October 2023 Media Highlights

PBS - Ancient Earth: Frozen - Segment features Shuhai Xiao, Professor of Geobiology in the College of Science.

Newsweek - Bizarre 535-Million-Year-Old Creature Discovered With Rare Preserved Muscle - "The finding is significant because it sheds unprecedented light on the musculature systems of early animals, features that are typically not preserved in the fossil record but are critical in understanding the behaviors of early animals. Such fossils are extremely rare—literally a needle in a haystack," Shuhai Xiao, a researcher in the Department of Geosciences at Virginia Tech University and an author of the study, told Newsweek.

TIME Magazine - Bed Bugs aren’t just a problem in Paris. Here’s why - Worse, the new generations of bugs were highly resistant to any chemicals used to treat them. “The bugs we have today are not the same as their grandparents,” says Dini Miller, professor of entomology and urban pest management specialist at Virginia Tech University. “We have thick-skinned, hard-drinking, mutant bed bugs.”

Fast Company - This MacArthur genius helped us understand exactly how COVID-19 spreads - Linsey Marr, a MacArthur Fellow, worked on the question of how viruses are transmitted through the air long before the pandemic began.

Slate - Golden years some vets think golden retrievers are dying younger than they used to. The answer could change how we think about dogs for good - Quality of life improved for dogs in general, said Audrey Ruple, a canine epidemiologist at the Virginia–Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine at Virginia Tech. Dogs moved from dog houses, where they were vulnerable to the elements, to the indoors. Preventative veterinary care, from vaccines to flea-and-tick medication, became the norm. Diagnostic care improved. “We now use the same equipment at veterinary hospitals as human hospitals,” Ruple said, which would have been unthinkable even a few decades ago.

Inverse - The case against ultra-processed foods is missing one crucial piece of evidence - Other researchers are looking at ultra-processed foods from the perspective of addiction biology. Because we can eat these foods quickly, and they often lack much structure or fiber to slow their digestion, they deliver a quick dose of calories and a rewarding spike in the neurotransmitter dopamine to the brain, says Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, a neuroscientist who studies eating behavior at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at Virginia Tech Carilion.

News Concerns - From Pop To Potato Chips, Report Finds Ultra-Processed Food Can Be Addictive – National - “We have some really good evidence associating these ultra-processed foods with things like cancer and cardiovascular disease,” Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, co-author of the analysis and neuroscientist with the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in the U.S., told Global News.

WorldHealth.net - Shift In Thinking: Certain Types Of Food Are Addicting - "Most foods that we think of as natural, or minimally processed, provide energy in the form of carbohydrate or fat -- but not both," said co-author Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, assistant professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, and associate director of the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute's Center for Health Behaviors Research and an assistant professor in the Department of Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences at Virginia Tech.

Earth.com - Food addiction may qualify as a substance use disorder - The study, published in the British Medical Journal, combines expertise from scientists across the United States, Brazil, and Spain. Among them are researchers from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC.

Atlanta Journal-Constitution - Study finds ice cream, potato chips may be as addictive as drugs - According to co-author Alexandra DiFeliceantonio, an assistant professor at Virginia Tech, “Most foods that we think of as natural, or minimally processed, provide energy in the form of carbohydrate or fat — but not both.” DiFeliceantonio also pointed out that while you can give up smoking, drinking or gambling, you can’t stop eating. (Also published in Richmond Times-Dispatch, Tulsa World and other newspapers.)

New York Times - Researchers say guardrails built around A.I. systems are not so sturdy - Now a paper from researchers at Princeton, Virginia Tech, Stanford, and IBM says those guardrails aren’t as sturdy as A.I. developers seem to believe. The new research adds urgency to widespread concern that while companies are trying to curtail the misuse of A.I., they are overlooking ways it can still generate harmful material. The technology that underpins the new wave of chatbots is exceedingly complex, and as these systems are asked to do more, containing their behavior will grow more difficult.

PBS - Big Tech | October 19, 2023 - Is artificial intelligence going to outsmart humans? What are the benefits and dangers of AI? What companies are leading the big tech movement in Virginia? How do we protect our children when we are more connected and manipulated than ever before?

