In the News
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March 18, 2019
A fast-moving star may have been ejected from the Milky Way’s stellar disk by a cluster of young stars, a discovery by research professor Monica Valluri and research fellow Kohei Hattori in the Department of Astronomy that represents the first time a hypervelocity star has been tracked back to a location outside of the galactic center. “This discovery dramatically changes our view on the origin of fast-moving stars,” Valluri said.
Motherboard -
March 18, 2019
“I’m concerned about kids and adults becoming accustomed to getting nutrients in sugary forms,” said Mark Moyad, a senior research associate in the Department of Urology, commenting on the increased popularity of gummy vitamins among people of all ages.
TIME -
March 17, 2019
“This scandal is just the extreme, the illegal extreme, but it’s in a continuum with legacy admissions … with all these other thumbs on the scale that wealthy kids get that are legal. There’s a lot more kids at elite colleges because their parents are rich than because they’re brown or black,” said Susan Dynarski, professor of public policy, education and economics, commenting on the elite college admissions scandal.
HuffPost -
March 17, 2019
Awilda Rodriguez, assistant professor of education, says gaining admission to an elite college smooths the path to everything graduates pursue later and opens doors: “You’re able to leverage this privilege in all of these overt and subtle ways, if you so choose, for the rest of your life.”
The Chronicle of Higher Education -
March 17, 2019
“How do you treat this situation where some people can afford to have private tutors to prepare for standardized tests, private tutors to get people’s grades up, or they can afford to take a test three or four times and they can afford 5-10 thousand-dollar prep courses? It’s not corrupt — but it means that the ones who have the most position themselves to get even more,” said Richard Lempert, professor emeritus of law and sociology.
The Guardian -
March 14, 2019
“The sub-minimum wage for people with disabilities is really a relic — it entered the law in the 1930s at a time when we didn’t have a sense that people with disabilities could work in the competitive economy. It really sticks out like a sore thumb these days,” said Sam Bagenstos, professor of law, regarding the federal law that allows employers to pay disabled workers less than minimum wage if their disability slows them down.
Bloomberg -
March 14, 2019
Tony Reames, assistant professor of environment and sustainability, says that, in higher-poverty neighborhoods, the gap between prices for traditional and energy-efficient light bulbs is twice as large. His research inspired one of the largest utility companies in Illinois to expand its discount-bulb distribution to underserved neighborhoods.
Grist (scroll down) -
March 14, 2019
John Meeker, professor of environmental health sciences and global public health, was quoted in an article about the impact of microplastics on human health: “We first need to figure out how best to measure exposure then document whether people are being exposed, and, if so, how much.”
Salon -
March 13, 2019
“Especially in the bigger cities, you see an increase in the amount of food that is certified organic in the supermarkets. Ten to 15 years ago that was unheard of in Latin America,” said Ivette Perfecto, professor of environment and sustainability, on the increase of organic farming in developing countries.
Financial Times -
March 13, 2019
The steady decline of noncollege-educated men in the labor market may be a combination of several factors — low wages, higher incarceration rates and sharp declines in marriage for men without college degrees, suggests research by economics doctoral student Ariel Binder and John Bound, professor of economics and research professor at the Institute for Social Research.
The Atlantic
