Futurity.org » University of Kansas

Exclusion keeps suburban schools on top

Jill Jess-Kansas — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:16:01 +0000

U. KANSAS (US) — By hoarding opportunity and keeping a tight grip on gained advantages, suburban schools have remained superior—at the expense of their urban counterparts, according to a new study.

“Basically, it’s rules of exclusion,” says John Rury, professor of education leadership and policy studies at the University of Kansas.

“Many suburbs are almost a textbook case of people doing that. They are often marketed as ‘exclusive neighborhoods’.”

Tour de France: 2,100 miles of pain

Brendan Lynch-KU — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 15:16:21 +0000

U. KANSAS (US) — The psychological ability of cyclists in the Tour de France to deal with extreme physical and mental pain for 21 days is what will determine the outcome of the world’s best known bicycle race.

“These guys have been training their entire lives,” says Phil Gallagher, associate professor at the University of Kansas and director of the Applied Physiology Laboratory.

Is being bilingual a no-brainer?

Jill Jess-Kansas — Tue, 31 May 2011 16:35:16 +0000

U. KANSAS (US) — There may be a simple explanation for how the brain processes two or more languages, according to psycholinguist Mike Vitevitch.

“The inherent characteristics of the words—how they sound—provide enough information to distinguish which language a word belongs to,” he says. “You don’t need to do anything else.”

Aging musicians have sharp brains

Kathi Baker-Emory — Tue, 26 Apr 2011 16:10:16 +0000

EMORY (US) — Playing a musical instrument throughout life may help fight cognitive decline as we age.

Older musicians perform better on cognitive tests than individuals who did not play an instrument, according to a new study published in the April issue of Neuropsychology.

Righties prevailed in prehistoric era

Brendan Lynch-KU — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 19:01:15 +0000

U. KANSAS (US) — A study of markings on fossilized front teeth show that right-handedness dominated as long as 500,000 years ago.

“The patterns seen on the fossil teeth are directly and consistently produced by right or left hand manipulation in experimental work,” says David Frayer, professor of anthropology at the University of Kansas.

Few options for job seekers with disabilities

Brendan Lynch-KU — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 21:10:57 +0000

U. KANSAS (US)—Two major federal programs to assist the unemployed have inadequacies in aiding people with physical or mental health impairments, new research shows.

The study—published recently in the Career Development Quarterly—focused on the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) program, which requires recipients to find employment within two years, and the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, which led to the establishment of “One-Stop” centers to cluster services for the unemployed.

Is ‘spin’ in for next-gen computers?

Brendan Lynch-KU — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 19:07:21 +0000

U. KANSAS (US)—Using powerful lasers, researchers have discovered a new way to recognize currents of spinning electrons within a semiconductor.

The findings, published in the journal Nature Physics, could lead the way to development of superior computers and electronics, and could help advance the field of “spintronics.”

Is climate change helping marmots bulk up?

Shemina Davis-Sheffield — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 17:35:03 +0000

U. SHEFFIELD (UK)—Longer summers brought on by climate change are giving mountain marmots an earlier wake-up call from hibernation, allowing them more time to gain weight and reproduce, according to a new study.

Details of the 33-year study appear in Nature.

Autism’s unique vocal signature revealed

Jill Jess-Kansas — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 15:23:29 +0000

U. KANSAS (US)—Pre-verbal vocalizations of very young children with autism are distinctly different from those of typically developing children, according to new automated vocal analysis technology.

The LENA (Language Environment Analysis) system was able to make the distinction with 86 percent accuracy and also differentiated typically developing children and children with autism from children with language delay based on the automated vocal analysis.

Monarchs fly north toward uncertain future

Jill Jess-Kansas — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:06:50 +0000

U. KANSAS (US)—Low temperatures, storms, and habitat destruction made it a tough winter in Mexico for monarch butterflies, but the news is not all doom and gloom.

“I spend a lot of time fretting over the status of the monarch population and I’m always searching for factors or data that will help me understand the past as a way of predicting the future trends in monarch numbers,” says Chip Taylor, director of Monarch Watch at the University of Kansas.