Education (Colleges & Universities)
Here's a look at documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
Featured Stories
Yale University: Cosmochemist Studying the 'Seeds' of the Solar System
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Jan. 27 -- Yale University issued the following news:
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The cosmochemist studying the 'seeds' of the solar system
FAS faculty member Damanveer Grewal conducts high-pressure experiments and analyzes meteorites to figure out how planets form--and where they obtain the ingredients that support life.
By Michaela Herrmann
Every year, Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences welcomes exceptional scholars across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. This series profiles six of the faculty joining the FAS in the 2025-26 academic year, highlighting their academic achievements,
... Show Full Article
NEW HAVEN, Connecticut, Jan. 27 -- Yale University issued the following news:
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The cosmochemist studying the 'seeds' of the solar system
FAS faculty member Damanveer Grewal conducts high-pressure experiments and analyzes meteorites to figure out how planets form--and where they obtain the ingredients that support life.
By Michaela Herrmann
Every year, Yale's Faculty of Arts and Sciences welcomes exceptional scholars across the sciences, humanities, and social sciences. This series profiles six of the faculty joining the FAS in the 2025-26 academic year, highlighting their academic achievements,research ambitions, and the teaching they hope to do at Yale. Learn more about the faculty who recently joined the FAS.
A scientist with the heart of a philosopher, Damanveer Singh Grewal studies space to grapple with some of humanity's biggest questions.
"Why," he asks, "are we here on this particular planet? Why are we alone in this universe?" A cosmochemist, Grewal finds answers to these questions by exploring how solar systems and planets form.
Grewal joined the FAS in July 2025 as Assistant Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences. Head of the CosmoGeo lab, he arrived eager to continue his research to understand the earliest days of our solar system.
Grewal is specifically interested in the formation of habitable, rocky planets like Earth. How do these planets take shape and form metallic cores? How did Earth obtain elements and compounds that are essential to the existence of life, like carbon, nitrogen, and water? And why is Earth habitable, while other planets are not?
To answer these questions, he turns not to planets themselves, but to other cosmic objects: meteorites.
Planetesimals and iron meteorites: Seeds of our solar system
Before our solar system had planets, it was a giant molecular cloud.
Inside that cloud, gas, dust, ice, and other debris mixed, stuck together, and began to accumulate into small bodies. These bodies, called planetesimals, began to generate their own gravity and collide with each other--during which critical elements were deposited on these proto-planets.
Planetesimals are the "seeds" of rocky planets, Grewal says, and they are key to understanding how planets form. Iron meteorites, most of which form in the cores of planetesimals, offer glimpses of these early rocky bodies--and help scientists better understand the processes that formed the rocky planets in our solar system and beyond.
With a combination of high-pressure, high-temperature (HPHT) experiments and meteorite analysis, Grewal's lab simulates the conditions of the early solar system in order to understand how planets were formed. By compressing materials at very high pressures and temperatures, they can recreate the cosmochemical and geochemical processes that melted early planetesimals and caused them to form metallic cores.
While he was trained as an HPHT experimentalist, Grewal became "hooked on meteorites," as he puts it, during the isolation period of the COVID-19 pandemic. He couldn't go to the lab to do experiments, so he started to examine and reinterpret data on iron meteorites that had been previously collected.
Grewal's findings informed one of his recent studies, which hypothesized that high-energy collisions between planetesimals began earlier than scientists previously thought--and that metal-rich cores in some planetesimals formed, shattered apart, and were reassembled as new planets.
"Far from being made of pristine material, planets--including Earth--were built from recycled fragments of shattered and rebuilt bodies," Grewal told Yale News about the study's findings.
The fact that some metallic cores were destroyed and re-integrated into other planets helps explain the unexpected chemical signatures in some planetesimals.
"These events determined which elements and minerals young worlds carried into the next stage of planet formation," Grewal told Yale News. "Our findings show that the pathway to planetary formation was far more dynamic and complex than previously thought."
Now, Grewal is interested not only in how planets take shape, but how they obtain the building blocks of life--a question meteorites can also help answer.
A new era of experimentation
Grewal has recently become fascinated by how Earth obtained nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen--three key ingredients for life. All three are highly volatile--i.e., easily evaporated.
"I've really become intrigued by the [idea that the] most important processes that were establishing the nitrogen, carbon and water inventory of Earth did not take place when Earth was much bigger, but actually took place in those seeds," he explains. "We have real rocks--meteorites--that come from these first planetesimals. And if I can do experiments, then I can really understand what happens in these seeds. A planet like Earth is more complicated, but the seeds are much simpler."
Grewal analyzes the nitrogen and carbon present in iron meteorites to understand how much of these volatile elements were present in our solar system's first planetesimals. His experiments have yielded some surprising results--including that the planetesimals that became Earth were comparatively rich in the elements for life, while the Earth is not.
