Life News (Popular Culture)

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Wichita State University’s connection to the Summer Olympic games started 76 years ago with WSU basketball alums serving on the winning U.S. basketball team of the 1936 Berlin Olympics and the German oak trees given as special awards. Wichita State’s Olympic oak, a descendant of those trees, still stands proudly on campus.

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Bucket lists are more than goals or accomplishments a person wants to achieve before dying. They are also a way for people to discuss death -- even though most of us probably would rather avoid doing so.

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The 2012 Summer Olympics begin July 27 in London. Indiana University experts are available to speak with news media about various topics related to the games.

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Fans of Facebook hate groups, while using new media to target President Obama and his family, are relying heavily on old stereotypes of blacks as animalist, evil or shiftless — including depictions of the President as a chimp or sporting a bandana and a mouth full of gold teeth, according to a Baylor University study.

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As more than 10,500 of the world’s most elite athletes prepare to compete in the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics members are helping ensure Team USA athletes have the nutritional support they need to compete and win. In fact, the United State Olympic Committee is sending more sports dietitians to London than any previous Olympics, according to a recent article in the Academy’s Food & Nutrition magazine.

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A new study conducted by associate professor Bruce McKinney at the University of North Carolina Wilmington shows Facebook users are not as narcissistic as once thought.

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“What can we see?” and “How do we get there?” are two of the most common questions asked by Smithsonian visitors. To help answer those questions before they are asked, the Smithsonian has collaborated with Google to map its indoor public spaces—17 museums and the National Zoo—for easier exploration. Beginning today, many of the millions of yearly visitors to the Smithsonian can electronically explore the building interiors, floor by floor, and pinpoint themselves within the building. The technology allows visitors with Google Maps for Android to navigate within and between each museum.

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Superstars Jack Osbourne, Kim Kardashian, Oprah Winfrey and Venus Williams have all have been diagnosed with autoimmune diseases

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According to a cognitive psychologist, the common responses to celebrity deaths demonstrate important realities about how people build relationships with the media they consume.

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American University professor says unusually dedicated comic book fan base helps drive film genre’s popularity.

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This Smithsonian Snapshot marks the start of summer with this 1969 airline poster. The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s collection of more than 1,300 posters focuses on advertising for aviation-related products and activities. In the mid 1900s, airline advertisements like this one from Continental Airlines promoted exotic travel destinations.

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Many churches are missing opportunities to involve Christian women in philanthropy, with ministry leaders too often speaking “man to man” — despite the fact that women now control more than 51 percent of personal wealth nationally, according to a 2012 national survey.

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Hosei University in Kawasaki, Japan, has several partnerships with Boise State University. That now includes a blue football field – the first international licensing of the playing surface as a Boise State trademark.

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Bowling Green State University has two professors in the Department of Popular Culture available to discuss the life and impact of author Ray Bradbury.

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Ray Bradbury will be remembered for the richly poetic style and emotional intensity of his best stories, said the director of the nation’s first center for the study of Ray Bradbury.

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A new exhibition organized by the Jane Addams Hull-House Museum asks, "Can gang members become forces for positive social change?"

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The world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals is launching EatRight Radio, a new online resource with free public service announcements that encourage millions of people to improve their health. The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics has created a broadcast team of registered dietitians – the food and nutrition experts – to create a network of free public service announcements beginning this summer.

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As voters increasingly rely on websites of presidential primary candidates for news, they run a risk because candidates’ online attacks are not vetted through traditional “watchdog journalists” and other gatekeepers to determine accuracy or fairness, according to a study by Baylor University researchers.

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On June 15, high-wire artist Nik Wallenda will attempt to cross Niagara Falls on a tightrope. University at Buffalo experts crowd psychology, the role of spectacle in popular culture, the Niagara mist plume, and the payoffs of this kind of venture.

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American University Professor Cristel Russell presents research on re-consumption.

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Rubber loons, based on a traditional rubber duck concept, will drop into an Adirondack waterway Memorial Day weekend for the world's first event of its type using American-made products.

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Memorial Day weekend in Orlando means it’s time for some of the country’s elite high school track and field athletes to gather and compete at the 36th Annual Golden South Classic presented by adidas®.

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With little more than basic information about Web users’ behavior – that is, the hyperlinks they click on daily and the content at those sites – Susan Gauch can build a better search engine. In information systems research, this work is known as “implicit” user profiling, meaning there are basic assumptions about user interest and intent based on the sites they frequent and the content they view.

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Women, “It’s Your Time, ” according to the 2012 theme of National Women’s Checkup Day on May 14. Nutrition expert Suzy Weems says schedule health screenings, but take some cues from music, too.

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The Internet and social media have opened up new vistas for people to share preferences in films, books and music. Services such as Spotify and the Washington Post Social Reader already integrate reading and listening into social networks, providing what Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg calls “frictionless sharing.” “But there’s a problem. A world of automatic, always-on disclosure should give us pause,” says Neil M. Richards, JD, privacy law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis.

