancing to a poorly transmitted Prince song. After viewing, try to imagine what could be so controversial about this charming and seemingly innocuous home movie.

Financial Crisis

April, 2009

Economists and financial researchers guide the average reader through the history of the current economic crisis.

Darwin Deciphered

March, 2009

"When on board H.M.S. Beagle, as naturalist, I was much struck with certain facts in the distribution of the inhabitants of South America.."

Evolved Research

August, 2009

In the 150 years since Charles Darwin's landmark book, the knowledge that species evolved through natural selection has opened the door to tremendous advances in science. University of Arkansas professors discuss evolution in a variety of fields.

Shrinking Science

March, 2009

Science's tiniest materials pack a potential wallop against mankind's most feared diseases. We work at the boundaries of physical, chemical, biological and medical sciences.

Living Fiction

September, 2009

"Teaching students how to see requires the experience of having seen clearly and vigilantly. And that experience has helped me be a better writer. In every class session I have learned something new from the students about the ways of looking at art and at the world."

Reaching Rehabilitation

March, 2009

Multiple sclerosis is a frightening disease, in part because it’s unpredictable. It attacks the central nervous system, usually striking young to middle age adults, many of whom were otherwise healthy. A person with multiple sclerosis may feel numbness in the limbs, experience blurred vision or lose balance while walking. Those symptoms may disappear after a few days, but they will likely reappear later, along with others. Whether to continue working is just one major decision people diagnosed with MS must make.

Public Politics

March, 2009

Every four years on January 20, the president-elect stands in the noon-day sun in front of the U.S. Capitol and promises to “faithfully execute the office of President of the United States” and to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution.” That Constitution defines who can be president and how to elect the president, but offers only a brief job description for the nation’s chief executive. How does he — or she — know what issues or policies to pursue on January 21?

Juvenile Justice

September, 2009

"A world which abandons its children in the streets has no future; it no longer renders it possible to create and develop a project of life." - Judge A.A. Cancado Trindade, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Small Scale Sustainability

March, 2009

Freshwater macroinvertebrates don’t get a lot of credit; many people would have a hard time naming more than a few of these backboneless creatures, which include crayfish, snails, mollusks, aquatic worms and mayfly nymphs. Yet these animals act as the middlemen of the smorgasbord of life, serving as food for fish while also consuming algae, shredding leaves and eating other types of organic matter in the water. They perform critical functions in streams, rivers, small ponds and large lakes.

Consider the Source

March, 2009

When it comes to considering a sustainable world, what we do with water has to be a central concern. Just one agency of the United States government spends hundreds of millions of dollars each year to predict when water will fall from the sky and how much will fall. We spend many more millions on flood insurance to deal with the consequences of that rain when it falls on human-built structures and infrastructure and suddenly becomes too much water in the wrong place. And none of those millions of dollars has any influence on when, where or how much rain falls.

The Business of Sustainability

September, 2009

"Environmental sustainability is a business imperative at Wal-Mart." - Lee Scott, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. president and CEO

Sustainability

March, 2009

An essential principle of sustainability addresses the reality that the earth’s resources, which provide basic ne-cessities such as water, heat and shelter — not to mention luxuries such as electricity and fuel for automobiles — are not infinite and perpetually giving. They aren’t even abundant, in an economically feasible sense. For example, most of the earth’s remaining oil reserves will be difficult — and therefore extremely expensive — to physically access and exploit. Water is no different. As our insatiable thirst for it rapidly drains aquifers, millions of people in developing countries must walk half a mile or more to reach water fit to drink or bathe in, and tens of thousands of people die from water-borne illnesses every day.

Health How-To

November, 2007

In the Center for Innovation in Health Care Logistics, researchers strive to help health care professionals at hospitals work safely and efficiently so they can focus on the essential patient care that they provide.

Educating Educators

December, 2007

Learning science by what a scientist does:  A team of scientists and education researchers work with middle school teachers to help them learn to engage students of science and mathematics with hands-on learning projects and experiments.

Protein Powerhouse

December, 2007

Most health problems can be traced back to proteins.  In the Center for Protein Structure and Function, biologists and chemists are studying the fundamental nature of these essential building blocks of life.  They look at what happens when proteins work well and when they go wrong.