"The first planetesimals in the inner solar system--where Earth was forming--they actually had nitrogen and carbon," he points out. This means that the planetesimals that eventually became Earth had nitrogen, carbon, and hydrogen "right from the very beginning" --but somehow lost them.
This raises another question: if those volatile elements were present, "why is Earth depleted in nitrogen, carbon, and water by a factor of one hundred? We had everything, but we were losing that at a very early stage. What were the processes controlling that loss?"
Grewal's novel approaches to this kind of question place him at the forefront of a new era in planetary science research. "I think it's the perfect time to develop this kind of program, and Yale giving me the opportunity to help develop this program from scratch was one of the most exciting parts."
In the fall, Grewal taught a graduate course on cosmochemistry, in which students learned exactly how a cloud of gas and dust can eventually create a rocky planet like Earth.
The subject reminds Grewal of one of his favorite parts about being a scientist: participating in a centuries-old tradition of exploration, rigor, and progress--one that will continue until long after he's gone. "When you leave science, you want to leave it in a better place. Being part of the collective, moving things forward, and talking about science--that really motivates me."
"People like Plato and Aristotle started thinking about this problem thousands of years ago," he says. He's happy to continue shedding light on our place in the cosmos.
"I feel very grateful. I think it's very deeply motivating and deeply humbling experience to do science."
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Original text here: https://fas.yale.edu/news-announcements/news/cosmochemist-studying-seeds-solar-system
University of Tubingen: Earliest Evidence of Wooden Tools Used by Humans
TUBINGEN, Germany, Jan. 27 (TNSjou) -- The University of Tubingen issued the following news release:
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Earliest evidence of wooden tools used by humans
International research team from Germany, the UK and Greece finds evidence of wooden tool use in Greece 430,000 years ago
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An international team led by researchers from Universities of Tubingen and Reading and Senckenberg Nature Research Society has discovered the earliest known hand-held wooden tools used by humans.
A study jointly led by Professor Katerina Harvati from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironment
... Show Full Article
TUBINGEN, Germany, Jan. 27 (TNSjou) -- The University of Tubingen issued the following news release:
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Earliest evidence of wooden tools used by humans
International research team from Germany, the UK and Greece finds evidence of wooden tool use in Greece 430,000 years ago
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An international team led by researchers from Universities of Tubingen and Reading and Senckenberg Nature Research Society has discovered the earliest known hand-held wooden tools used by humans.
A study jointly led by Professor Katerina Harvati from the Senckenberg Centre for Human Evolution and Palaeoenvironmentat the University of Tubingen and Dr. Annemieke Milks at University of Reading describes discoveries from the Marathousa 1 site in Greece's central Peloponnese which date back 430,000 years.
Published in the journal PNAS, the finds consist of two objects crafted and used by humans, one made of alder wood and the other of willow or poplar. The objects represent the oldest hand-held wooden tools ever found, pushing back evidence of this type of tool use by at least 40,000 years.
Other finds of stone tools and the remains of an elephant and other animals indicate that the site, once on the shore of a lake, was used for butchering animals. The site was used by early humans around 430,000 years ago during the Middle Pleistocene - the period from around 774,000 to 129,000 years ago.
"The Middle Pleistocene was a critical phase in human evolution, during which more complex behaviors developed. The earliest reliable evidence of the targeted technological use of plants also dates from this period," says Professor Katerina Harva-ti, a paleoanthropologist and expert in human evolution, who leads the long-term research program at Marathousa 1.
Worked stones and bone artifacts from the site highlighted the skill and diverse activities of the people who once lived there, so the research team took a closer look at the associated finds made of wood.
"Unlike stones, wooden objects need special conditions to survive over long periods of time," says Dr Annemieke Milks, a leading expert in early wooden tools. "We examined all the wooden remains closely, looking at their surfaces under microscopes. We found marks from chopping and carving on two objects - clear signs that early humans had shaped them."
Meticulous examination
The research team identified two wooden artifacts which had been worked by humans: a small piece of an alder trunk shows clear signs of having been shaped as well as signs of wear and tear. The stick was probably used for digging at the edge of the lake, or for removing tree bark.
A second, very small piece of wood from a willow or poplar tree shows signs of working and possible signs of use. A third find - a larger piece of alder trunk with a groove pattern - had been clawed by a large carnivore, possibly a bear, and not shaped by humans, the researchers concluded.
"The oldest wooden tools come from places such as the United Kingdom, Zambia, Germany, and China and include weapons, digging sticks, and tool handles. However, they are all more recent than our finds from Marathousa 1", Annemieke Milks says. There is only one older piece of evidence of wood used by humans, from the Kalambo Falls site in Zambia, dating to around 476,000 years ago. Yet that wood was used not as a tool but as structural material.
"We have discovered the oldest wooden tools known to date, as well as the first evidence of this kind from southeastern Europe," Harvati says. "This shows once again how exceptionally good the conditions at the Marathousa 1 site are for preservation. And the fact that large carnivores left their mark near the butchered elephant alongside human activity indicates fierce competition between the two."
