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"The rest of the world is completely convinced that we are busy torturing people. Whether that is true or not, the fact that we keep refusing to provide these protections [awarded to prisoners under the Geneva Convention] in our formal directives puts a lot of fuel on the fire."
-- Oona A. Hathaway, associate professor of law, "Army Manual To Skip Geneva Detainee Rule," Los Angeles Times, June 5, 2006.
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"It seems more and more of us are finding a solution to obesity not where our own hand meets the handle of a fork, but rather where a scalpel handle meets the hand of a surgeon."
-- Dr. David Katz, associate professor adjunct in public health practice at the Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, on the increase in gastric bypass surgery to reverse obesity, in his article,
"Gastric Bypass Is a Last Resort,"
New Haven Register, June 5, 2006.
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"We tend to forget that Iran's insistence on its sovereign right to develop nuclear power is in effect a national pursuit for empowerment, a pursuit informed by at least two centuries of military aggression, domestic meddling, skullduggery and, not least, technological denial by the West. ... For a country like the United States that is built on paradigms of progress and pragmatism, grasping the mythical and psychological dimensions of defeat and deprivation at the hands of foreigners is difficult. Yet the Iranian collective memory is infused with such themes."
-- Abbas Amanat, professor of history, in his article, "The Persian Complex," The New York Times, May 25, 2006.
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"[Medical school students] are trained to learn a lot of material, to go in and quickly get to the bottom line. We're trying to slow down the process, teach them to describe what they see, not what they think or know or feel. Later, as doctors, they'll be looking at X-rays, and by remembering to really scrutinize the subtle little changes, they can see what's really going on."
-- Linda Friedlaender, curator of education at the Yale Center for British Art and lecturer in dermatology, on a program that brings Yale medical school students to the British Art Center to hone their observational skills, "Framing the Symptoms; Yale med students sharpen diagnostic skills at British art museum," New Haven Register, May 28, 2006.
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"The DNA revolution that began in the late 1980s has dramatically demonstrated how utterly unreliable eyewitness identifications are. ... At least 80,000 prosecutions in this country every year rely largely on eyewitness testimony. If only half of those result in convictions, we may still be sending to prison nearly 5,000 innocents annually, based on false eyewitness testimony alone."
-- Steven B. Duke, the Law of Science and Technology Professor at the Law School, in his article, "Eyewitness Testimony Doesn't Make It True," Hartford Courant, June 11, 2006.
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"I predict that in 10 years' time people will be coming to [neurosurgeons like] me, not so much for treatment for strokes or tumors, but for cognitive tune-ups: what I call a brain-lift. It might sound like science fiction, but we already use brain-stimulation techniques for treating Parkinson's and depression."
-- Dr. Katrina Firlik, assistant clinical professor of neurosurgery, "One Day Soon We'll All Have Brain-Lifts, Just As We Have Botox Now; David Cohen Meets Katrina Firlik, the Neurosurgeon Who Makes Grey Matter a Compulsive Read," Evening Standard (London), May 30, 2006.
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"The people at highest risk [of falling] are in front of clinicians. Many patients fall in hospitals and nursing homes."
-- Dorothy Baker, research scientist in internal medicine, "Medicine Too Slow, Panel Says," New Haven Register, May 31, 2006.
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"Walls are in the press again, and are controversial again -- walls on the border between the United States and Mexico, walls to encircle Israeli settlements in the West Bank. These are walls that people in authority advocate building. ... As for effectiveness, walls are effective in the short run to keep many (not all) people out, and to keep many (not all) people in. But in the middle run, walls are politically abrasive and magnify injustice, and therefore tend to force further negotiations. The one sure thing we can say about walls is that they are certainly neither friendly nor charitable nor a sign of freedom."
-- Immanuel Wallerstein, senior research scientist in the Department of Sociology, in his article, "The Why Behind the Walls," Hartford Courant, June 4, 2006.
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"The trend is to see hate crimes in areas that experience demographic change, and we are seeing that in Connecticut. ... We have people who have a nostalgic view of their neighborhood when it suddenly undergoes rapid integration. Or say a gay bar opens in the neighborhood. When things change, that causes hate crimes."
-- Donald Green, the A. Whitney Griswold Professor of Political Science and director of the Institute for Social and Policy Studies, "Racial Clashes, Tensions Surging," Connecticut Post, June 4, 2006.
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"It's not clear to me why, if people are willing to pay 99 cents for a song they won't be willing to pay $3 for a book.''
-- Yochai Benkler, professor of law, predicting that digital books will someday be as popular as digital music, "Digital Publishing Scrambles the Rules," The New York Times, June 5, 2006.
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"All the political systems that bear the name democracy are a far distance from the ideal. The threshold [for nations to truly be democracies] is the achievements set by countries like Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and, more recently, the United States."
-- Robert Dahl, Sterling Professor Emeritus of Political Science, "Coming to the Party; Democracy in Asia Is Inching Forward, with Some Commentators Citing Hong Kong as the Leader of the Regional Pack," South China Morning Post, June 6, 2006.
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"The rule of law is extremely deficient in practically all [Latin American] countries. The rule of law is crucial for achieving development."
-- Ernesto Zedillo, director of the Center for the Study of Globalization and professor in the field of international economics and politics, "Zedillo Says Latin America Needs Strong Legal System," Bloomberg, June 7, 2006.