Inspirational Integrator

December, 2007

Law professor Judith Kilpatrick has written the first biography of Wiley Branton, the African American lawyer who brought the case to court that allowed nine students to become the first to integrate Little Rock Central High School in 1957.  Her book was published this fall by the University of Arkansas Press.

Probing Pathogens

December, 2007

At the Center for Food Safety and Microbiology, University of Arkansas researchers work to be sure the food we eat is safe.

"Boomer" Buildings

December, 2007

As Baby Boomers edge into retirement, their housing needs will change. Professors in architecture and rehabilitation are working to create safe, affordable housing that will meet the needs of the aging population.

Workplace Worries

March, 2007

Researchers in management uncover the hidden cost of domestic violence in the workplace and help employers begin to understand this complex phenomenon.

Translation Tactics

March, 2007

A translation must do more than transform words into another language - they must also convey a sense of time, place and culture. Two pro-fessors of translation discuss their techniques for transforming Italian poetry and prose into English.

Clarifying Cheating

September, 2006

In The Cheating Culture: Why More Americans Are Doing Wrong to Get Ahead, author David Callahan argues that cheating has become so common and culturally pervasive that ordinary citizens, people who do not think of themselves as cheaters, will inflate here or exaggerate there to achieve a beneficial outcome.

Finding Flora

September, 2006

Researchers cataloging the plant wealth of Arkansas find plants with anti-cancer compounds and cattle toxins as well as invasive species.

Past Preservation

September, 2006

The J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences is responsible for the prehistoric collections, most of which were amassed by zoologist Sam Dellinger. The collection contains more than 7,500 whole vessels from the Mississippi period.

Greening of Education

October, 2006

Right now, somewhere in the United States a newspaper or television show is talking about Jay Greene's education research. And, what he would consider even more important, it's safe to say that right now somewhere a researcher is replicating, criticizing or citing Greene's research.

Water Rights

May, 2006

Water Rights When water is abundant it is taken for granted, but when it becomes scarce, arguments erupt around the issue of who has the rights to water for irrigation, recreation and other purposes. A law professor lays out the issues and calls for a water code to help regulate water usage in the state.

Water Ways

May, 2006

Water Ways Engineering and architecture researchers are collaborating to re-engineer streams to mitigate flooding and allow communities to reclaim the water for recreation and aesthetic purposes. They also are working to create stream-friendly communities from the ground up.

Water Quality

May, 2006

Water Quality Four engineers are working on three different projects that address water quality issues in different ways. First, an engineer has developed a biosand water filtration system for a small village in Colombia. Second, a researcher has developed a real-time, computer-based decision support system designed to look at nutrient loads on Beaver Lake. Third, two engineers have developed an oxygenation system that can help remove excess nutrients and organic matter from water.

Addressing Aquifers

May, 2006

Addressing Aquifers Researchers from all corners of campus-geosciences, civil engineering, biological sciences, soil sciences, chemical engineering, biological and agricultural engineering, and more study the water that lies beneath the earth's surface to help determine how human use of this precious underground resource affects the future of these aquifers.

Taste Test

May, 2006

Panels of trained taste testers and a host of untrained consumer panelists try food in the name of bringing better products to the kitchen table. Food scientists try to tease out the elements of taste - including texture - that make people say "yum" or "yuck".

Hot Spot

January, 2008

In Yellowstone National Park, the earth seems to breathe beneath the tourists' feet. Geoscientists examining lakeshore processes at Yellowstone Lake believe that the lakeshore maybe exhibiting this swelling and shrinking, and they have spent the last two summers investigating this possibility.

Grandmother Love

May, 2006

A School of Socialwork researcher studies the challenges African-American grandmothers face when they raise their wn children's children - often facing obstacles from the state and federal government.

Informed Ingestion

May, 2006

When people order fast food, they often get more then they bargained for in terms of calories and fat, say two marketing professors. Their research has demonstrated that nutrition information, when provided on the spot, can influence consumers'  decisions when it comes to ordering food from the menu.

Mathematical Muddles

December, 2005

Mathematics professor Chaim Goodman-Strauss studies the mathematical possibilities - and impossibilities - of shapes, and how these fit into everyday life. And he throws in some crocheted vegetables along the way.

Firefighter Fears

December, 2005

Why do firefighters die 10 years earlier than the average man? It is not due to workplace deaths - instead, firefighters have a high risk of heart attacks. UA researchers are working with fire departments to study workplace stress and develop programs to mitigate it.

