College Shorts

Author: Adam Schaffer

STUDY SHOWS PARTYING MAY RESULT IN BRAIN DAMAGE

It now appears that Facebook pictures and a nasty hangover are not the only scars students have to contend with after a night of sin at KDR. New research from the University of California at Davis suggests that there is a correlation between alcohol consumption and a decrease in brain volume.

Alcohol damages the connection between two vital parts of the brain: the hippocampus, responsible for memory and learning, and the prefrontal lobe, associated with behavior and personality. The corresponding decrease in hippocampi size is probably accompanied by a decrease in brain function, explains Gretchen Tietjen, professor and chairwoman of the department of neurology at UC Davis.

Middlebury student Ted Hall '12 sees the importance of drawing the line between binge drinking and responsible drinking, saying that "as long as you're responsible it's not a big deal." Other students, such as Andrew Kuntz, a sophomore at the University of Toledo, see blacking out as something that should be experienced "at least once a week."

- The Independent Collegian

REPORTERS DEBATE MERIT OF PLAYING DRESS UP

With Halloween bringing ever-more revealing costumes, students' opinions are split as to the merits of this annual display of skin.

Some, such as Joanna Patterson of The Dartmouth, cite the release risqué costumes offer students entering the restricting dress code of the post-college world. Patterson also noted the issue of overheating at campus parties and the temperature regulation "minimalist" costumes offer. Furthermore, with tuitions nearing $50,000, an Adam/Eve costume consisting of local foliage is easier on the wallet as well as the environment.

Others, such as Melanie Hoffman of The GW Hatchet, see such costumes as degrading to women who hope to be the future business leaders, politicians and doctors of America. "What has the struggle for women's rights been worth," she asks, "if we are just going to exploit our bodies on holidays like Halloween?"

Matt Petryni of the Oregon Daily Emerald agrees, saying that "men in positions of power may be exploiting Halloween costuming, either intentionally or not, [training] young women and men to think of girls as primarily sexual objects and not human beings."

- Oregon Daily Emerald, The Dartmouth and the GW Hatchet

TROPIC WATERS TO BLAME FOR MELTING GLACIERS

A recent New York University study shows that warmer ocean waters, not atmospheric warming, are contributing to melting glaciers and rising sea levels. The study used NASA's Airborne Topographic Mapper to show how the warmer waters coincided with an increased rate of glacial thinning.

The change, however, is not indicative of a global increase in ocean temperatures, according to David Holland, the director of the center and lead author of the study.

"This is not so much a warming of the global ocean as it is a simple redirection of warm waters towards the ice sheets" driven by changes in atmospheric circulation.

Holland goes on to warn of the catastrophic damage such rises could cause. However, he concedes, researchers have no means for gauging the time frame or extent of such changes.

- Washington Square News