K-Staters in the news — January 2016
The top stories mentioning Kansas State University are posted below. Download an Excel file with all of this month's news stories.
Friday, Jan. 29, 2016
*The Zika Virus Isn’t Just an Epidemic. It’s Here to Stay.
01/28/16 Foreign Policy
Kansas State University expert Stephen Higgs says that it is very difficult to predict what will happen when a new virus enters a complex insect and animal ecology or to know which mosquito species will play a role in transmission: There have been surprises.
Egypt Ban on Hallucinogenic Wheat Fungus Seen as Unrealistic
01/28/16 The Washington Post
“The problem with zero tolerance is that it is so absolute and can be a bit arbitrary,” said Jay O’Neill, senior agricultural economist for the International Grains Program at Kansas State University. “It could be possible to test numerous times for ergot and not find it and then test the next cargo and find it.”
Assocom, Kansas State University to launch startup project in MP district
01/28/16 The Times of India
"The primary goal of the Start Up F3 project is to raise rural incomes through improved crop yields and value addition, enhance nutritional status of children and provide an impetus to primary education," KSU professor Sajid Alavi told reporters.
Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016
*Teens Aren't Ruining Language
1/27/16 The Atlantic
But, teens don’t actually influence language as much as is often claimed. That’s one of the key findings in the latest linguistic research by Mary Kohn, an assistant professor of English at Kansas State University.
Egypt Ban on Hallucinogenic Wheat Fungus Seen as Unrealistic
1/27/16 Bloomberg Business
"The problem with zero tolerance is that it is so absolute and can be a bit arbitrary," said Jay O’Neill, senior agricultural economist for the International Grains Program at Kansas State University. "It could be possible to test numerous times for ergot and not find it and then test the next cargo and find it."
*Why children need to play with their parents
1/27/16 ConsumerAffairs
"We find that parents lose the ability to play," said Nancy O'Conner, director of the Kansas State University Family Center in a statement to Newswise. She suggests that parents relearn the ability to play.
Wednesday, Jan. 27, 2016
*Teens Aren't Ruining Language
1/27/16 The Atlantic
But, teens don’t actually influence language as much as is often claimed. That’s one of the key findings in the latest linguistic research by Mary Kohn, an assistant professor of English at Kansas State University.
*CDC Issues Travel Alert Over Rapidly Spreading Zika Virus
1/26/16 Homeland Security Today
Stephen Higgs, Director of Kansas State University’s Biosecurity Research Institute, says that research is crucial to combating this outbreak and preventing the spread of other mosquito-borne viruses.
*How Emojis Might Help Reduce Food Waste
1/26/16 Lab Manager Magazine
Marianne Swaney-Stueve, research assistant professor of human nutrition and manager of the Sensory and Consumer Research Center at K-State Olathe, and Katy Gallo, Kansas State University doctoral student in human nutrition, Fairfield, Connecticut, are using emoji faces—icons used with smartphones and electronic communication—as a way to measure the emotions kids feel about certain foods.
Monday, Jan. 25, 2016
*Kansas State professor's performance nominated for Grammys
1/23/16 Miami Herald
A Kansas State University professor has been nominated for two Grammy awards for his solo performance on an album with the Kansas City Chorale.
5 amazing health benefits of indoor plants
1/24/16 Simply Nicole
Ever wonder why it’s common for people to bring hospital patients plants as a get well gift? Plants can help improve health. According to researchers at Kansas State University, adding plants to hospital rooms speeds recovery rates of patients. Compared to patients without plants, patients with plants in their rooms requested less pain medication, had lower heart rates and blood pressure, experienced less anxiety and were released sooner from the hospital.
*Retail stores still a strength for Topeka, data shows
1/23/16 Topeka Capital Journal
Although both the Lawrence MSA and Manhattan MSA encompass a smaller population, a thriving retail market that gives shoppers good choices between national chains and local stores makes a community strong. At Kansas State University, a survey of a community’s push and pull factors shows how Topeka benefits from its diverse businesses.
Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016
Tallgrass Prairie documentary
01/07/2015 WIBW-TV
Dave Kendall speaks with Ralph Hipp on WIBW's "Eye on Northeast Kansas" program, introducing Prairie Hollow's documentary on the Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve and the Flint Hills.
Specialty Coffee Association of America's New Coffee Flavor Taster's Wheel
01/20/2016 Cool Hunting
20 years ago, the Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) introduced a coffee taste flavor wheel that would provide a standardized language for everyone from farmers to baristas and even those curious about what they were sipping. It was a visual guide that allowed deeper access to what was at play in every cup. Since its initial release, climates have shifted and growing has changed. In a unified effort, SCAA joined forces with World Coffee Research (WCR) to develop a new, updated lexicon. WCR tapped the sensory scientists at Kansas State University's Sensory Analysis Center and after a year of research, the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon was developed.
