Wake in the News

Americans aged 18-34 most likely to oppose assault weapons ban, poll finds

November 19, 2017   |  The Guardian

Resistance to a ban on military-style assault weapons is strongest among millennials, according to a new Quinnipiac poll released this week.  None of the other gun control questions in the Quinnipiac Poll had such a striking age divide, said David Yamane, a sociologist at Wake Forest University, who studies the culture of legal gun ownership in America.

Oprah and all the women who should replace Charlie Rose

November 22, 2017   |  Newsweek

Turning to Twitter, Clara Jeffery, Mother Jones editor in chief, asked “Which woman should be given Charlie Rose’s show?” Social media responded with several, one being Melissa Harris-Perry who has taken on a full-time role at Wake Forest University as a professor and is editor at large for Elle magazine, where she focuses on stories about women of color.

Media Report for Nov. 18-24, 2017

November 27, 2017   |  wfu_news_&_communications

The Wake Forest News Media Report for Nov. 18-24, 2017 is now available online.

The modern gold rush that's destroying the Amazon

November 11, 2017   |  CNN

The hour-long program, The Wonder List with Bill Weir, featured Wake Forest researchers studying illegal gold mining in Peru.

“It’s a perfect storm,” said Luis Fernandez, the executive director of the Center for Amazonian Scientific Innovation (CINCIA). “High prices of gold, tremendous poverty, high biodiversity and very vulnerable tribes that aren’t used to outsiders. And so it’s like the Wild West.” So along with his colleagues at Wake Forest University, he built CINCIA, the very first research center in the jungle to study the effects of illicit gold mining on everything from human health to deforestation impacts.

To maintain muscle and lose fat as you age, add weights

November 15, 2017   |  The New York Times

Trying to stay trim as you age? Surprisingly, if you’re cutting calories to lose weight, adding weights to your weight loss regimen may be more effective than beginning a walking program. In a new study, published this month in Obesity, Wake Forest University researchers focused on both men and women older than 60 who were overweight or obese.

“Walking is excellent exercise,” said Kristen Beavers, assistant professor of health and exercise science and lead author of the study. “But it looks as if it might not produce enough of an anabolic signal to really spare muscle mass during weight loss.” The results do suggest that for healthy weight loss, many of us might consider at least occasionally walking to the gym and, once there, picking up some weights.

See also: Today Online 

What are pre-workout supplements - and do you need them?

November 12, 2017   |  Self

The article on pre-workout supplements mentions a 2016 study from Wake Forest University that found when heart failure patients drank beetroot juice every day for one week, it helped improve their aerobic endurance by 24 percent. While it’s important to note that research on beets is still pretty young, and most studies are small, so far all of them show promising results.

Why you should buy stock in the companies that lobby the most

November 13, 2017   |  Forbes

Those that lobby most intensively tend to have better-performing stocks, according to research. “Portfolios of firms with the highest lobbying intensities significantly outperform their benchmarks in the three years following portfolio formation,” states a 2014 paper titled “Corporate Lobbying and Firm Performance” by Hui Chen, David Parsley and Ya-Wen Yang, of the University of Zurich, Vanderbilt University and Wake Forest University.

Media Report for Nov. 11-17, 2017

November 21, 2017   |  wfu_news_&_communications

The Wake Forest News Media Report for Nov. 11-17, 2017 is now available online.

Media Report for Nov. 4-10, 2017

November 14, 2017   |  wfu_news_&_communications

The Wake Forest News Media Report for Nov. 4-10, 2017 is now available online.

What exercise regimen is best for healthy weight loss in seniors?

November 7, 2017   |  U.S. News & World Report

Older folks who performed resistance training while dieting were able to lose fat but still preserve most of their lean muscle mass, compared with those who walked for exercise, researchers report. “Our findings show if your treatment goal is to maximize fat loss and minimize lean mass loss, then the resistance training is probably the way to go,” said Kristen Beavers, assistant professor of health and exercise science at Wake Forest and lead author of the study appearing in the November issue of the journal Obesity.