The team included also researchers from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, the University of Ioannina, the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and the American School of Classical Studies at Athens.
Research on the Marathousa 1 finds is funded by the European Research Council and the German Science Foundation.
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Publication:
Annemieke Milks, Maria Ntinou, Stylianos Koutalis, Dimitrios Michailidis, George E. Konidaris, Domenico Giusti, Nicholas Thompson, Georgia Tsartsidou, Eleni Panagopoulou, Vangelis Tourloukis, Panagiotis Karkanas, Katerina Harvati: Evidence for the earliest hominin use of wooden hand-held tools found at Marathousa 1 (Greece). PNAS, https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2515479123
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Original text here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/university/news-and-publications/press-releases/press-releases/article/earliest-evidence-of-wooden-tools-used-by-humans/
University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business: From Real Estate to AI - How One Leeds Grad Student Has Built a Smarter Way to Study
BOULDER, Colorado, Jan. 27 -- The University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business issued the following news:
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From Real Estate to AI: How One Leeds Grad Student Has Built a Smarter Way to Study
After more than a decade in the workforce, Alex Corren (MRelEst'26) returned to college to pursue his master's--and in the process he has built Lobe, an AI-powered, real-time learning assistant.
By Jane Majkiewicz
Alex Corren (MRelEst'26) came to Leeds for his master's in real estate, but his pursuits took a surprising turn last semester when he invented Lobe, an AI-powered tool designed
... Show Full Article
BOULDER, Colorado, Jan. 27 -- The University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business issued the following news:
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From Real Estate to AI: How One Leeds Grad Student Has Built a Smarter Way to Study
After more than a decade in the workforce, Alex Corren (MRelEst'26) returned to college to pursue his master's--and in the process he has built Lobe, an AI-powered, real-time learning assistant.
By Jane Majkiewicz
Alex Corren (MRelEst'26) came to Leeds for his master's in real estate, but his pursuits took a surprising turn last semester when he invented Lobe, an AI-powered tool designedto maximize studying. Using himself as the platform's first test case, the results were clear: Corren earned a 4.0 GPA last semester. A "Get Seed Funding" micro-grant from the Deming Center helped him dive further into development--and validated that his concept had real potential.
Next steps? Corren hopes to test the platform with a substantial number of users (know anyone at Leeds who wants to improve their grades?). He also hopes to tap into students' marketing expertise to raise awareness through social media and other channels.
From necessity to invention
The proverb "necessity is the mother of invention" held true for Corren as he entered his master's program at Leeds after more than a decade away from college. The timing coincided with the rapid acceleration of artificial intelligence--something he found impossible to ignore.
"The AI coding tools were really starting to get good enough where people were talking about them," he said. "I've been attracted to frontier technologies my whole life, and this felt like a very significant moment with a very disruptive technology. I made a conscious decision that I could either sit on the sidelines or start experimenting and get my hands on these tools."
While Corren never considered himself a programmer, building has long been a theme in his life--whether developing professional projects, expanding his skillset, or even constructing his own home. Not knowing how to code always nagged at him. As an "idea guy," he could envision countless digital products and services.
"Although I was very comfortable with technical things, I never learned to code. And that always felt like a blocker for me. Programming isn't something you can casually pick up--it's a pretty big commitment." But when coding in plain English emerged, a light bulb turned on.
"It was like, oh wow, this is almost made for people like me ... Now I can action and iterate and prototype these ideas really quickly."
Corren spent all of 2025 experimenting and building. Lobe wasn't necessarily his initial goal--it evolved naturally as he looked for ways to better manage his coursework. He was juggling Canvas assignments, downloading course documents, and experimenting with a patchwork of tools from his professional life, such as Otter, Notion and Granola.
"Since I had been in the career world before coming back to school, and through my previous entrepreneurship efforts, I had been really into digital systems, organization, productivity, workflow management, and personal knowledge management," he said.
"It occurred to me that there had to be a better way." Lobe was the answer. The breakthrough was realizing that he had access to open APIs--just like traditional developers--to make it all possible.
"So much of this infrastructure is widely accessible," he said. A bit of sleuthing later, he had built the prototype. Securing the Deming Center micro-grant gave him the confidence to keep going--and positive feedback that his approach was viable.
Turning a prototype into a practical tool
Of course, obstacles remain. For example, while Canvas--the platform CU Boulder uses for course management--has an API, permission requirements may pose a challenge. Corren is in conversation with CU's IT team to explore solutions.
He's also aware of the broader debate surrounding AI in education. But for him, Lobe has enhanced his learning, not hindered it. AI transcription, for example, allows him to stay fully present in lectures.
"It's helped me be super present and lock in. I don't have to worry about taking manual notes because I know that Lobe is capturing every word."
He's found that many students still use AI in scattered, inefficient ways--dabbling without integrating their work into a cohesive system. And while some observers warn that AI may undermine genuine learning, Corren sees a fuller spectrum.
