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.