UA In the News — Oct. 20

Alabama researchers find evidence exercise can change how genes work
Al.com – Oct. 19
Alabama researchers have new evidence that even gentle exercise can lead to healthier experimental animals – a finding that may be good news for humans, too. The research published this month involved rotating fruit flies like rotisserie chickens on a device called the Treadwheel invented by University of Alabama (UA) graduate Sean Mendez. Researchers at UA and the University of Alabama in Birmingham put vials of the flies on identical Treadwheels and slowly rotated them for five days. Flies like to be at the top of any enclosure they’re in, so they had to climb to stay there.

Astronomers Discover Two Mysterious Cosmic Objects Belching Out Rapid X-Ray Flares
International Business Times – Oct. 20
Space is big. So it’s understandable that there are certain things in the universe we are yet to discover, and events we are yet to find explanations for. A team of astronomers have now have observed not one, but two extraordinary objects whose behavior defies explanation. “We’ve never seen anything like this,” Jimmy Irwin from the University of Alabama, lead author of a study describing the observations, said in a statement. “Astronomers have seen many different objects that flare up, but these may be examples of an entirely new phenomenon.”
Daily Mail (U.K.) – Oct. 20
NanoWerk – Oct. 20
Exploregram – Oct. 20
Canoe.com – Oct. 20
Seeker.com – Oct. 20
New Scientist – Oct. 20
Phys.org – Oct. 20
 
UA Students send aid to Haitian hurricane victims
Crimson White – Oct. 20
Last week Alabama students held a donation drive outside of Bryant-Denny Stadium, collecting first aid materials to be sent to Haiti to help the hurricane recovery effort. Hurricane Matthew hit Haiti’s southern peninsula as a category four hurricane on Oct. 4, leaving nearly 1.4 million people in desperate need of assistance. To help provide this much-needed aid, The University of Alabama’s Haiti Economic Research and Development group facilitated a donation drive to gather materials like bandages, flashlights and thermometers to send to Haiti. HERD is a student organization at the business school headed by accounting professor Lisa McKinney.

Free legal clinic for low-income Tuscaloosa residents will be Thursday
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 19
The Alabama State Bar Volunteer Lawyers Program, in cooperation with the Tuscaloosa County Bar Association, the University of Alabama School of Law and Legal Services Alabama, will host a free legal clinic Thursday for low-income residents of Tuscaloosa County coping with civil legal challenges. The clinic lawyers are experienced in various areas of the law and will be available to answer questions in the areas of divorce/custody/visitation, landlord/tenant issues, wills and estates, debts/bankruptcy/foreclosure and domestic violence.

Explorer Robert Ballard, speaking in Tuscaloosa, sees bright future
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 19
Oceanographer Robert Ballard calls the generation of explorers who will follow him the spirit movers, those who with the aid of technology will be able to go farther and learn more than those who came before them. “I like to tell the next generation of young people, some in attendance tonight, that their generation not mine, will explore more of Earth than all previous generations combined. The great explorers that will be written up in the history books are in middle school right now,” Ballard said before a lecture on Wednesday at the University of Alabama.
CBS 42 (Birmingham) – Oct. 19

UA student creates pitching app
WHNT-CBS 19 (Huntsville) – Oct. 18
Baseball and business are coming together in a big way for one “Bob Jones” graduate. Matt Bowen — now a senior at The University of Alabama — his brother and some friends have developed the “Pitch Analyzer”. They’ve filed a patent for the software – which uses cameras, even new model iPhones to track and analyze baseball pitches. The Bowens hope it will eventually bring the same high-tech help used in the majors to youth and recreational leagues.

Professor will discuss “resegregation” book based on Tuscaloosa city schools
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 19
In the book, “Resegregation as Curriculum: The Meaning of the New Segregation in U.S. Public Schools,” the city of “Riverton” is used to explore how its school system suffered under a segregated process years after the civil rights movement. However, author Jerry Rosiek said “Riverton” is only a pseudonym for the real focus of the book: Tuscaloosa City Schools. Rosiek, an associate professor in education studies at the University of Oregon, will visit Graves Hall, room 118, at 5 p.m. Thursday to discuss the book, which compiled interviews with more than 300 Tuscaloosa students, teachers and parents between 2004 and 2010. The lecture is free and open to the public.

‘Go South to Freedom’: Underground Railroad not always a northbound train
Watauga Democrat – Oct. 19
Author Frye Gaillard’s oeuvre is eclectic, to say the least. As the writer in residence of the University of Alabama, he is always looking for a “good story,” and during the years that has meant publishing a number of nonfiction books, from working with Kyle Petty on a book about NASCAR to an account of former President Jimmy Carter; from country music to civil rights.

Annual Day Lecture to feature religion and popular culture
Crimson White – Oct. 19
The fifth annual Day Lecture will be delivered this evening through the Department of Religious Studies. Each year, the department brings in a speaker to lecture on crossover of religion and popular culture. Jason Bivin, a professor of Religious Studies at North Carolina State University, will deliver the lecture. Bivin will discuss the intersection of religion and politics in the United States after the 1900s. “This will be Dr. Bivin’s first time at The University of Alabama,” said Russell McCutcheon, chair of the College of Arts and Sciences department. “He specializes in religion and jazz in America.”

Students are Changing Interactions with Museum Exhibits
How to Learn – Oct. 20
Students are changing interactions with museum exhibits, using new technology to give the public a more in depth experience. The sixth graders at Brookwood Middle School in Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, are ensuring that through a partnership with four University of Alabama museums, visitors now have access to information literally at their fingertips.

New $13M sorority house in Alabama puts Texas Greeks’ homes to shame
Seattle Post- Intelligencer – Oct. 19
Everything is bigger and better in Texas, except our sorority houses, apparently. Phi Mu at the University of Alabama dished out $12,992,855 to build its members a new house with beautiful marble floors, crystal chandeliers and so many lounge and study areas. This news follows nearly a decade-long trend of University of Alabama’s Greek building boom. In 2013, Crimson Tide Greek organizations has spent over $202 million in renovating their mansions with white columns, wide balconies and grand foyers — or just building entirely new castles like Phi Mu did.
Houston Chronicle – Oct. 19
 
College Gameday helps Tuscaloosa economy
WVUA 23 (Tuscaloosa) – Oct. 19
Tuscaloosa is getting ready for the highly anticipated matchup between number one ranked Alabama and number six ranked Texas A&M on Saturday. The huge number of people pouring into T-town means they wlll be spending their money here this weekend. Chamber of Commerce of West Alabama president Jim Page says even more people come to Tuscaloosa when ESPN’s College Gameday is in town.
 
UA to take part in college fair in Dothan
WTVY-CBS (Dothan) – Oct. 19
We do have a college fair tomorrow morning at Northview High School from 8 a.m. until 1 p.m. It’s open to anyone in the area that’s interested in looking at different colleges. We have over 40 colleges and organizations that will be there from the Army, to The University of Alabama to the University of Montevallo.

Days and nights filled with ghoulish activities
Tuscaloosa News – Oct. 20
Trick-or-Treat on Sorority Row: 6-8 p.m., UA sorority houses on campus, Magnolia and Colonial drives. Free and open to all children 12 and younger. Costumes are encouraged, but masks are not allowed. No pets, cars, bicycles, skateboards or hover boards allowed. Clown costumes are discouraged by the organizers: Alabama Panhellenic Association, National Pan-Hellenic Council and the United Greek Council. In case of the rain, the event may be rescheduled.