With Good Reason

How badly do foreclosed homes affect a neighborhood?  Does foreclosure spread like a virus? Michael Seiler (Old Dominion University) and researchers at the Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center have created a “Foreclosure Contagion Model,” which uses economic forecasting, modeling and simulation to help policymakers revive distressed real estate markets.  Also featured: The oceans are slowly [...]

Brain injury is more common than you might think.  1.5 million people suffer an injury each year in this country alone.  Michael Friedlander is the director of the Virginia Tech Carilion Research Institute, where they’re looking for ways to help the brain heal itself.  He studies individual nerve cells and says that by stimulating a [...]

It’s time for New Year’s resolutions.  One of the most popular goals: a new diet.  There’s no doubt that the number of obese Americans has increased dramatically over the last 25 years – putting them at risk of high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, and osteoarthritis. But Cathy Roy (Longwood University) says it’s not necessarily [...]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen]Cell phone cameras, Wikipedia, and Google – today’s technology makes it easier for students to cheat.  Psychologist David Rettinger (University of Mary Washington) used to believe that teaching right from wrong was enough to deter it.  But his recent research suggests that’s not enough.  He says old-fashioned guilt, shame, [...]

[Audio clip: view full post to listen] It’s Mozart meets The Clash.  Pianist and composer Sophia Serghi (The College of William and Mary) draws on the heavy metal and grunge of her youth to take classical music where it’s never been before.  Her original string compositions have been performed all over the world – at [...]

Dogs are man’s best friend, but why?  It’s a friendship that goes way back – possibly all the way back to prehistoric times.  Dog-owner and forensic scientist Darcy Morey (Radford University) traces the evolution of dogs back 15,000 years to the present and says ancient dog burials are proof that we’ve always had a soft [...]

They are everywhere you look — in the soil, in the ocean, in your backyard.  Bacteriophages.  They’re viruses that infect bacteria, and they could one day be used to fight off drug-resistant strains of bacteria like tuberculosis.   Mark Forsyth, Margaret Saha, and Kurt Williamson (College of William and Mary) lead a group of students into the field [...]

Holding a student’s attention for longer than five seconds is no easy task.  Despite an innate curiosity, children often find classrooms downright boring.  But why?   Daniel Willingham (University of Virginia), a cognitive scientist, believes the trick to keeping young brains engaged in school is to find the perfect level of challenge – not too [...]

Female tree frogs use complex information processing when listening to the mating calls of male frogs to select their mates.  Kit Murphy (James Madison University) is discovering how females make their choices and may be close to answering the age old question, “Why is she with him?”  Also featured: Between 33 and 50 percent of [...]

Access to health care is still a major challenge for many Americans, even with the recent government overhaul.  In Appalachia, access can be even more limited.  With the nearest  health specialists sometimes hundreds of miles away, many people rely on free clinics for their medical, dental, and vision needs.  Thousands travel to Wise, Virginia each year for a weekend of teeth [...]