The Duke Digest - July 1, 2010

In Today's Issue:

  • Experts Available to Comment on Obama's Immigration Reform
  • Biologists Find 'Dead Zones' Around BP Oil Spill
  • Duke Names New Trustee Members
  • Key Component Identified That Helps Plants Go Green


EXPERTS AVAILABLE TO COMMENT ON OBAMA’S IMMIGRATION REFORM
Two Duke faculty members are available to comment on Obama’s immigration reform.  Noah Pickus, director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics and associate research professor of public policy studies, is an expert on immigration, citizenship, and national identity.  Jacob L. Vigdor, professor of public policy and economics, Sanford School of Public Policy, specializes in immigrant segregation in housing, the labor market, and the economy.

Read More:
Experts Available to Comment on Obama’s Immigration Reform (DukeNews)


BIOLOGISTS FIND ‘DEAD ZONES’ AROUND BP OIL SPILL
Marine biologist Larry Crowder discusses evidence that the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico is creating oxygen-depleted "dead zones" where fish and other marine life cannot survive. "The animals are already voting with their fins to get away from where the oil spill is and where potentially there is oxygen depletion," he said. "When you begin to see animals changing their distribution that is telling you about the quality of water further offshore. Basically, the fish are moving closer to shore to try to get to better water."

Read More:
Biologists find 'dead zones' around BP oil spill in Gulf (The Guardian)


DUKE NAMES NEW TRUSTEE MEMBERS
Two new members and two new observers will join the Duke University Board of Trustees next month, the university announced Thursday.  Foundation president Laurene M. Sperling and United Methodist Bishop Hope Morgan Ward will assume terms on the governing body July 1.

Read More:
Duke Names New Trustee Members (DukeNews)


KEY COMPONENT IDENTIFIED THAT HELPS PLANTS GO GREEN
In a project partially funded by a National Science Foundation grant from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and by the National Institutes of Health, a team of researchers from Duke University and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies has found a central part in the cellular machinery that turns plants green when they sense light. In a paper appearing in the June 25 issue of Cell, Meng Chen, an assistant professor of biology at Duke, and his team have identified a key intermediary between the light system for information and the light system that makes fuel. The hope is that this knowledge will help researchers use a plant's own photo-sensory systems to increase agricultural yields or improve the photosynthesis of biofuel crops.

Read More:
Key Component Identified That Helps Plants Go Green (DukeNews)