USA TODAY - Abortion on the left, education on the right: Which pivotal issue will decide Virginia's fate? - Calls from the left to protect abortion rights versus a battle for parents in education isn't unique to Virginia’s off-year election. Karen Hult, a professor and political scientist at Virginia Tech, said the Old Dominion State is emblematic of a larger debate across the country.

Business Insider - This Morgan Stanley veteran is ready to be CEO — it just might be somewhere else - "These networks are very tight," said David Bieri, a professor of urban affairs at Virginia Tech who was previously a central banker in Switzerland. "If people think that the regulatory front is where a lot of the action will take place in the next five to 10 years, then it might be very important whether somebody is a known quantity."

Early TODAY WNBC (New York) - Self-driving cars were tested - (Segment was picked up by NBC affiliates across the country with an estimated reach over 10M) - You may have been on the road in Northern Virginia at the same time as an experimental self-driving car used by Virginia Tech. Adam Tuss shows it’s still a work in progress.

New York Times - How to Keep Bedbugs From Coming Home With You - Bedbugs leave behind fecal stains of digested blood, which resemble “little black spots that look like they’ve been made by fine felt-tipped marker,” according to Dini Miller, a professor of entomology at Virginia Tech. [Story published 2019, updated Oct. 25]

USA TODAY - Genetic evidence shows flu virus caused 1918 pandemic, not vaccines | Fact check - “There certainly is no evidence vaccines caused it,” said Thomas Ewing, a professor at Virginia Tech whose research focus includes medical history. The first flu vaccine wasn't licensed until 1945, after being developed by two University of Michigan scientists, according to the World Health Organization.

USA TODAY - Book your holiday travel now or maybe skip it this year: What you need to know - “Selecting your travel destinations needs a careful review," explained Mahmood Khan, a hospitality and tourism professor at Virginia Tech. Recent conflicts in the Middle East and ongoing problems in Eastern Europe have made holiday travelers more tentative. Staying in the U.S. or visiting safer developed countries during the holidays may be the best bet, experts said.

TIME - The Big Business of Spooky Season - Part of the outsized increase in enthusiasm, and spending, can be attributed to the pandemic. “It's not just that we're going back to what we were doing before, but rather we're saying, ‘Well, I didn't get to do it during 2020 and 2021. So I'm going to make up for it now and spend a little bit more,’” explains Jadrian Wooten, an associate professor of economics at Virginia Tech.

VOA (Russia Service) - Where does Hamas get its funds for the war - Virginia Tech’s Joel Peters suggest that Hamas could take advantage of the humanitarian aid flowing into the Gaza Strip.

KNX News - Intelligence and political failures ahead of Hamas' attack on Israel - Shay Hershkovitz is a former Israeli intelligence officer, author of The Future of National Intelligence: How Emerging Technologies Reshape Intelligence Communities and current Professor of Practice at Virginia Tech's Center for Environmental Security. He also wrote an op/ed in The Cipher Brief on this issue.

Business Insider - Can anyone save the internet? Neal Agarwal is trying, one Hampster Dance at a time - In 2016, Agarwal got his first glimpse of mainstream success when Insider wrote up everysecond.io, an early data visualization. But it wasn't until he was enrolled at Virginia Tech that Agarwal committed himself more fully to making his so-called web toys. "Programming for me was always a creative expression," he said.

The Hill - Israelis’ view of the US had hit a low point. Now it has suddenly recovered [op-ed] -  Shay Hershkovitz is a professor of practice at Virginia Tech’s Center for Environmental Security and author of “The Future of National Intelligence: How Emerging Technologies Reshape Intelligence Communities.”

Atlanta Journal-Constitution - For people aging alone, experts say plan ahead for long-term care - “When you’re alone, these challenges get amplified,” said Dr. Karen Roberto, a university distinguished professor and senior fellow at the Virginia Tech Center for Gerontology in Blacksburg, Virginia. “Safety is first and foremost the biggest issue. There is a greater propensity for falling, for example. There can be consequences to that if you’re alone.”