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Sunday, February 12, 2012   |  Miller-McCune Homepage

Amy R. Ramos

Amy R. Ramos began her career working in local government, where she became familiar with numerous public policy issues, including land use and indigent mental health services. She is now an editor and freelance writer. Ramos has a bachelor's degree in comparative literature from Brown University.

Modern Marriage: Standing on Ceremony

Regarding same-sex marriage, there’s less daylight than might be expected between religious conservatives and some LGBT activists.

Found in Translation

Former Mexican President Vicente Fox may be a conservative, but certainly not one recognizable in El Norte.

‘Squeeze’ Against the Machine

Author Steven Greenhouse’s Rx for better workplaces: tougher enforcement and friendlier policies.

Can Development Reduce Poverty?

The economic opportunities found in inner cities should attract private investment, although a nudge from government can overcome traditional inertia.

Moving Inner Cities Out of the Red, Into the Black

Researchers say America’s chronically underserved urban cores are an untapped market that can sustain private investment — and turn themselves around in the process.

Mine Heir

Indigenous African rats prove adept at sniffing out trouble for people.

Retirement Saving: To Nudge or to Shove?

Two new proposals look to greatly increase the number of people who have adequate retirement plans, one by encouraging workers to save and the other by requiring them to.

Academics Oppose 21 as Legal Drinking Age

Those suggesting a discussion on the legal drinking age appear to have focused on a specific outcome.

Glass Starting Gate: Voters Will Elect Them, But Women Still Have to Run

Lack of party recruitment, not voter sexism, limits women’s presence in politics, according to a new study.

‘Stranger Danger’ Takes Back Seat to Family Fiend

A lot of mythology surrounds criminal sexual offenses, and, in many cases, these assumptions can hamper attempts to reduce recidivism.

Sex Offender Boundaries Deemed Ineffective

Prohibiting sex offenders from living near schools sounds like a good idea, but such residency restrictions may make it harder to supervise offenders — and without preventing new sex crimes.

Pills or Practice? Boosting Brain Power

Our Tom Jacobs wrote in March about plagiarism and fraud among writers and academics, referring to it as a "doping scandal" in the world of letters. The term was meant to be a metaphor, but as it turns out, there may be greater use of performance-enhancing drugs going on in intellectual circles than one might expect.

Birds Do It, Bees Do It

Even educated young adults do it, apparently – "it" being the trading of goods for sex, or what the research literature delicately refers to as "exchanges in reproductively relevant currencies."

Dream Deferred: Fair Housing Act Turns 40

Residential neighborhoods are still the final frontier of desegregation.

Like-New Livers for Rats with Cirrhosis

Untold numbers of laboratory rodents have been dispatched so that humans could know with certainty that all manner of substances are carcinogenic or otherwise deadly. But in a welcome turnabout, scientists from Sapporo Medical University in Japan reported recently in the journal Nature Biotechnology that they have used synthetic molecules to cure rats of cirrhosis.

Chemotherapy Works Better in Calorie-Deprived Mice

Typically considered a pathology rather than a therapy, starvation has been found to lead to dramatically better results for mice undergoing chemotherapy treatment.

Recipe for Reducing Kids’ Excess Weight

In Miller-McCune.com’s interview with nutritionist Marion Nestle, the author of What to Eat and other books declared, "You’ve got to get rid of the vending machines in the schools. They shouldn’t be there in the first place." A recent study conducted in Philadelphia public schools, while not going to the lengths recommended by Nestle, suggests that a multi-pronged approach —incorporating healthier food choices; nutrition education for teachers, students, and parents; and encouragement of physical activity — can have a substantial impact on the incidence of overweight (a body mass index for their age in the 85th to 94th percentile) among children.

Rakish Angle on Rodent Research

It wasn’t so disconcerting to learn that wild chimps use tools for eating, grooming, and defending themselves. Chimps, after all, are members of the great apes and almost identical genetically to humans. But now, in a development sure to give paws, er, pause to all owners of opposable thumbs, researchers at the Institute of Physical and Chemical Research in Japan (RIKEN) have taught rodents to use tools.

Apples: Not Just for Teacher Anymore

Miller-McCune.com recently interviewed nutritionist Marion Nestle, who shared her views and experiences related to school food. Asked whether there were any data showing that schools striving to offer healthier food have seen an improvement in academic performance or behavioral problems, Nestle said she had only anecdotal evidence, and related what she had observed at a private school in New York City that had launched a sophisticated school food program.

Big Soda, the USDA and School Food

The public is hearing mixed messages on eating right, and a prominent nutritionist believes government needs to cast off its lobbyist-inspired inhibitions and spread the gospel of common sense.

Senior Moments of Research Rodents

Clinical trials are under way for a drug and vaccine that may inhibit the neurotoxin Aβ (or Abeta, if that’s Greek to you), which has been linked to Alzheimer’s disease.

Good Workplaces: Profit and Principles

Companies that rank high in employee satisfaction offer better returns to investors, a business school professor says.

Too Much Multiculturalism, Not Enough Math?

A pair of researchers claim teachers’ college curricula feature misplaced priorities they say helps explain the poor math skills of American students. Critics don’t give the researchers even partial credit.

Lies and Campaign Advertising

Negative campaign ads are good for us. Despite our claims that we detest them, research shows we eat them up.

State to Voters: Can I See Some ID?

Indiana law requiring government-issued identification at the polling booth suggests Americans should be as concerned with someone stealing their vote as with their personal information. But is the cost of such protection disenfranchisement for some?


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from the source

Gender Wage Gap Skewed By Survey Flaws

The wage gap between the sexes in America has been closing much faster than anyone realized, but that’s tempered by learning it’s been much wider than measurements had shown.

‘Orcas as Slaves’ Argument Sinks

An effort to identify five performing orcas as slaves failed in part, argues one scholar, because there’s no legal precedent establishing them as persons.

The Perceived Delicacy of the Female Conductor

New research finds listeners judge symphonic music differently when they’re told the conductor is a woman.

House Puts Transportation in Partisan Crossfire

Transportation used to be one of the few guaranteed areas of agreement when ideology trumped pragmatism in D.C. But that’s no longer the case.

Pressure to Conform Can Inspire Creativity

New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are told individualism is the norm, and instructed to conform.

Better Super Bowl Makes for Better Ads

A lot of people say they watch the Super Bowl mostly for the ads. But it turns out a good game surrounding those ads makes them seem better.

Overseas Troops Finally Get Fair Shot at Voting

After decades of obstacles hindering the voting process, new laws will allow overseas and military voters to submit their votes in time for the 2012 election.

Neglected Tropical Diseases Neglected No More?

World health leaders announce coordinated push to eradicate or control neglected tropical diseases.

Children’s Books Increasingly Ignore Natural World

A survey of award-winning children’s picture books from 1938 to 2008 suggests our increasing estrangement from the natural environment.

Traffic Solution: Make Drivers Less Lonely

Rather than moaning about too many cars on the road, the Ridesharing Institute says the real key to battling traffic congestion and pollution is filling empty passenger seats.