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"Restaurants want their food to taste good. No matter what people say, taste is the most important factor in choosing what to eat, so if that means adding more butter or sugar, restaurants are going to do it."
-- Marlene Schwartz, research scientist in psychology and lecturer in psychology, on the health dangers of dining out frequently, "Good Cooking," Forbes, June 9, 2006.
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"As nations become wealthier, the popularity of luxury goods is increasing. ... While the new rich in many developing nations initially favored products with giant LVMH and Gucci logos, the preferences over time will become more understated, but the desire for luxury goods is truly global."
-- Ravi Dhar, the George Rogers Clark Professor of Marketing, "Luxury Brands Make a Killing in Asia," Today (Singapore), June 13, 2006.
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"It's a shot out of hell, this play ['Macbeth']. It has a kind of demonic drive to it. And it's remorseless. It takes you on a journey deep into the interior of this character, everybody else fades out, and you must inhabit the imagination of a man who no sooner thinks of something terrible than he has done it."
-- Harold Bloom, Sterling Professor of the Humanities, "Macshush!; Theater Superstition Warns of Double Trouble if the Name Is Spoken," Washington Post, June 13, 2006.
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"[Humans] are amazingly adaptable, which is why we survived -- our progeny will not only adapt, they will excel. However, we need to give them the right tools. We need to teach them to think critically and objectively -- teach them to grasp scientific methodology and embrace technological literacy. Unfortunately our society does a very poor job of this. The future of the human race is too important to leave to politicians and corporations."
-- Mark Reed, the Harold Hodgkinson Professor of Engineering and Applied Science and professor of electrical engineering and applied physics, "Caught Up in the 'Net; How the Internet Has Quietly Changed Our Lives," CNN.com, May 29, 2006.
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"In metropolitan areas across the country, highways are reaching the limits of how much traffic they can handle and people are reaching their limits of how far they're willing to drive, especially as gas prices continue to climb. In response, developers are looking to develop land more intensively. Infill development is going up on parking lots, and one-family houses are being replaced by multiple dwellings. Consequently, close-in developable land is becoming scarce, and land prices are rising. In this environment, spread-out shopping centers aren't just unstylish, they're inefficient."
-- Alexander Garvin, adjunct professor at the School of Architecture, in his letter to the editor, "New Urbanism Revitalizes an Old Precedent," The Wall Street Journal, June 14, 2006.
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"You need broad social movements to get a constitutional amendment passed, and those movements tend not to be of reaction as much as reform. People probably care more about being included than about excluding others. There's an asymmetry of passion."
-- Akhil Reed Amar, the Southmayd Professor of Law, "Amending Values Doesn't Work," Sacramento Bee, June 16, 2006.
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"What it takes [for foreign aid to be successful] is a much greater passivity by donors than is usually brought to the table, a much greater willingness to act like bankers, let recipients define their own problems and reform programs, including setting their own credible and enforceable self-imposed conditions, before they approach and negotiate with the donor community."
-- Gustav Ranis, the Frank Altschul Professor of International Economics, in his letter to the editor, "So How Much Help Is Foreign Aid?" The New York Times, June 16, 2006.
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"[I am] leery of [citing] national character as an explanation for anything, including sports behavior. The Brazilians, the Germans, the Italians and the English, among other national teams, have all had shocking early exits in modern World Cup play, followed by fans behaving badly and media and politicians pointing fingers. I'm not sure that there has been enough difference in their reactions to attribute them to a collective personality.''
-- William W. Kelly, the Sumitomo Professor of Japanese Studies and professor of anthropology, "Losses, and the Losing Losers Who Hate Them," The New York Times, June 18, 2006.
T H I S
W E E K ' SS T O R I E S
SOM gets largest single donation in its 30-year history
Program to boost conservation in developing world
Study: Job loss near retirement doubles heart attack risk
Union, management working together . . .
Yale pledges full cooperation in federal review
School of Nursing to launch Ph.D. program
In honor of family's gift, facility has been renamed . . .
Students work to enrich Elm City on summer fellowship
MEDICAL SCHOOL NEWS
Yale leading national study on causes of meningioma
Placenta may hold key to early diagnosis of autism
Belitsky named as education dean; Ment to oversee admissions
Radiotherapy may benefit some lung cancer patients
Guidelines aim to preserve fertility in cancer patients
Mental health coverage may be financially feasible
Study calls for reforms in patient transfer protocols
Study: Survival rate poor in patients with kidney disease . . .
Sindelar named ASHE president
'To Know the Dark' exhibit features American artists' visions of the night
Study: Self-esteem a major factor in love-hate relationships
Pilot Pen Tennis tournament to debut instant replay technology
Library exhibit marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of . . .
Evidence of ultra-energetic particles found in jet from black hole
In YSN study, Iraqi nurses cite a need for new hospitals . . .
Northeast's mercury levels linked to power plant activity
SurExam in China to commercialize blood test for ovarian cancer
Oncolys BioPharma in Tokyo to develop novel anti-HIV treatment
Rudd Center's new blog encourages discussion of food-related issues
This New House
Vladimir Rokhlin honored by the IEEE for his invention
Olympian swimmer Mike Austin donates his gold medal to Yale
Acclaimed director Lloyd Richards, nurtured new playwrights
Yale chemistry student chosen by DOE to meet with Nobel laureates
Chinese archivists to meet with Yale librarians
Yale Books in Brief
Campus Notes
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