"A hammer can be used to bash something, or you can use it to build a house," he quipped. "It's the same with AI tools. You can outsource your thinking and fake your way through to a certain degree. Or you can use it to deepen your learning, deepen your understanding, and pay more attention."
The bigger divide, he argues, will come from differences in adoption.
"The divide people talk about in the workforce isn't 'AI is going to take your job.' It's 'Somebody using AI effectively is going to take your job.' I think that starts in school."
He also noted that exams--remote or in person--still require real comprehension. "You can't fake your way through."
What's next for Lobe?
Corren's immediate priority is connecting with marketing savvy interns.
"The reality is, I'm a 33-year-old dude who's never been on TikTok," he said with a laugh. "I know there are people who are TikTok natives who could do a really good job marketing this. It's OK if I ask for help--I don't have to do everything myself."
He is also applying to the New Venture Challenge as he enters the next phase of testing.
His graduation dream? "Lobe is big enough that I can go full-time working for myself."
At the same time, Corren hasn't abandoned his passion for real estate and regenerative communities--a field he entered Leeds to pursue. His own sustainably built home was just the start.
"I'm not banking on Lobe and putting aside the real estate opportunities. But working for oneself and the capacity for growth is promising." Apps like Lobe can scale quickly, he said, making it an attractive option over other career pathways. He also sees Lobe as a strong portfolio piece. "Going into any career, people are looking at AI skills."
Corren knows the technological landscape is evolving quickly.
"Software is fundamentally changed forever. There's a window of time right now. Whether it lasts 12 months, 18 months, three years ... who knows? For large incumbent technology companies, the purely technical moat is disappearing ... these companies are actively under attack by indie hackers like me."
In the end, he believes distribution and taste will matter most.
"If we're inundated with AI slop, what's going to stand out is high-quality, tasteful products." Corren hopes Lobe will be one of them.
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Original text here: https://www.colorado.edu/business/news/2026/01/26/from-real-estate-to-ai
University of California-Davis: Some Corals Can Stand the Heat - Could They Help Those That Can't?
DAVIS, California, Jan. 27 -- The University of California Davis issued the following news:
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Some Corals Can Stand the Heat -- Could They Help Those That Can't?
UC Davis Researchers Investigate Heat Tolerance in Corals in Effort to Protect from Climate Change
By Liana Wait
Coral reefs make up less than 1% of ocean habitat but are home to at least 25% of marine species. These incredibly biodiverse ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human actions, including anthropogenic climate change.
"Many people know that corals create habitat for fish and invertebrates, but corals also protect
... Show Full Article
DAVIS, California, Jan. 27 -- The University of California Davis issued the following news:
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Some Corals Can Stand the Heat -- Could They Help Those That Can't?
UC Davis Researchers Investigate Heat Tolerance in Corals in Effort to Protect from Climate Change
By Liana Wait
Coral reefs make up less than 1% of ocean habitat but are home to at least 25% of marine species. These incredibly biodiverse ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human actions, including anthropogenic climate change.
"Many people know that corals create habitat for fish and invertebrates, but corals also protectcoastlines, because waves lose energy and weaken when they hit coral reefs," said Rachael Bay, an associate professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology at the University of California, Davis. "If coral reefs die and sea levels rise, coastlines will lose this protection."
Though scientists have long known that corals vary in their ability to tolerate heat, it's still unclear why some of the marine invertebrates cope better than others -- even within the same species. To understand how genetics might help coral reefs adapt, Bay is undertaking a long-term field study in the Cook Islands in the South Pacific.
The project is a collaboration with Anya Brown, an assistant professor in the Department of Evolution and Ecology, who is investigating whether corals' microbial communities might also help them cope with heat stress. Their findings could help coral conservation efforts in the Cook Islands and beyond.
"I'm interested in how coral microbiomes are changing with climate change, and whether heat-resistant and heat-susceptible corals have different microbial communities," said Brown. "This project will help us determine whether there's an individual microbe species or a collective adaptability that's responsible for how a coral responds to temperature stress."
How heat affects coral reefs
When corals become stressed, they discharge the symbiotic algae that nourish and color them, leaving them bleached and vulnerable. As global temperatures rise, these bleaching events are becoming increasingly frequent and severe. But while some corals die immediately during heat waves, others seem unbothered.
Though bleaching is associated with various environmental stressors including pollutants and changes in ocean acidity, rising ocean temperatures are the biggest single cause.
However, when a heat wave hits, not all corals are affected equally. "Individual corals respond to heat waves in really different ways," said Bay. "You can have three corals of the same species right next to each other, and one will bleach and die, one will look totally fine, and the third one will bleach and then recover."
Whether the corals survive higher temperatures could come down to their age, size, habitat, genetics and microbiome.
Coral genomes and microbiomes
To zero in on the roles of genetics and microbes, Bay and Brown have established a coral nursery on Rarotonga, the largest of the Cook Islands. Formed by volcanic activity, the 15 islands are encircled by some of the most vibrant coral reefs on Earth, which support organisms including sea cucumbers, sea stars, clams, reef sharks, rays and turtles.