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Cornell researchers who applied computer analysis to a database of movie scripts think they may have found the secret to a memorable movie line - use familiar sentence structure but incorporate distinctive words or phrases, and make general statements that could apply elsewhere.

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Hindu and Buddhist groups have grown steadily in the United States since changes in immigration laws in 1965 and 1992, according to a Baylor University professor who helped compile the newly released 2010 U.S. Religion Census.

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Award-winning actor Sam Waterston is the recipient of the Goodermote Humanitarian Award from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health for his longtime support of the plight of refugees around the world. Waterston will be presented with the award at a ceremony at the Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Md., on May 9.

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With Mother's Day coming up May 13, two Kansas State University experts say literary characters can inspire families as they celebrate the maternal figures in their lives.

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"The Kentucky Derby: How the Run for the Roses Became America's Premier Sporting Event" examines the historical, political and cultural significance of horse racing's most famous event.

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The National Day of Prayer typically sparks debate about whether the day violates the establishment clause of the U.S. Constitution. This year’s observance on May 3 however, likely will take on added significance, as 2012 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Supreme Court's decision in Engel v. Vitale, which invalidated official prayer in public schools, says John Inazu, JD, first amendment expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Inazu and Gregory Magarian, JD, constitutional law expert and WUSTL law professor, tackle the establishment clause question.

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By analyzing 600,000 tweets sent on the night U.S. Special Forces captured Osama bin Laden, researchers studied how Twitter broke the story and spread the news. Their data also shows that the Twitterverse was overwhelmingly convinced the news of bin Laden’s death was true, even before it was confirmed on television.

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Forget about the number of fans or “likes” your organization’s Facebook page has. It’s what the organization is doing to keep those fans engaged that is important, especially if those fans comprise the “Millennials” – individuals who are 18 to 29 years old.

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Few dispute Dick Clark’s prominence in American music and entertainment during the second half of the 20th century. But for the history of rock music, the early years of Clark’s career are the most significant, says John Covach, professor of music at the University of Rochester and its Eastman School of Music.

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What should be a fairy-tale day — a woman’s wedding — could turn into a nightmare for a bride-to-be who goes on a new feeding-tube diet to lose 20 pounds fast, says a Baylor University professor and a former chair of a public policy committee for the American Dietetic Association.

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From four sorority members training in the basement of their house to competitive cycling on the same terms as the men, the women's Little 500 has become an important event at Indiana University Bloomington. The IU Student Foundation will present the 25th running of the women's race on Friday, April 20.

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UC Santa Cruz Library loans nearly 100 items to new major exhibit opening April 12 as part of 2012 Rock Hall of Fame Induction Week.

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The new documentary “Bully” starts a valuable conversation about bullying, but illustrates how many schools lack adequate training to cope with this all-too-common problem, according to the director of the University at Buffalo’s Jean M. Alberti Center for the Prevention of Bullying Abuse and School Violence.

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The future of ice cream is happening right now. Ice cream flavors, textures, and ice cream’s health benefits are ever-changing in today’s society. In the March 2012 issue of Food Technology magazine, published by the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), Senior Editor Don E. Pszczola writes how ice cream is continuing to evolve when it comes to flavor, texture, stability and health benefits.

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With the premiere of "The Hunger Games" movie on Friday, March 23, Indiana University has several faculty experts who can provide insights on various aspects of the film, based on the first book in IU alumna Suzanne Collins' best-selling trilogy.

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American University Professor explores growth in this $25 billion a year industry.

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As women enter the ministry, they will find that “there will be voices inside and outside telling you, ‘You’re divine’ or ‘You’re demonic.’ But both are telling you a lie,” Julie Pennington-Russell, lead pastor of the First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., told an audience of primarily women at a Baylor University conference.

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In the first new book on Hoover in 25 years, Glen Jeansonne concludes the blame the president took for the Great Depression was undeserved. Hoover was the first president to pit government action against the economic cycle, setting precedents and spawning ideas employed by his successor and all future presidents.

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The movie The Hunger Games, a story about adolescents in a post-apocalyptic survival contest, opens in theaters March 23 and offers “a perfect tale of apprehension for our time” of financial upheaval and a bleak job market, says a Baylor University culture critic and author.

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Is the existence and effect of momentum real, or is it a sports superstition? UC research analyzes five years’ worth of plays in the NFL.

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Spring cleaning is still a tradition for many Americans – 62 percent of those surveyed say spring cleaning is an annual ritual in their home. According to new research from the American Cleaning Institute® 73 percent of those who spring clean strongly or somewhat agree that it’s a tradition worth keeping. But 13 percent of this group (18% of men, 8% of women) strongly or somewhat agree that if it wasn’t for spring cleaning, they would probably never clean their home!