University News and Communications publishes VUToday, a compilation of Vanderbilt mentions in the media, each weekday. Read a selection of Vanderbilt news stories for the week of Sept. 5. To subscribe to the daily VUToday newsletter, visit news.vanderbilt.edu/vutoday.
Nature: How to raise a genius: lessons from a 45-year study of super-smart children
As the longest-running longitudinal survey of intellectually talented children, the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth has for 45 years tracked the careers and accomplishments of some 5,000 individuals, many of whom have gone on to become high-achieving scientists. The study currently is co-directed by Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, and David Lubinski, professor of psychology and human development, both of whom are quoted extensively in the article. A reprint of the article appeared in Scientific American. Related articles ran in Science Alert, IFL Science (U.K.) and La Vanguardia (Spain).
The Washington Post: Presidential candidates are ideologically extreme. And they pretty much get away with it
Most political observers are familiar with this basic logic: To win elections, you run to the middle where the swing voters are. But somehow this doesn’t seem to happen. Candidates often appear to have views that are out of step with average voters. The article mentions a study by Larry Bartels, May Werthan Shayne Professor of Public Policy and Social Science, who found the positions of presidential candidates are actually as extreme as their partisan bases’—and have become more extreme over time.
WNYC: The power and prestige of being a New York judge
New Yorkers have the opportunity to elect judges in September’s primary election, several races for the civil courts will appear on the ballot. But most voters feel stumped when they go to the ballot box. About 40 percent of Supreme Court justices in the city are women, according to research by Tracey George, Charles B. Cox III and Lucy D. Cox Family Professor of Law and Liberty, and about 30 percent are people of color. But almost three quarters of New Yorkers are not white, and half are women. George is quoted in the story.
Reuters: Trump and Clinton look to pass U.S. commander-in-chief test
Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, pledging a major new military buildup, and Democratic rival Hillary Clinton get a chance on Wednesday to show how they would lead the U.S. armed forces as commander-in-chief. The two Nov. 8 election opponents are to make back-to-back appearances at an NBC “commander-in-chief” forum in New York, Clinton first, followed by Trump. It will offer a prelude of what to expect from them when national security issues come up in their three presidential debates. Thomas Schwartz, professor of history, is quoted. The story also ran in Business Insider.
Sports Illustrated: Football’s endgame: What would happen if America’s pastime just … died?
The biggest threat to football is not the rising popularity of soccer, nor the chronic gaffes and serial dissembling of the NFL when the subject of head injuries arises. It is the formidable power of one of the most awesome collective forces in nature: concerned mothers. John Vrooman, senior lecturer in economics, is quoted.