By planting similarly sized pieces of coral in the same location, the UC Davis researchers and their partners will be able to assess how genetically and microbially different corals fare when exposed to identical conditions.
"The nursery puts the corals on an even playing field so that we can understand the mechanisms behind why different corals respond differently to temperature stress," said Brown. "Because Rachael and I are tackling similar questions from different angles, we'll be able to answer questions about whether and how the coral's microbiome and host genome interact."
The project generates large amounts of genomic data, which the researchers analyze on campus with help from the UC Davis Genome Center and the High-Performance Computing Core Facility.
Building a coral nursery
Bay and Brown began building the nursery in 2024 with funding from National Geographic and a UC Davis Global Studies Seed Grant. Last summer, their team returned to add hundreds of new coral specimens to the nursery.
"A large part of the initial field work involves snorkeling around looking for corals," said Bay. "We have one particular species that we're focusing on for this project, called Acropora hyacinthus, and sometimes they're hard to find; sometimes they're all we find!"
When they find a suitable coral, the researchers break off a small, thumb-sized portion to plant in the experimental nursery. Because corals are clonal, these fragments grow into a new individual that is genetically identical to the original colony. During heatwaves, which usually begin in February and March, local collaborators from the Cook Island's nonprofit organization Korero O Te 'Orau monitor the corals to see how they fare.
"This project will also help identify heat-tolerant corals for use in local restoration efforts," said Bay. "One thing we don't know yet is whether corals that recover from one bleaching event are better able to tolerate future heat waves."
Collaboration in reef restoration research
Bay and Brown's collaboration with Korero O Te 'Orau is essential for their research on Rarotonga. The nonprofit, whose name translates to "knowledge of the land, sky and sea," aims to foster environmental stewardship and advance traditional knowledge.
"Our partners at Korero are our people on the ground when we're back on campus," said Bay. "They also hold the local knowledge that shapes some of the questions we ask through our research, which really helps us think about the reefs in Rarotonga in a deeper way."
The benefits go both ways: Bay and Brown's research yields valuable information that informs local reef restoration efforts and provides opportunities for Korero's young environmental stewards to participate in meaningful field research.
"Our collaboration with UC Davis provides a unique opportunity for the young people in our program to work alongside experienced researchers, inspiring some to pursue a career in marine science," said Teina Rongo, chairman and cofounder of Korero, who holds a Ph.D. in marine biology. "With the ocean playing such a vital role in our lives, it's essential that we have more local professionals trained in this field, enabling us to become better stewards of our marine resources."
Rapid evolution and conservation
Though we often think of evolution as a slow process, it can occur very quickly. "Rapid evolution" is usually spurred by sudden or dramatic environmental changes, as is the case with climate change.
"We now know that evolution can happen rapidly -- and even immediately in some cases -- which means that people can affect evolution on human timescales," said Bay. "If we can understand how that's happening, we could predict how populations will look in the future."
Shifting microbiomes could help corals adapt even more quickly to climate change. "While coral populations may take a long time to evolve or adapt, its bacterial communities can change on much faster timescales, which might play a role in protecting coral from future heat stress," said Brown.
This information could help conservationists decide where to allocate resources.
"Some populations might be able to adapt to environmental change more effectively than others," said Bay. "For a conservation manager deciding which populations to conserve, this is one of many pieces of information that could help -- do I want to conserve the population that's more likely to adapt in the future, or do I want to give some extra protection to the population that's a little bit more vulnerable so that it might persist?"
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Bay's research has been funded by a National Science Foundation (NSF) Career Grant and the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Brown's research has been funded by National Geographic and a UC Davis Global Studies Seed Grant. This project has utilized several UC Davis research core facilities, including UC Davis Genome Center and the High-Performance Computing Core Facility.
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Original text here: https://www.ucdavis.edu/climate/news/some-corals-can-stand-heat-could-they-help-those-cant
IU's Musculoskeletal Research Brings Better Health Solutions to Communities and Collaborators
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, Jan. 27 -- The Indiana University Indianapolis campus issued the following news:
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IU's musculoskeletal research brings better health solutions to communities and collaborators
The IU Impact: Researchers across disciplines at Indiana University are driving bioscience innovations that restore and strengthen one of the most important aspects of the human body: mobility.
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A child breaks a bone on the playground. An athlete tears a knee ligament. A senior adult can no longer live independently due to a broken hip. Musculoskeletal injuries and disorders affect all walks
... Show Full Article
INDIANAPOLIS, Indiana, Jan. 27 -- The Indiana University Indianapolis campus issued the following news:
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IU's musculoskeletal research brings better health solutions to communities and collaborators
The IU Impact: Researchers across disciplines at Indiana University are driving bioscience innovations that restore and strengthen one of the most important aspects of the human body: mobility.
