Tetraplegic Don Danbrook demostrates a prototype BCI recording cap - photo courtesy of ICORD

UBC Reports | Vol. 55 | No. 1 | Jan. 8, 2009

In the News

Highlights of UBC Media Coverage in December 2008

Compiled by Sean Sullivan

Prorogue, Eh?

When Canada’s opposition parties pledged to form a coalition and bring down the Conservative government, UBC political science professor Allan Tupper explained the political crisis to an international audience.

Reuters and Bloomberg joined the National Post, Globe and Mail, Financial Post, and Vancouver Province in seeking Tupper’s expert analysis on how a coalition would affect the provinces, and whether the government would have to play ball on its January budget.

“I think the circumstances are beyond the prime minister’s control,” Tupper told Bloomberg.

Paradise Lost in Prose

A new interpretation of Milton’s Paradise Lost by UBC English professor, and distinguished Miltonist, Dennis Danielson, caused a stir in blogs for the New York Times and Washington Post.

Danielson said his work frees the story from its “linguistic obscurity” in order to make the epic poem more accessible to modern readers. Paradise Lost: Parallel Prose presents Milton’s original 17th-century text together with Danielson’s modern prose rendition of the “story of all things” on facing pages.

 “The value of his edition, he says, is that it ‘invites more readers than ever before to enjoy the magnificent story – to experience the grandeur, heroism, pathos, beauty and grace of Milton’s inimitable work,’ ” wrote the Times.
Danielson also spoke on CBC Radio.

Growing Up in Different Worlds

Tom Boyce, B.C. Leadership Chair of Child Development at UBC, has co-authored a study that suggests the brains of children from low-income backgrounds function differently from the brains of kids from high-income environments.
The study, reported by The Canadian Press and Los Angeles Times, found certain deficits in the functioning of the prefrontal cortex – the region of the brain that is critical for problem-solving and creativity – in kids from low-income environments.

“We believe that these are differences in the early experiences of kids growing up in low socioeconomic status families. It’s not the fault of anybody. We’re looking for things that can be done to make that better,” Boyce said.