National media outlets featured and cited UNL sources on a number of occasions through the month of December. Among the appearances:
A new study co-authored by Ken Cassman, agronomy, that made a worrisome finding that yields may be plateauing on about one-third of the world’s cropland, was covered by NBC News, KCET-TV in Los Angeles and several other outlets in the second half of December. http://go.unl.edu/4kb5
Wheeler Winston Dixon, film studies, discussed the predominance of “franchise” movies in a Dec. 30 article in The Christian Science Monitor. http://go.unl.edu/9kxo
A Dec. 11 blog article posted on the Huffington Post named state climatologist Al Dutcher, natural resources, a “Got Science” champion. Dutcher and UNL climatologists who serve on Nebraska’s Climate Assessment and Response Committee had questioned a state-funded climate study in which researchers were directed not to consider the rule of humans in changing the climate. http://go.unl.edu/2ytm
News that a team led by Yuris Dzenis, mechanical and materials engineering, had found a way to incorporate the super material graphene into carbon nanomaterials was reported by ScienceDaily, Phys.Org, and a number of other popular science and engineering sites. http://go.unl.edu/2w0p | http://go.unl.edu/d6du | http://go.unl.edu/b05w
Reuters turned to Galen Erickson, animal science, for a Dec. 31 article about whether the feed additive Zilmax contributed to August cattle deaths at a plant in Walla Walla County, Wash. The story appeared in the Chicago Tribune and several other outlets across the country.
http://go.unl.edu/vxpf
An October study by Sarah Gervais and Michael Dodd, psychology, that used eye-tracking technology to show that both men and women use an objectifying gaze to evaluate the other women’s bodies continued to generate coverage in December. The Man on the Edge feature of WCCB TV in Charlotte, N.C., featured the research on Dec. 6. Everyday Health blogger Laura Berman named it one of the top 2013 stories about men and sexuality. http://go.unl.edu/955d | http://go.unl.edu/6g7h
Research by John Hibbing and Kevin Smith, political science, into the biological foundations of political beliefs turned up on a Dec. 11 blog column by Mother Jones correspondent Chris Mooney. The research also was featured by the Huffington Post on Dec. 19 in a story that included a video of Smith discussing the research. http://go.unl.edu/pwsc | http://go.unl.edu/jg95
TIME Magazine named “The Selected Letters of Willa Cather,” co-edited by Andrew Jewell, English and University Libraries, as one of Top Ten Nonfiction works published in 2013. That story appeared Dec. 4. Jewell also was mentioned in a Dec. 13 Kansas City Star article that observed Cather’s 140th birthday. http://go.unl.edu/rctx | http://go.unl.edu/5v69
An op-ed columnist for the Columbus Dispatch in Ohio on Dec. 15 featured UNL geological research led by David Loope, Earth and atmospheric sciences, in Utah’s Zion National Park that shows evidence of earthquakes in the Jurassic Period. http://go.unl.edu/epem
Robert Oglesby, Earth and atmospheric sciences, was quoted in a Dec. 23 story on how weather in Nebraska can affect grocery prices in urban areas. http://go.unl.edu/uaed
New Scientist and UPI.com reported that a science and engineering team led by UNL’s Frank Rack, ANDRILL Science Management Office, had discovered a new species of sea anemone in Antarctica. http://go.unl.edu/kqt7 | http://go.unl.edu/e66m
Students’ failed social-media campaign to get Jordan Soliz, communication studies, to cancel their final exam was mentioned in the Lawrence, Kan., Journal-World on Dec. 16. http://go.unl.edu/mruv
The Christian Science Monitor quoted Jay Storz, biological sciences, on Dec. 3 while covering his research into how a hummingbird species has adapted to live in the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains. http://go.unl.edu/weqv
Matt Waite, journalism, founder of the UNL’s Drone Journalism lab, was quoted by several sources in early December, including the Washington Post, The Associated Press and the Huffington Post, about Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ plan to deliver packages via drones. Waite is skeptical FAA regulation will allow the deliveries as early as 2015, as Bezos predicts. Waite also was quoted by Al Jazeera in a Dec. 11 story about how drones are being used in journalism. http://go.unl.edu/9gr8 | http://go.unl.edu/pdki | http://go.unl.edu/ryt6
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 or suggestions for national news stories, contact Leslie Reed at lreed5@unl.edu or 402-472-2059.