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A child breaks a bone on the playground. An athlete tears a knee ligament. A senior adult can no longer live independently due to a broken hip. Musculoskeletal injuries and disorders affect all walksof life and can have devastating effects, especially for the growing senior population in the U.S.
Indiana University bioscience researchers and innovators are improving Hoosiers' mobility through advancements in drug technologies and treatments that accelerate bone recovery, while boosting the state's status as an epicenter of musculoskeletal health.
Half of women and a quarter of men over the age of 50 will suffer a bone fracture in their lifetime due to low bone density. It's estimated that 300,000 hip fractures occur in the U.S. each year. Studies show that 20% to 30% of elderly people who fracture a hip die within a year.
"In order for Hoosiers to have the life they want, they need to be able to move well," said Melissa Kacena, professor of orthopedic surgery at the IU School of Medicine and a leading bone researcher. "Whether it's picking up your grandkids, running a marathon or being able to work, if we can't move the way we want to, we aren't living our best lives."
World's orthopedic capital
Orthopedic industry titans in Warsaw, Indiana, are partnering with IU to help patients move better and make orthopedic manufacturing more efficient.
More than 25 medical device companies populate a 50-mile stretch of highway from Warsaw to Fort Wayne, Indiana, earning the region the nickname of "MedTech Corridor." Known as the orthopedic capital of the world, Warsaw is home to notable orthopedic manufacturers such as DePuy Synthes and Zimmer Biomet, and it claims almost two-thirds of the world's market share for orthopedic devices.
This concentration of expertise underscores the mission of the Indiana Musculoskeletal Health Partnership for the Advancement of Care & Treatment. The statewide consortium, known as IMPACT, is led by Kacena, who serves as principal investigator. Amrou Awaysheh, OneAmerica Foundation Endowed Chair and associate professor of operations and supply chain management at the IU Kelley School of Business, is IMPACT's chief technology and innovation officer; Jill Fehrenbacher, a neuroscientist at the IU School of Medicine, is the consortia's chief learning officer.
Jim Lancaster, an orthopedic industry executive, is the interim CEO.
Through research and development, and workforce and educational training, IMPACT will advance the state's thriving orthopedic industry. The consortium collaborates with more than 100 research, industry and clinical partners statewide, including Eli Lilly, Zimmer Biomet, IU Health, OrthoIndy, University of Notre Dame and Purdue University.
Expanding access
While IU researchers are pioneering musculoskeletal health breakthroughs, they're also equipping other scientists across the nation with the critical data they need to accelerate discovery.
The Function, Imaging and Testing Core, or FIT Core, is part of the School of Medicine's Indiana Center for Musculoskeletal Health, which Kacena leads. The FIT Core invites volunteers in Indianapolis, ages 5 to 100, to take part in physical function tests such as gait speed, balance and strength, regardless of their health status. Volunteers also undergo body composition and bone health scans.
The de-identified data gathered is added to a repository that researchers across disciplines use to understand how their study subjects compare to other populations. Around 50 approved researchers at IU and across the world currently reference the FIT Core in their work, according to Stuart Warden, FIT Core director and associate dean for research at the School of Health & Human Sciences at IU Indianapolis.
By scheduling an appointment, volunteers can discover more about their own musculoskeletal health and contribute to crucial research. Each participant receives insights on their bone and muscle health after the tests.
After participating in the FIT Core, Indianapolis resident Karen Rothbaum discovered she was at risk for osteoporosis, a disease that causes bones to become weak and prone to fracturing.
"Dr. Kacena invited me to the lab to assess my risk for musculoskeletal disorders," Rothbaum said. "Despite an athletic upbringing and a lifelong passion for tennis, I discovered I'm at risk for osteoporosis. Now I'm taking proactive steps to protect my bone health."
Kacena is launching a mobile testing unit, taking this crucial preventive care to aging and rural communities. MSKMobile, a fully equipped mobile healthcare screening and research tool, travels across Indiana to assess volunteers' bone mineral density and other important markers of musculoskeletal health.
Space medicine and smart manufacturing
Collaboration is at the forefront of IU research that propels musculoskeletal health. Researchers are working with partners locally and nationally.
Kacena investigates bone and blood formation to improve treatments for metabolic bone disease, blood disorders and fracture healing. This work produced a patented drug technology that speeds bone recovery. It has possible applications in helping astronauts maintain bone mass during long space missions and in treating explosives injuries, which drew interest from NASA and the U.S. Department of Defense.
Through the IU Business Sustainability and Innovation Lab at the Kelley School directed by Awaysheh, over 100 master's students helped a Warsaw orthopedic device manufacturer create a more responsive supply chain with AI. This allows real-time data collection and adaptation, making processes more cost efficient, more responsive and smarter. It also provides physicians with more accurate implants quicker.
"Our work also extends beyond the supply chain into digitizing manufacturing," Awaysheh said. "Think of your house. Older homes have light switches and dial thermostats. Now you see smart switches that sense when someone enters the room, and we can control the temperature remotely to only be on when the space is being used.
