Category: In The Media
On Air Today: Humanities for the Public Good
Aaron Keck chats with Ashley Melzer, director of UNC’s Humanities for the Public Good Initiative, about their weeklong symposium next week. HPG will bring together students, artists, scholars and others … Continued
Researchers experimenting to create better recycled plastics
What is written on the glass partitions in this chemistry lab may look like another language, but it could be the key to unlocking a solution to America’s plastic predicament. … Continued
The US should cancel a lot more than $10,000 in student debt
On paper, US President Joe Biden’s student debt cancellation plan looks pretty good. But the overall numbers obscure one key downside of the plan: It will do little to help … Continued
UNC professor’s sponsorship model predicts length of deals, renewal rates
At a time when predictive analytics are regularly employed to assess yield for ticket sales, and touted as the ultimate tool to assess player performance, a University of North Carolina … Continued
Cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton: ‘Our universe is one tiny grain of dust in a beautiful cosmos’
Laura Mersini-Houghton’s first book, “Before the Big Bang,” describes her quest to illuminate the origins of our universe and prove that we are one of many universes in a much … Continued
All-seeing telescope will snap exploding stars, may spy a hidden world
The Argus telescopes join others aiming to capture short-lived or rapidly changing astrophysical events, known as transients, including exploding stars, ravenous black holes, neutron star mergers, and maybe even stars … Continued
Experts explain how water quality is impacted on North Carolina coast
“Water quality for people has lots of different ways it manifests itself,” Mike Piehler, UNC Institute of Marine Sciences professor said. “You have water quality in that water is clean … Continued
Five things to know about UNC-Chapel Hill’s curriculum overhaul that launches this fall
First-year and transfer students at UNC-Chapel Hill have moved into their dorms and are learning how to navigate campus just as classes before them have. But when classes start Monday … Continued
The big bang created the universe. What created the big bang?
In her book, “Before the Big Bang: The Origin of the Universe and What Lies Beyond,” quantum cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton focuses on the prequel to this galactic episode, pondering what … Continued
Multiverses, melting glaciers and more
The multiverse has gone from philosophical speculation to one of the most credible explanations of our universe’s origins. UNC cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton tells all. BBC Inside Science Mersini-Houghton’s new book … Continued
Setting college students up for success
What does it mean to have an inclusive college classroom? How can we promote inclusion—both inside and outside the classroom—and help students from different backgrounds succeed in science, technology, engineering, … Continued
Marine scientists reveal how sharks have changed over 50 years
Researchers from UNC’s Institute of Marine Sciences are sharing the results of their one-of-a-kind shark survey which charts everything from size, species and population. NBC’s Kerry Sanders reports with a … Continued
A Rape Trial, and a Legal Travesty. In 1793.
John Wood Sweet’s “The Sewing Girl’s Tale” tells the story of an unusual prosecution in 18th-century New York — and its contemporary relevance. Sweet is a UNC professor of history. … Continued
Why These Frogs Make ‘the Grossest Blunder in Sexual Preference’
When rain falls and water is plentiful, the sex lives of plains spadefoot toads are pretty, well, plain. Females prowl ponds for the suitor with the most winsome call; they … Continued
Earliest depictions of biblical Deborah, Yael found at 5th-century Galilee synagogue
Archaeologists working at a dig in the Galilean town of Huqoq have uncovered the earliest known depictions of the biblical heroines Deborah and Yael, in mosaics that are thought to … Continued
Belgium returned a single tooth to the Congo this week. Here’s why
This week, an unlikely artifact has been returned to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). And along with its return is the hope that there will be some closure … Continued
The More You Know About Your Students, the More Inclusive You Can Be in the Classroom
In this first-person piece, Viji Sathy and Kelly Hogan in the College of Arts and Sciences and Bob Crenshaw in the Center for Faculty Excellence share how to get started … Continued
New Outer Banks poles illustrate flood risk from storm surge
Brightly colored poles have been placed at 27 locations around the Outer Banks, from the Town of Duck to Hatteras Village, including at beach and sound access points, town halls … Continued
Once-soaring lumber prices plunge as new home sales slow
Lumber prices that skyrocketed during the COVID-19 pandemic are starting to decline as new home sales drop, but experts advise continuing to wait before building a house or starting on … Continued
Traveling this summer? Here are book picks for all 50 states (and then some)
As the summer travel season kicks off, many of us look forward to exploring new places on trips away from home. To help with this, NPR asked poets laureate, state … Continued