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July 2009
UI researchers explore miles-driven tax (WUSA-TV, July 2)
Researchers at the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA are testing a concept for drivers to pay a road tax based on the number of miles they drive with nearly 3,000 cars. They install a computer system that includes four parts: an onboard computer, a cellular antenna, a global positioning antenna and a display. The system tracks how many miles drivers travel and then calculates a simulated tax based on the number. WUSA is based in Washington, D.C.
http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=88022
Bucky fired for switching heads with Herky (Antigo Daily Journal, July 1)
A story about Bucky Badger notes that a former Bucky was fired after swapping heads with the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA's Herky Hawkeye. The Daily Journal is published in Wisconsin.
http://www.antigodailyjournal.com/full.php?id=8736
Olshansky comments on possible cause of Jackson death (MedPageToday, July 1)
An injection of propofol (Diprivan) could have led to respiratory depression -- and subsequently cardiac arrest -- if Michael Jackson indeed used the powerful anesthetic to battle insomnia, emergency physicians say. A registered nurse who previously worked with Jackson said Tuesday that the former pop star asked her to obtain the drug for him four days before his death, raising more questions about his drug use. BRIAN OLSHANSKY, M.D., of the University of Iowa, said the drug acts rapidly, inducing unconsciousness shortly after administration, and then lasts "only a few minutes" -- enough time to perform a cardioversion, which it is typically used for. "It is a very dangerous drug," he said. "It is not for sleep. I cannot imagine anyone would use this outside a very regulated environment [including] the availability of emergency respiratory equipment."
http://www.medpagetoday.com/EmergencyMedicine/EmergencyMedicine/14934
Ciochon comments on Asia/Africa debate (Science, July 1)
Paleoanthropologist RUSSELL CIOCHON of the University of Iowa participates in the discussion of whether anthropods arose in Asia or Africa.
http://sciencenow.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/2009/701/1
Kaaret comments on a new possible black hole type (National Geographic, July 1)
An extraordinarily bright object in a galaxy 290 million light-years away could be a new type of black hole. Right now astronomers are confident that two types of black holes are out there. Smaller, so-called stellar-mass black holes are created by dying stars and only reach 20 to 30 times the mass of our sun. Supermassive black holes thought to sit at the centers of most galaxies, meanwhile, clock in at millions to billions of solar masses. "There's a big gap in between where we just don't know if nature makes black holes that weigh that much," said PHILIP KAARET, an astrophysicist at the University of Iowa, who was not part of the study team.
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/07/090701-new-black-hole.html
UI tests road tax concept (Kansas City Star, July 1)
The year is 2020 and the gasoline tax is history. In its place you get a monthly tax bill based on each mile you drove - tracked by a Global Positioning System device in your car and uploaded to a billing center. What once was science fiction is being field-tested by the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA to iron out the wrinkles should a by-the-mile road tax ever be enacted. The UI, with the help of a $16 million federal grant, is beginning the field test that will eventually include 2,700 vehicles in six states. The vehicles equipped with computers and GPS devices will keep track of the miles traveled and send the data through wireless technology to a billing center that will compute "simulated" tax bills. http://www.kansascity.com/business/story/1299981.html
UI School of Music production noted (Milwaukee Business Journal, July 1)
Bill Theisen, the former artistic director of the Skylight Opera Theatre in Milwaukee, has agreed to stage direct four of the Skylight's productions in the 2009-2010 season on a freelance basis. Theisen is a freelance director and actor for opera and theater companies from coast to coast. He is currently working with the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA SCHOOL OF MUSIC on their production of "Jacques Brel is Alive and Well and Living in Paris."
http://milwaukee.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/stories/2009/06/29/daily33.html
Coleman earned law degree from UI (Farmington Independent, July 1)
In this profile of Minnesota politicians Al Franken and Norm Coleman, it's noted that Coleman obtained his law degree from the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA. The newspaper is based in Minnesota.
http://www.farmingtonindependent.com/event/article/id/11965/
Jobless rates low in Iowa cities (Bismarck Tribune, July 1)
In this story about rising jobless rates in the West and Midwest, it's noted that the news was less bleak for Bismarck, N.D. which was followed by Iowa City, Iowa, home of the UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, with an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent, and Ames, Iowa, at 3.8 percent. The newspaper is located in North Dakota. Several other publications carried a similar ASSOCIATED PRESS article.
http://www.bismarcktribune.com/articles/2009/07/01/news/state/188883.txt
UI researchers study lifespan and social interactions (OneIndia, July 1)
It is often said that humans and other vertebrates live longer if they have more social interactions, and now this has been verified - in fruit flies. CHUN-FANG WU and HONGYU RUAN at the University of Iowa studied fruit flies with a genetic mutation that reduces their lifespan by interfering with an enzyme that mops up dangerous free radicals. In age-related diseases like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's in humans, the same enzyme is implicated.
http://living.oneindia.in/expressions/life-expressions/2008/social-life-human-lifespan-290508.html
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