5 money issues couples fight over, and how to solve it
01/20/2016 Her World Brides
In a study by researchers at the Kansas State University in 2013, money is the key factor in marriage breakdowns. "Arguments about money is by far the top predictor of divorce," said Sonya Britt, assistant professor of family studies and human services and program director of personal financial planning. Britt and her team conducted a study with over 4,500 married couples for over 10 years, and found that "couples decrease their marriage satisfaction by arguing over money."
Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2016
Value Colleges Releases Top 50 Best Value Education Program Ranking
01/18/16 Yahoo! Finance
The largest and most respected teacher education program in Kansas, and one of the best in the midwest, Kansas State University’s College of Education has received accolades for its clinical education, diversity, and service to underrepresented populations.
*Are Teens Ruining Language? Video
01/19/16 infoZine
In fact, teenagers may not be causing language change the way that we typically think, said Mary Kohn, assistant professor of English. Kohn studies language variation and how language changes over time.
Specialty Coffee Association of America's New Coffee Flavor Taster's Wheel
01/20/16 Cool Hunting
WCR tapped the sensory scientists at Kansas State University's Sensory Analysis Center and after a year of research, the World Coffee Research Sensory Lexicon was developed.
Friday, Jan. 15, 2016
*Are teens ruining the English language?
01/14/16 Fox 28
Linguistics expert and Kansas State University Assistant Professor, Mary Kohn has studied hundreds of hours of audio recordings that look at the speech patterns of teens.
New way to absorb electromagnetic radiation demonstrated
01/14/16 Science Daily
A team of authors from MIPT, Kansas State University, and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory have demonstrated that it is possible to fully absorb electromagnetic radiation using an anisotropic crystal. The observations are of fundamental importance for electrodynamics and will provide researchers with an entirely new method of absorbing the energy of electromagnetic waves. The paper has been published in Physical Review B.
Money magic?
01/13/16 The Union
“Arguments about money is by far the top predictor of divorce,” said Dr. Sonya Britt, assistant professor of family studies and human services and program director of personal financial planning at Kansas State University, as quoted in psychcentral.com, “It’s not children, sex, in-laws or anything else. It’s money — for both men and women.”
Thursday, Jan. 14, 2016
Pocket-Greenhaven residents can drink tap water again after new test results
1/13/16 The Sacramento Bee
“If we have enough pressure outside those pipes due to really saturated soils or the rising water table, we can actually have water in the outside of the pipe coming back in those same cracks,” said Hutchinson, an associate professor at Kansas State University’s department of biological and agricultural engineering.
Poll: 70 percent of Kansas' state university faculty oppose concealed firearms on campus
1/13/16 The Topeka Capital Journal
After KU, 71 percent of faculty and staff at Emporia State University favored overhaul of the state law. KUMC was at 69 percent followed by Wichita State University at 66 percent, Kansas State University at 63 percent, PSU at 61 percent at FHSU at 60 percent.
KSU’s state funding would see slight increase under Brownback’s budget plan
1/13/16 The Manhattan Mercury
Kansas State University would see a slight increase in state funding between this fiscal year and next if Gov. Sam Brownback’s proposal is approved.
Wednesday, Jan. 13, 2016
Financial Planning Degrees: The Top Schools Offering Them
1/12/16 Investopedia
Kansas State University – This university offers a range of CFP Board-registered programs that includes undergraduate, graduate and doctorate level coursework.
Official: About 4 in 10 Riley Co. homes could have high radon levels
1/12/16 WIBW
It's a tasteless, odorless, and colorless gas
that could be lurking inside of your home. "Radon is a naturally occurring radioactive soil gas," said Brain Hanson, coordinator for K-State Radon Program. "It's generated in all soils due to the ongoing radioactive decay of uranium which is present in all soils."
Petfood Innovation Workshop to focus on meats, proteins
1/12/16 Petfood Industry
Workshop attendees will be transported to the Kansas State University (KSU)-Olathe Food Innovation Accelerator Lab, about 30 minutes from the Kansas City Convention Center. There, they will rotate among different stations in a test kitchen, led by Greg Aldrich, PhD, research associate professor at KSU and president of Pet Food Ingredients & Technology.
Monday, Jan. 11, 2016
*Sequencing wheat genome to help feed the world
1/9/16 Garden City Telegram
Jesse Poland, Kansas State University assistant professor and assistant director of the Wheat Genetics Resource Center, in collaboration with the International Wheat Genome Sequencing Consortium, has announced the production of an improved whole genome assembly of bread wheat, the most widely grown cereal in the world.