Under Mine

January, 2006

Panels of trained taste testers and a host of untrained consumer panelists try food in the name of bringing better products to the kitchen table. Food scientists try to tease out the elements of taste - including texture - that make people say "yum" or "yuck".

Playful Palindromes

December, 2005

Steve Chism, reference librarian at Mullins Library, likes to play with his words â€" so much, in fact, that he created an entire dictionary of palindromes. The Library of Congress created a new subject area just for his book and one other.

Chicken Clues

January, 2006

Chickens that lose their color may provide the best model yet of an auto-immune disease that affects millions of people worldwide.

Strange TV

January, 2006

Are popular television shows planting subversive ideas in viewers' heads? Probably not. English professor Keith Booker talks about how subversive television undermines its own counter-culture reputation to become mainstream and why that might be a bad thing.

Food Function

January, 2006

Researchers know what vitamins, minerals and antioxidants contained in plants are good for your health. But they don't know exactly where the good stuff resides. Researchers are using engineering tools to discover the location of the nutrients in plants.

Data Driven

January, 2006

How can you predict changes in a watershed? Or the risk of a beetle infestation in oak trees? Or map the poorest regions of a state? Researchers work with the Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies to do these things and much more.

Gambling House

January, 2006

Architecture professor Kim Sexton traces the role of the loggia in gambling, usury and other community practices in 13th century Italy.

Balancing Act

January, 2006

Through the Mack Blackwell Transportation Center, researchers strive to make traveling safe, cheap and efficient whether by land, water or air.

Whales Tales

January, 2006

Anthropology professor Allen McCartney has devoted his career to tracing the history of whaling and its influence on Arctic cultures. His insights into historic whaling practices have influenced modern-day whaling practices in the north.

Adventure Tourism

December, 2005

You're riding a roller coaster, cresting a rapid on a class IV stretch of river, stepping from an airplane door into a 13,000-foot plummet toward earth. A University of Arkansas researcher says, if you're up for it, you're in for it: Adventure Tourism.

Textile Test

January, 2006

One University of Arkansas researcher tests the mettle of a potential cash crop using boiling liquids, dyes, crochet hooks, glue and a lot of ingenuity.

Middle Ground

January, 2006

Is it the lush land of harems, hashish and belly dancing or the region of religious strictures and social oppression? Studies of Arab popular culture, including film, music and poetry, tell the real tale.

Intuitive Impossible

January, 2006

Technology can make people's lives easier, but only if they use it. A University of Arkansas researcher studies why people accept technology, and why they don't.

Making Memories

January, 2006

The immune system is the only thing that stands between us and microbial armageddon. One University of Arkansas researcher is working to understand the immune system so we can give it a boost.

Recipe Research

January, 2006

Archivists at the University of Arkansas are cooking up a project that will have history buffs and nutritionists alike hungering for more.

Cow Consequences

January, 2006

The story of how one sick cow caused an international ban on U.S. beef, plunging beef prices, concern among consumers about the safety of the meat supply, and how the National Agricultural Law Center is helping to shape the aftermath.

Everyday Urbanist

January, 2006

Architect Stephen Luoni wants to change the world we live in-one strip mall at a time.

Slime Mold

January, 2006

Like the Terminator prototype, some slime molds can accomplish an incredible feat: if blasted into bits, the pieces will slowly find one another and ooze back together.

The Future is Now

January, 2006

How do retail outlets track a four-pack of toilet paper from the time it leaves a warehouse until a consumer buys it? Researchers at the Information Technology Center are using new technologies to help businesses keep track of millions of items they store, move and sell every day.

Fruit of the Vine

January, 2006

Almost every aspect of grape growing requires intensive hand labor. Researchers at the Institute of Food Science and Engineering have created a total vineyard mechanization system that will change the way farmers grow grapes.

Digital DNA

January, 2006

Imagine that all of the information on the Internet could be stored in a drop of liquid. UA researchers are helping to make this idea become a reality using DNA. They are peering into the blueprints of life to see how the complex molecules might be used for computing.

Rohwer

January, 2006

Art professor John Newman explores the landscape, history and culture of a world war II japanese internment camp in Arkansas and how its inhabitants related to the mostly African-American community that surrounded it.