Tropical forests store about a third of Earth's carbon and about two-thirds of its above-ground biomass. Most climate change models predict that as the world warms, all of that biomass will decompose more quickly, which would send a lot more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. But new UVA research presented at the American Geophysical Union's 2018 Fall Meeting contradicts that theory.
Donald Trump fueled his rise to the presidency with a campaign promise to build a border wall. He is now under pressure from conservatives to follow through, according to UVA analyst Larry Sabato. "Essentially, they said, 'If you don't push harder for your wall and you don't get billions of dollars to build it, then your base, and we represent that base, won't be there for you in 2020,'" he said.
A presidential historian on Monday tried to figure out which president told Donald Trump that he wants the Mexican border wall built — and noted that they must not be alive. The report noted that aides to Presidents Bill Clinton, George W. Bush and Barack Obama also denied that they expressed approval for the wall to Trump. Given those facts, presidential history author and director of the University of Virginia’s Center for Politics Larry Sabato pointed out that Trump wouldn’t be the first to speak to portraits. “What about the dead Presidents?” Sabato added. “After all, Nixon talked to the p...
The researchers also studied the magnitude of the win in each community. For every 10 percentage point increase in voter support for Trump, the researchers found an 8 percentage-point rise in reported bullying and a 5 percentage-point increase in bullying because of a student's race or ethnicity. By contrast, from 2013 to 2017, there was no difference in school bullying rates between Republican- and Democrat-leaning communities in the commonwealth's biannual school climate survey, according to study authors Francis Huang, an associate professor of statistics, measurement, and evaluation in edu...
President Trump delivered his first speech from the Oval Office, an historic spot to use the presidential bully pulpit, to a polarized nation. There was not the slightest sign of melt to show for Trump's efforts. "This Oval Office speech did not change 100 minds: We all know what we think of this president. His base cheers whatever he says and the remainder of America sees his giant credibility gap," tweeted UVA opinion expert Larry Sabato.
Experts predict that marital decisions will change drastically in the coming years, thanks to divorce tax laws. “The research indicates that tax policy does influence decisions about getting married and staying married, but this influence is modest,” said Brad Wilcox, director of the National Marriage Project and a UVA sociology professor. “Changes in tax-related alimony deductions are not likely to have a huge impact on either the timing or likelihood of divorce for married couples in America.”
“We found differences in teasing and bullying rates that were linked to voting preferences, which we didn’t see prior to the 2016 presidential election,” said Francis Huang, an associate professor at the University of Missouri, who conducted the study with UVA professor Dewey Cornell. Huang and Cornell examined the survey responses of more than 155,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students across Virginia’s 132 school districts. Students were asked if they had been bullied at school and if they had observed harassment of others, including students being targeted due to their race or ethnicity. Th...
The average time in office for current Democratic members of the House of Representatives is 9.7 years, well above the average Republican tenure of 7.8 years. In the Senate, Democrats on average have 10.5 years of experience in their current roles, ahead of the GOP average of 9.5 years, according to data for that chamber. So why the difference? Larry Sabato, director of UVA’s Center for Politics, suggests it has to do with core motivations.
After a "lazy" start of star formation for the first few billion years of their lives, both the Large and Small Magellanic Clouds are now forming new stars at a rapid rate. "Both the Magellanic Clouds started off by making stars very slowly," says UVA’s Christian Hayes, a key member of the research team. "But within the past two billion years or so, they suddenly became much more active.”
Racist school bullying has risen in areas that voted for Trump in presidential election, study finds
Dewey Cornell, a UVA professor of education and co-author of the study, warned: “Parents should be mindful of how their reactions to the presidential election, or the reactions of others, could influence their children. And politicians should be mindful of the potential impact of their campaign rhetoric and behavior on their supporters and indirectly on youth."
Today we unveil the 2019 RHSU Edu-Scholar Public Influence Rankings, ranking the university-based scholars in the U.S. who did the most last year to shape educational practice and policy. Included in the top 10 were the University of Virginia's Carol Tomlinson and UVA President Jim Ryan.
John Ballard Syer died on January 1, 2019, at his home in Charlottesville, after a four-year battle with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1961 and served two years in the U.S. Army. He also served on the Boards of Sovran Bank in Norfolk, the UVA Alumni Association and Virginia Beach General Hospital. In 1993, Jack and Virginia moved to Charlottesville, where Jack took on a new role as President of the Alumni Association of the University of Virginia, a position he held until his retirement in early 2006.
Rick Scott will be sworn in as a U.S. senator Tuesday, five days late, so he could finish out his term as Florida governor. But the decision impacts his place in the Senate pecking order. “It’s a strange situation," said Kyle Kondik of UVA’s Center for Politics. Kondik said the move could be an ongoing challenge for Scott, depending on how long he decides to serve in the U.S. Senate.
David Sciarra, executive director of the New Jersey-based Education Law Center and an adjunct law professor at the University of Virginia, has been arguing that the plaintiffs in the Scott case made the wrong argument. They argued that the money spent on rural schools and suburban ones was unequal and therefore unconstitutional, an argument the Virginia Supreme Court soundly rejected. However, they never argued that their funding prevented them from delivering the state’s constitutionally-mandated “quality education.” That, Sciarra has said, is the argument that a new round of plaintiffs ought...
The Alzheimer's Association is again granting a UVA assistant professor nearly $150,000 to do research on the disease. John Lukens will use the grant to fund his research on how the immune system plays a role in Alzheimer's disease.
The commonwealth of Virginia received a one-year, $9.9 million federal grant for early childhood education. The grant will include funds to help develop a statewide needs assessment and strategic plan, funds to align early learning standards and funds for kindergarten-readiness tools. Virginia will also work with the 10 local communities and two other partners: the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation and the University of Virginia.
It's a simple idea. Put a dot on a map for each person and give each dot a color based on race. But what does it show about Cincinnati? UVA demographer Dustin Cable used 2010 census data, Google maps and a number of programming techniques to create the Racial Dot Map.
(Video) A doctor at the UVA Medical Center wants to bring more awareness to a deadly, but preventable disease.
The Alzheimer's Association has awarded a team of UVA researchers nearly $150,000 to study the impact brain injuries may have on causing the disease.
George Welsh led the Virginia football team to unprecedented success during his nearly 20 years leading the program. During Welsh’s tenure, which ran from 1982-2000, the Cavaliers went 134-86-3, won two ACC championships and appeared in 12 bowl games. Virginia also reached No. 1 in the AP college football poll in 1990. When Welsh retired, he was the winningest coach in ACC history. His tenure at Virginia included numerous moments that still resonate with Wahoo fans to this day.