More than 30 million years ago, monkeys rafted across the Atlantic to South America
April 9, 2020 | Smithsonian
Fossil teeth uncovered in Peru reveal that an extinct family of primates, thought to have lived only in Africa, made it across the ocean. “Parapithecid teeth are distinctive,” said Wake Forest paleoprimatologist Ellen Miller, who was asked to comment on the research. Miller said, “The implications of this research should be a game-changer in primate biogeography. Primates made oceanic journeys to new places over and over again through prehistoric time, and paleontologists may find additional evidence of these dispersals in the fossil record.”
Wake Forest University hosts 12-hour virtual dance-a-thon
April 4, 2020 | Winston-Salem Journal
This year’s Wake ‘N Shake, a 12-hour dance marathon designed to raise money for the Brian Piccolo Cancer Research Fund, was held virtually with students joining in from all across the country. About 1,000 people registered for this year’s event on April 4, and organizers had a $400,000 fundraising goal.
Managing Change in the Midst of Uncertainty
April 1, 2020 | Psychology Today
“What we are all dealing with, right now, is a massive amount of change. The world has changed, in ways we don’t fully understand yet,” said Allison McWilliams, assistant vice president of mentoring and alumni personal and career development at Wake Forest. McWilliams shared tips for weathering this time of global crisis and uncertainty with intentionality and patience. “It’s important to recognize and acknowledge what your emotions are around this point of transition.”
Media report for Feb. 22 - March 27, 2020
April 2, 2020 | WFU News and Communications
The Wake Forest News Media Report for Feb. 22 – March 27, 2020 is now available online.
World of Warcraft perfectly predicted our coronavirus panic
March 17, 2020 | Wired UK
In 2013, Wake Forest economist Frederick Chen designed a 45-day online game that simulated the outbreak of disease. Players received points for staying healthy, and lost them if they got sick, and at the end of the study they were given a cash reward linked to the number of points they’d won. Each day, participants were told whether they were healthy or infected and how many other people were infected, and they had to decide whether or not to protect themselves against the outbreak for the next day’s update. In different phases of the experiment, Chen changed the cost of self-protection – how many points people would lose if they chose to inoculate themselves against infection in the next round.
Even in the Age of Trump, facts matter
March 16, 2020 | Salon
Sidney Shapiro, Fletcher Chair in Administrative Law at Wake Forest, published an article about the economic benefits of environmental regulations and why some individuals appear to ignore the evidence that shows those benefits. “Regulatory opponents also commonly describe regulation as ‘job-killing,’ and assert that regulation imposes about $2 trillion in annual costs on the economy,” said Shapiro. “But empirical work has established that regulation has little to no impact on the overall number of jobs in the U.S. and can actually spur job growth as companies spend money on compliance.”
Justice is blind. What if she also has the coronavirus
March 12, 2020 | The New York Times
Due to coronavirus spread, law enforcement officials say the public should be prepared for interruptions the right to a speedy trial. Ron Wright, a former federal prosecutor who is now a law professor at Wake Forest, said the longer that certain classes of people do not take part in jury duty, the greater the chance defendants would be able to successfully argue they did not receive a fair trial. “If you can make the case that this is only going to last a little while and then it will go back to normal, I don’t see any constitutional claims surviving,” Wright said. “But over the long run, the doctrine is a lot more flexible in allowing” defendants to show that the composition of the jury pool may have discriminated against them.
Senior year, relationships cut short at Wake Forest University
March 18, 2020 | Salisbury Post
Wake Forest student Natalie Alms wrote a guest post about her senior year interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic. “I’m still working on the emotional math of everything. I’m privileged to have been at college in the first place,” said Alms. “I’m a lucky one. But I probably won’t get to say goodbye to the people I only saw in class or on the quad. I hope they know I loved them and still do. Wake Forest’s motto is Pro Humanitate, ‘for humanity.’ My university shut its doors to save lives. That decision aligns with its very core, however painful it may be for us seniors. What a final lesson – one of sacrifice for the greater good – that my class, along with everyone else, is learning now.”
Media report for Feb. 8-21, 2020
February 27, 2020 | WFU News and Communications
The Wake Forest News Media Report for Feb. 8-21, 2020 is now available online.
Wake Forest University apologizes for its past role in slavery
February 20, 2020 | Winston-Salem Journal
Wake Forest President Nathan Hatch apologized for the school’s historical connection with slavery in a speech Thursday during the university’s Founders’ Day Convocation at Wait Chapel on campus. The apology is part of what Hatch described as an ongoing effort to come to grips with how the university participated in and profited from slavery. In his keynote Founder’s Day speech, Jonathan Walton, the dean of Wake Forest’s School of Divinity, told the audience the history of the university “is both beautiful and terrible,” but people in the present can’t escape its effects.
Broadcast Studio
Wake Forest University’s Office of Communications and External Relations operates a fully equipped, professional television and radio studio to connect faculty members and campus newsmakers with global news media.