"These same principles are going to advance manufacturing. We can use similar concepts to digitize legacy manufacturing lines."
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Original text here: https://news.iu.edu/live/news/48315-ius-musculoskeletal-research-brings-better-health
FIU Showcases Botanical Research at Nation's Largest Orchid Festival
MIAMI, Florida, Jan. 27 -- Florida International University, a component of the public university system in Florida, issued the following news:
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FIU showcases botanical research at nation's largest orchid festival
By Michelle Marie Arean
A weekend surrounded by orchid aficionados, farmers and international vendors provided the perfect backdrop for Florida International University's College of Arts, Sciences & Education (CASE) to showcase its latest research. Participating in the Tamiami International Orchid Festival from Jan. 16-18, FIU joined an event that has become Miami's largest and
... Show Full Article
MIAMI, Florida, Jan. 27 -- Florida International University, a component of the public university system in Florida, issued the following news:
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FIU showcases botanical research at nation's largest orchid festival
By Michelle Marie Arean
A weekend surrounded by orchid aficionados, farmers and international vendors provided the perfect backdrop for Florida International University's College of Arts, Sciences & Education (CASE) to showcase its latest research. Participating in the Tamiami International Orchid Festival from Jan. 16-18, FIU joined an event that has become Miami's largest andmost diverse orchid show. This year marked a major milestone as the festival officially became the largest orchid show in the United States, featuring more than 100 international growers, exhibits and thousands of orchids for sale.
"Participating in the Tamiami International Orchid Festival was an inspiring and energizing experience for FIU's Department of Earth & Environment," said Amir Khoddamzadeh, horticulturist and chair of the department. "The level of interest we received, hundreds of visitors stopping to learn about orchid tissue culture, controlled environment growth chambers, conservation science, and to admire the stunning orchid paintings by our student, was truly remarkable."
The FIU booth offered an immersive look into the world of botany including a 3D virtual look at orchids in their natural habitats. The booth also bridged the gap between art and science, including a coloring station for children featuring illustrations by graduate student Emily Jefferson. She also showcased some of her orchid paintings in the booth.
FIU's scientific expertise was further highlighted throughout the weekend's speaker series, which covered topics ranging from cultivation tips to Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden's Million Orchid Project, which FIU is a collaborator. Khoddamzadeh led a session on conservation horticulture and in-vitro micropropagation. The insights continued with Professor Hong Liu, who shared biological secrets of a favorite family of orchids.
Graduate students including Jefferson, Dominic Mellone, Luis Cendan, Milagros Munoz Salas and Victor Alvarado hosted a panel discussion on the life and experiences of an FIU botany student.
"This event was not only a tremendous success in showcasing FIU's leadership in orchid propagation and conservation, but also a testament to the multidisciplinary and internationally recognized research strengths of our faculty and students the department, Institute of Environment and International Center for Tropical Botany," Khoddamzadeh said.
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Original text here: https://news.fiu.edu/2026/fiu-showcases-botanical-research-at-nations-largest-orchid-festival
'Going to court is the last resort; there is so much more you can do before that.'
GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, Jan. 27 -- The University of Groningen posted the following news:
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'Going to court is the last resort; there is so much more you can do before that.'
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As a 12-year-old, assistant professor Ester Post spent months hunched over the newspapers in the library of her hometown, Urk. It was the autumn of 1987, and the media were completely fixated on the kidnapping and -as became apparent much later -the murder of Ahold CEO Gerrit Jan Heijn. The young Post followed every twist and turn.
Text: Esther van der Meer, Faculty of Law / Photos: Henk Veenstra
'I was fascinated
... Show Full Article
GRONINGEN, The Netherlands, Jan. 27 -- The University of Groningen posted the following news:
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'Going to court is the last resort; there is so much more you can do before that.'
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As a 12-year-old, assistant professor Ester Post spent months hunched over the newspapers in the library of her hometown, Urk. It was the autumn of 1987, and the media were completely fixated on the kidnapping and -as became apparent much later -the murder of Ahold CEO Gerrit Jan Heijn. The young Post followed every twist and turn.
Text: Esther van der Meer, Faculty of Law / Photos: Henk Veenstra
'I was fascinatedby the perpetrator -and by the attitude of Gerrit Jan Heijn's wife during the case. When it was all over, her story was beautifully narrated in a book entitled 'De Verzoening' (Reconciliation).'
Victims and perpetrators
Post's childhood fascination with victims and perpetrators remained undiminished, although it remained unchanneled for some time. She commenced her legal studies relatively late, at the age of 27, and then worked in advocacy for a few years before embarking on a Master's degree in criminal law in Amsterdam.
'My Master's included a minor in forensic criminology. That really captured my interest. Why do people do terrible things, and how can we prevent casualties? Those were the key questions I wanted to find answers to.'