Trump labels students ‘bait’ for shooters, joining national push for guns in schools
1/8/16 Politico
In Kansas, which passed a law in 2013 requiring public universities to allow concealed weapons in buildings that don't have security measures such as metal detectors, debate continues about whether the law will make campuses more or less safe. More than 40 distinguished professors from Kansas State University recently wrote legislators asking them to reconsider, expressing concern that the change will lead to an uptick in suicides and accidental shootings.
Texas Tech President Nellis to step down in January, remain in faculty role
1/9/16 Lubbock (Texas) Avalanche-Journal
Nellis was named the 16th president of Tech on March 22, 2013, and began serving in June 2013. Prior to coming to Tech, Nellis served as president of the University of Idaho. Previously, he was provost and senior vice president at Kansas State University and dean of the Eberly College of Arts and Sciences at West Virginia University.
Friday, Jan. 8, 2016
*New NDV-H5NX avian influenza vaccine has potential for mass vaccination of poultry
01/07/16 Science Daily
A team of researchers at Kansas State University, in collaboration with Garcia-Sastre of the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, has developed a vaccine that protects poultry from multiple strains of avian influenza found in the U.S., including H5N1, H5N2 and H5N8.
Man pleads no contest in Kansas State lockdown case
01/07/16 San Francisco Chronicle
A man arrested in a series of thefts that led to a nearly four-hour lockdown of the Kansas State University campus has reached a deal with prosecutors.
Wheat Genome Sequencing Gets Major Boost
01/07/16 Minnesota Ag Connection
The public-private collaborative project is coordinated by the IWGSC and co-led by Nils Stein of IPK Gatersleben in Germany, Curtis Pozniak of the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre in Canada, Andrew Sharpe of the Global Institute for Food Security in Canada, and Jesse Poland of Kansas State University. Project participants also include researchers from Illumina, Inc.; NRGene in Israel and the United States; Tel Aviv University in Israel; and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
Thursday, Jan. 7, 2016
Wheat Genome Sequencing Gets Major Boost; A high quality bread wheat reference sequence will be available in less than two years
1/6/16 Bloomberg
The public-private collaborative project is coordinated by the IWGSC and co-led by Nils Stein of IPK Gatersleben in Germany, Curtis Pozniak of the University of Saskatchewan's Crop Development Centre in Canada, Andrew Sharpe of the Global Institute for Food Security in Canada, and Jesse Poland of Kansas State University in the United States. Project participants also include researchers from Illumina, Inc.; NRGene in Israel and the United States; Tel Aviv University in Israel; and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA).
Researchers Look for Ways to Slow Runoff, Soil Erosion
1/6/16 Ohio Ag Connection
Researchers at Kansas State University say they're learning more about what causes ephemeral gullies -- or tracts of land that are carved out when runoff pushes soil off of the farm field and into nearby waterways.
Hershey-backed study: Millennials don’t want to pay for socially conscious chocolate
1/6/16 Candy Industry
Kansas State University research looks at what millennials say they want vs. what they buy.
Monday, Jan. 4, 2016
Students’ views on campus-carry vary by campus
1/1/16 Kansas State University
Preliminary results of the online survey of 20,000 students at state universities showed a 55 percent majority opposed allowing concealed guns on campus and another 14 percent wanted to delay allowing them. The University of Kansas had the highest disapproval at 70 percent. Opposition fell below 50 percent at Wichita State and Kansas State (both 45 percent), Pittsburg State (39 percent) and Fort Hays State (36 percent). Only 19 percent statewide said they’d be willing to pay extra fees to cover the “adequate security measures” (metal detectors, armed guards) needed to keep concealed-carry out of campus buildings as of July 2017.
Wichita Effort Part Of National Initiative To Reduce Food Waste
1/4/16 KMUW
The food recovery program has existed in some form for years, but it really ramped up in 2013 and 2014, thanks in part to research from two interns with Kansas State University’s Pollution Prevention Initiative. That’s right, the Pollution Prevention Initiative. Turns out, there is a direct connection between decomposing food and pollution, says Nancy Larson, director of the research initiative.
Kansas treatment has dog celebrating second New Year
1/1/16 Huntington (W. Va.) Herald Dispatch
Bond referred Coal to Dr. Ken Harkin at the Kansas State University College of Veterinary Medicine. Harkin was conducting a study on animals with neuro distemper, and Bias was asked to bring Coal to the college for treatment beginning Jan. 2, 2015.
