UBC Reports | Vol. 47 | No. 02 | Jan.
25, 2001
Headliners
The following excerpts feature some of the many members of the
campus community
who have recently agreed to share their expertise with local and
national news
media.
Lead Time, UBC Public Affairs' on-line guide to UBC experts at
www.publicaffairs.ubc.ca/experts/ helped more than 400 members of the media
find UBC experts last month.
Geneticist's genome caution
The Vancouver Sun, Jan. 10, B3.
What we eat, whether we smoke and how much we earn affects our health
as much as our genes do, University of B.C. geneticist Patricia Baird
warned... And for that reason, the public should be wary of the hype about the
Human Genome Project and its potential to be a medical panacea..."We are
getting an overly naïve interpretation of genetic discoveries," Baird
said, adding that such news is often less dramatic than it appears.
For excerpts from a recent talk by Dr. Baird on the topic, see Forum.
Animal rights
The Vancouver Sun, Jan. 17, A13
The University of British Columbia leads the way with its three-year-old animal
welfare program. David Fraser and Dan Weary are the co-directors and, with
their graduate students, they work with poultry farmers, cattlemen and dairy
producers to come up with ways of ensuring animals are well-treated.
Schoolyard survival 101
The Vancouver Sun, Jan. 15, A6
Ten per cent of B.C. kids go to school every day in serious danger of
being a target of bullying according to University of B.C. associate
dean of education, Shelley Hymel.... "There's a peak in early adolescence,
because you've got all the skills, you've got maximum in-group belonging. Yet
you don't have morality -- that doesn't kick in until the end of high school."
Socially inept use e-mail to harass
The Vancouver Sun, Jan. 15, B3
"One of the untold stories of e-mail is that it is a wonderful
way for sociopaths
to deal with people," says Paul Kedrosky, a professor at the
University of British
Columbia.
Kedrosky, who has helped a number of companies (including Microsoft) to come
up with e-mail use guidelines, says all the research indicates that people's
ideas about social norms disappear when they use e-mail.
Teen suicides from bullying worrying
The Vancouver Sun, Jan. 11, A1
Jennifer White, director of the Suicide Prevention
Information Resource
Centre at UBC, said young people exposed to chronic teasing
and cruelty
are more vulnerable and are definitely at an increased risk of
committing suicide.
However, she said, there would be other serious factors involved
as well such
as the youth having a history of depression, family violence and
social isolation.
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