UO E-clips, Oct. 15

Why women have bad teeth (LiveScience.com, with similar coverage in The Times of India and Archaeology in New York): Women had poor dental health compared to men back in the hunter-gatherer era, and it got worse as societies turned to farming. Now an anthropologist is pointing to an overlooked explanation -- hormonal and dietary changes related to higher pregnancy rates. ... "We deal with skeletons," said John Lukacs, an anthropologist at the University of Oregon. "There's no saliva, no hormonal effects to be detected." Lukacs first reviewed studies of both living and prehistoric humans, and found a familiar story across different cultures and nations. Women suffered more cavities than men as they became adults. However, both sexes saw a dramatic boost in cavities as societies became agricultural. "People do generally agree that a shift from hunter-gathering to agriculture includes a cost in terms of health and nutrition," Lukacs told LiveScience. "Dietary diversity decreases, and people become reliant on fewer crops." He then honed in on clinical evidence of how reproductive biology affects women's dental health, especially as high estrogen levels trigger certain effects.

Climate matters (Salem Statesman Journal guest commentary by Bob Doppelt, director of Resource Innovations and the UO's Climate Leadership Initiative at the University of Oregon): Global warming is the defining issue of this century. Oregon and the nation are already experiencing the effects of rising temperatures and the impacts will become more disruptive the warmer it gets. Left unchecked, global warming will undermine economic, social and environmental prosperity and security here and abroad. This is the first in a regular series of columns about global warming. Because humans have little experience with this type of unprecedented event, the causes, consequences and solutions can be difficult to grasp. I’ll try to explain them in simple terms and discuss their implications. This will not be a science column, although I'll discuss the implications of new scientific studies as they emerge.

University Of Oregon Complaining About Noise From Homeless Feeds Under Burnside Bridge (Portland Mercury blog): The University of Oregon's president for institutional services Jan Payton Oliver says "it's impossible to teach evening classes and seminars" in the building on Tuesday nights, when there's a regular homeless feed under the bridge. The problem? Noise. Mike Kuykendall of the Portland Business Alliance wants Central Precinct Commander Mike Reese to invoke the city's noise ordinance against the feeders, to crack down on the "problem." I wrote an article on the effect of the U of O moving into Old Town back in the spring. At the time, Oliver told the Mercury: "When you look at a university community, they tend to be very liberal. It's a community that has succeeded in Eugene very comfortably with a wide variety of challenges and neighbors." She appears to have changed her liberal attitude over the past six months.

University Athletic Training Center technology could trickle down to clubs (FitnessBulidingClubPro.com): As college athletics has become more competitive over the years, universities across the country are spending millions of dollars to build athletic training facilities equipped with state-of-the-art amenities for their sports teams. And many university athletic training professionals say that these features -- many of which cost thousands of dollars, if not more -- could trickle down to the consumer health club market. Last August, the University of Oregon in Eugene, OR, opened the Athletic Medicine Center, a $10 million project privately funded through the Oregon Athletics Legacy Fund. The facility includes physician space for daily clinics and pre-participation physicals, nutritional education areas for student-athletes, vision and dental screening, body composition testing, a pharmacy, and vibration-training equipment.

OUS looks for public input about new UO President (KEZI News 9): Finding the next president of the University of Oregon will not be an easy task, so the chancellor of the Oregon University System is looking for some help in searching for the right candidate. Tuesday, the OUS hosted a public input session on campus. People whom KEZI 9 News spoke with seem to be looking for a president with charisma, good leadership and the ability to raise funds for the university. (Video)