Getting to the Guts of Autism
This article first was published by WDDE.org. the online arm of Delaware’s NPR News Station, on April 29, 2013. To roughly two million Americans struggling with autism, chronic stomach problems have long been just another side effect. Now, it looks like the issues in their guts could actually be aggravating—or even triggering—their symptoms of autism. A new … Read more
Beyond the Numbers: The Lure of the Family Farm
This article was first published by Seedstock.com on April 30, 2013. The family farmer is making a comeback with a starring role in the new American dream. In recent years, the number of individual farms in the United States has increased for the first time since World War II, according to the 2007 Agricultural Census, … Read more
Retired Scientists Return to Elementary Classrooms
This article was first published in Science Magazine on April 26, 2013: Vol. 340 no. 6131 pp. 446-447. After earning a Ph.D. in atomic physics and spending nearly 20 years managing a U.S. Department of Energy plasma physics program, Ronald McKnight has returned to the seventh grade. McKnight is one of 70 retired scientists, engineers, and physicians heading back to the … Read more
Citizen science: How families can contribute to real science
This article first was published as a guest post on The Christian Science Monitor blog Modern Parenthood on April 4, 2013. What do early radar images of hurricanes, handwritten ship logs, and backyard rain gauges all have in common? More than you might think. Each of these types of meteorological records represents one small piece of … Read more
Busy parents struggle to promote active lifestyle at home
This article first was published by WDDE.org, the online arm of Delaware’s NPR News Station, on March 22, 2013. Not so long ago, the hours between the ringing of the last school bell and the flickering of the first streetlight were filled with peals of laughter and children’s shouts. Kids careened around the block with … Read more
Utah Plays Key Role in Autism Genetics Research
A version of this story entitled Families Dealing with Autism Navigate the Unknown was first published by ExploreUtahScience.com on January 17, 2013. Heather Cannon of Murray, Utah, has three boys on the autism spectrum. Her eight-year-old son Neil started showing signs of extreme distress at just one month old. During his first Christmas, she recalls … Read more
Leap to the Top in Science Class
This article was first published online by AAAS 2013 Annual Meeting News. Often, in the daily grind of slogging through a difficult science class, students see fully formed scientists and their discoveries as a distant blur. Remote men and women somehow make advanced science happen. New efforts aim to bring students face to face with … Read more
Violence halts UD researcher’s snow leopard project in its tracks
When University of Delaware graduate student Shannon Kachel headed to Tajikistan last summer in search of the endangered snow leopard, he was prepared to contend with rugged terrain, high altitudes, and even possibly Afghan drug and weapons smugglers. However, he did not expect to have to take shelter in a bathtub while government troops swept … Read more
Winter storm Nemo: Take the kids out, charge their creativity
This blog post was first published on Modern Parenthood, a CS Monitor blog on February 8, 2013. Winter storm Nemo threatens to bury the Northeast in two feet of snow this weekend, initiating the obligatory pre-blizzard blitz on the grocery store as families scramble to stock up on cases of toilet paper, gallons of milk, and snacking … Read more
Holiday feasts: A time for families to talk about reducing food waste
This blog post first was published by The Christian Science Monitor as part of the blog, Modern Parenthood on December 18, 2012. Families are finalizing plans for December holiday celebrations, even as kids are scraping the very bottom of their Halloween candy buckets and last month’s Thanksgiving turkey has roosted on parents’ backsides. And this is only the beginning. The month of December … Read more
