Wake in the News

The Good Men Project

Wearing a weighted vest can promote bone health and weight loss, but it’s not a cure-all

Health and fitness trends come and go, and many fads don’t deliver on their promises – remember vibrating belts or sauna suits? Today, weighted vests, made from sturdy fabrics like nylon and filled with iron sand or small weights, are gaining widespread use. Here’s what to know about them: Weighted vests have been around for centuries, but they have recently surged in popularity in response to a broader shift in thinking about exercise.

January 24, 2026

Yahoo Life

Is the ‘executive functioning’ craze just more work for moms?

As a person with stellar executive functioning skills, I was well-versed in taking on too much—planning the vacations, prioritizing the housework, organizing the calendars. And I took pride in initiating and delegating these tasks, staying emotionally regulated and self-monitoring progress. And according to business professor Julie Wayne, whose research pertains to the invisible family load, that’s not necessarily a bad thing: “The upside is that you’re the leader of the family. If you’re the person organizing and it all goes well, you get to have this overarching sense of fulfillment.”

January 23, 2026

Triad Business Journal

WS-TEACH finds new funding model after losing $4.7M federal grant

With a goal of training more than 80 teachers for Winston-Salem/Forsyth County Schools’ Title I schools, WS-TEACH is a collaborative project by Winston-Salem State University, Salem College and Wake Forest University. Its participants enroll in an education master’s at one of the three higher education institutions, complete internships and commit to teaching locally for three years. In return, WS-TEACH provides stipends, training and mentorship. In WS/FCS, 70% of first-year beginning teachers did not have a teaching license or were using an emergency teaching license as of this fall.

January 19, 2026

WXII-TV (Winston Salem, NC)

Students, community members work to restore Odd Fellows historic cemetery on MLK Day

College students and community members are working to restore a historic cemetery in Winston-Salem as they honor the life and legacy of civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “It's not just, oh, a day off of class for many people, and myself included, this is a day where the service is so much more intentional, because we're really extending his service into ours. And while my service is not comparable to his, it is an extension, and it's really beautiful to see everyone else doing that and his impact on us today,” Zoe Brown, who’s a Wake Forest University senior, said.

January 19, 2026

Triad Business Journal

Meet the 2026 startups to watch

Wake Forest’s Center for Entrepreneurship received an anonymous $30 million gift last year to grow and scale. Over the past year, it hired three full-time employees and plans one more, expanding faculty from only Executive Director Dan Cohen to 11 by year’s end. This will reduce class sizes from 50 to 20 and cut waitlists. The center will add two courses — entrepreneurial marketing and entrepreneurial finance — and move into a new space. It aims to launch an entrepreneurship major by fall 2027, pending faculty vote.

January 16, 2026

WFDD-FM (Winston-Salem, NC)

Ask an Expert: ‘What is the 2026 economic outlook for households?’

The cost of food and housing remains elevated as 2026 begins. "If you're not loyal to the label, I find the per-unit cost can sometimes be better at stores that don't have memberships attached to them," said Mark Johnson, faculty fellow in investments and portfolio management and teaching professor at Wake Forest University School of Business.

January 16, 2026

Nature

My PI is not offering any support or guidance on my PhD project, what should I do?

For better or for worse, not all PhD programmes are created equal. If structure is something you need but your programme isn’t built that way, it’s important to create that structure yourself, says Sherry Moss, who studies organizational behaviour. “At school and in life, one must ask for what one needs, especially if you aren’t getting it,” Moss says. “Asking does not imply being pushy, it is simply making polite requests. These requests may not be granted, but they certainly won’t be granted if you don’t ask.”

January 15, 2026

The Guardian

AI as a life coach: experts share what works, what doesn’t and what to look out for

Good goal-setting also includes a review of why you haven’t pursued these goals already, explains psychology professor EJ Masicampo. “When it feels like we’re failing at a goal, it’s often that we’ve just prioritized the other things we’re trying to do." Multiple goals are difficult to juggle, he explains. It can be more productive to examine one ambition and what’s obstructing your motivation to achieve it.

January 15, 2026

Newz9.com

Expert Insights on the effectiveness of AI life coaches

If you’ve set New Year’s resolutions, you might find it hard to stick to them as the weeks go by. Psychology professor EJ Masicampo reminds us to consider why we haven’t already pursued our goals. Sometimes, life gets busy, and recognizing those priorities can help set realistic expectations.

January 15, 2026

The Washington Post

Wars without clear purpose erode presidential legacies

Despite public support in the U.S. for deposing Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro, President Donald Trump is unlikely to find that level of support for fighting an actual war in that country. If American troops are sent in by Trump and deaths mount, even a president deemed virtually untouchable by scandal and failure could find himself finally paying a political price for his decisions, writes politics and internationanl affairs professor Will Walldorf.

January 14, 2026

The Independent (UK)

A five-step plan to improve your credit score in 2026

Creating a plan to achieve better credit is critical to your success, as it frees up the mental energy you need to complete your New Year’s resolutions, Wake Forest University Professor of Psychology E.J. Masicampo said.

January 14, 2026

Archdale-Trinity News

Slanted districts lead to legislative primaries

Many candidates for state legislative office are less concerned about Election Day on Nov. 3 than they are about the primaries on March 3. Gerrymandering of districts for the state House and Senate has left a narrow band of legislative races thought to be competitive, politics professor John Dinan said. “In North Carolina and around the country, state legislative and congressional maps are increasingly drawn to create solidly Republican or solidly Democratic districts, leaving few districts that are actually competitive in that they could be won by either party."

January 14, 2026