In 2023, she obtained a doctorate. Her thesis was on the history of forensic care in the Netherlands. These days, the main objective of forensic care is to prevent perpetrators from reoffending. But has that always been the case? Was that the key objective when TBS (detention under hospital orders) was first introduced in 1928? And what was the thinking behind the introduction of forensic care as a condition of a conditional sentence in 1915? 'I was an external PhD candidate, doing my research on top of my day job. You need to really like your subject to carry that off. And I did really like it.'
Post is now an assistant professor, substitute judge, and owner of BOO strafrechtelijke vraagstukken, a bureau that addresses criminal law issues. 'I would find it a bit dull to limit myself to just one thing. What I have now is a perfect combination of research, teaching, and practice. I wouldn't want to miss out on any of them.'
In Groningen, she teaches subjects including juvenile criminal law and sanctions law, and also gives the masterclass in Penology (the study of punishment). For her own bureau, she has co-authored a bill to make electronic detention a primary punishment. She has joined forces with a mental health care practitioner to conduct research into how caregivers can best deal with workplace violence. And she is involved in different projects to do with the re-integration of former prisoners.
Seven lessons
She is currently working on the public edition of her thesis on the history of forensic psychiatry. It will be entitled 'Seven Lessons'. Publication is due this year.
And there are certainly plenty of lessons to be learned. For example, consider how forensic care is applied, and the role that the 'severity' of the disorder plays in that context. Under the current system, a mental disorder is a prerequisite for imposing TBS. But should that remain the case?
'If you consider the goal, which is to prevent recidivism, a disorder is not generally, in and of itself, a strong predictor of recidivism. And the focus of forensic care tends not to be on treating the disorder itself but on influencing risk factors. If that's the focus, shouldn't we always be working with perpetrators of, say, violent or sexual offenses to reduce the risk factors, regardless of whether they are deemed to have a mental disorder?'
99.85 percent
Since the turn of the century, incidents of malpractice in secure psychiatric units have led to such units being subjected to tight scrutiny. In turn, this has led to a further tightening of legislation and regulations -all despite the fact that of the 80,000 - 90,000 leaves granted each year, 99.85% go smoothly and recidivism does not occur.
Crimes such as the murder of Anne Faber by psychiatric patient Michael P. have attracted wide criticism from society and politicians alike. In recent years, TBS has become more common -a trend dubbed 'the Michael P. effect'. At the same time, stricter legislation has made it more difficult to transfer a prisoner from prison to a psychiatric facility for treatment, as was the case with Michael P.
'The outflow of patients from secure psychiatric units is low. After 8 to 9 years, only about 50 percent have completed their treatment. And there have been cuts to forensic care. Currently, 250 convicted criminals are waiting for a place in a secure psychiatric unit. This situation is clearly far from ideal.'
Citizen engagement
Post would like to see more consideration given to the consequences of new measures and budget cuts. She also believes it would be worthwhile to explore how greater public support can be generated for the criminal justice system as a whole. How, for example, can we get citizens more involved and give them an insight into how criminal proceedings work?
She also believes in the potential of restorative justice to assist both in preventing offenders from reoffending and to help victims come to terms with what has happened to them. Restorative justice offers the victim and the perpetrator the opportunity to talk to each other about what happened. 'In sex offences and cases involving serious violence, the perpetrator and the victim are often known to each other. In such cases, figures indicate that they may feel the need to meet and talk. I'm interested in finding out how we can put restorative mediation to even better use.'
Early intervention
Post has this to say about crime and its prevention: 'I agree with the recently deceased criminal defence lawyer, Stijn Franken, who said: "If you want to reduce crime, you have to invest more in mental health care." We know that a fair percentage of people who end up in the criminal justice system have a history of mental health issues. And it is no secret that the mental health services sometimes lack the capacity to offer people with serious mental health problems the help they need.'
Ideally, we need to go back even further than that. 'We should be addressing what happens in homes, neighbourhoods, schools. If we want to prevent people from going astray, we need to intervene much earlier. If we're honest, by the time the courts get involved, it's already too late.'
Forensic care
Forensic care includes mental health care, addiction treatment, and care for people with intellectual disabilities. It is provided to individuals with a psychological or psychiatric disorder or an intellectual disability who have committed a criminal offence and are at risk of re-offending. Each year, thousands of people receive forensic care.
TBS comprises only a small percentage of all forensic care programmes. A judge can impose a TBS order subject to certain conditions. The offence must be punishable by a prison sentence of at least 4 years, or it must be on the list of other offences specified by law. The offender, tried under adult criminal law, must have a mental disorder and must constitute a threat to the safety of others and/or the general safety of persons and goods. There are 11 TBS clinics in the Netherlands, with the capacity to treat a little over 1660 people. More than 70% of TBS patients do not re-offend within five years of completing their treatment.
In December, the TBS clinics launched a joint campaign aimed at presenting society with a more nuanced image of TBS patients - see 'Het gezicht van tbs' (Dutch only).
More information
Ester Post
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Original text here: https://www.rug.nl/about-ug/latest-news/news/archief2026/nieuwsberichten/0127-post
