Newsmakers

(Every week faculty and staff from across campus are featured or cited in newspapers, magazines, broadcasts and other media from around the country. The listings that follow represent a small selection of the many stories that spotlight UW–Madison and its people. More newsmaker listings)

Integrity or prosperity?
As Al Gore makes his bid for a job promotion, Americans are still split on how heavily to weigh personal integrity and character when judging presidential candidates. And much of that split, say experts such as UW political scientist Charles Jones, has been caused by Gore’s boss, Bill Clinton. “What Clinton did was to successfully present us with a hell of a dilemma,” Jones says, in an article that appeared across the country. Jones tells the Associated Press (Jan. 27) that when confronted with the question of whether to get rid of Clinton during the Monica Lewinsky scandal, people had trouble sorting out their satisfaction with the state of the nation and their disappointment and embarrassment in Clinton as a person. Jones suggests that the reason people may hold Gore’s association with Clinton against him is because that tension makes them want a change.

Radiation: Good for you?
Should we be concerned about the levels of radiation that we are exposed to? Emeritus professor John Cameron says yes, but not for the expected reason. He doesn’t think people are getting enough radiation, which he thinks is healthy. Cameron’s studies are indicating that people benefit from an annual dose of radiation equivalent to 1,500 to 2,000 chest X-rays each year, about 100 times as much radiation as most of us get naturally. “Radiation is an essential trace energy for improved health,” Cameron, who is a visiting professor at the University of Florida, tells the Augusta (Ga.) Chronicle (Jan. 26). He suggests that elderly people should receive regular doses of low-level radiation to stimulate their immune systems.

Men: Bad hair hurts more
A Yale University study is making news with its findings that people really do have bad hair days. The study demonstrates that people feel less confident, intelligent, capable and sociable when their hair doesn’t look good. The results didn’t surprise Janet Hyde, a psychology professor who studies body image and self-esteem. But she tells the Associated Press (Jan. 25) that she was interested that the study found that men suffer psychologically from untamed locks, too. The study found the effects were even stronger among men than among the women.

Eat less, live longer
Professor of medicine Rick Weindruch was featured in “Never Say Die,” an episode of Scientific American’s popular Frontiers program (Jan. 25) that explored research advances in life sciences that are revealing insights into the aging process. The show highlights Weindruch’s landmark studies on the effects of calorie-restricted diets as one of the projects that may be pointing toward a future when human beings live well beyond current life expectancies. Weindruch’s research, though far from complete enough to be conclusive, seems to be confirming that diets that are low in calories but high in nutrition help the mice and monkeys that he studies to retain high levels of energy and good health.

Length matters in bird society
You can learn a lot about the dynamics of hummingbird societies just by measuring their bills, zoology professor Robert Bleiweiss tells Science News (Jan. 15). His research studied the bills of 166 species of hummingbirds, finding linkages between the bills’ characteristics and the breeding and feeding habits of the birds. Dominant birds, for example, tend to have shorter bills. “Think of it as who’s first at the table,” Bleiweiss says. The birds who pick at flowers first use “short straws,” while underclass birds have longer bills to find the leftovers.