News /asmagazine/ en Video games don鈥檛 rot your brain鈥攖hey train it /asmagazine/2025/08/18/video-games-dont-rot-your-brain-they-train-it <span>Video games don鈥檛 rot your brain鈥攖hey train it</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-18T14:06:22-06:00" title="Monday, August 18, 2025 - 14:06">Mon, 08/18/2025 - 14:06</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/video%20game%20controllers.jpg?h=56d0ca2e&amp;itok=gDa7ezTv" width="1200" height="800" alt="hands holding two video game controllers with TV in background"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1264" hreflang="en">Institute for Behavioral Genetics</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <span>Blake Puscher</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>缅北禁地 scientists find that playing video games comes with small but significant cognitive benefits</span></em></p><hr><p><span>Ever since video games began to gain widespread popularity, some have questioned how playing them consistently affects people, especially mentally. Like with TV, the internet, social media and AI, the tendency has been to assume negative effects. However, a number of studies have suggested that playing video games can help strengthen people鈥檚 cognitive abilities.</span></p><p><span>Despite similar research findings, many of the studies disagree on the size of this effect and to which areas of cognition it applies鈥攑erhaps, in part, because of the limitations inherent to their typically cross-sectional approach.&nbsp;</span></p><p><span>A team of 缅北禁地 scientists including Shandell Pahlen,&nbsp;</span><a href="/ibg/anqing-zheng" rel="nofollow"><span>Anqing Zheng</span></a><span>,&nbsp;</span><a href="/ibg/robin-corley" rel="nofollow"><span>Robin P. Corley</span></a><span>, </span><a href="/psych-neuro/naomi-friedman" rel="nofollow"><span>Naomi P. Friedman</span></a><span>,&nbsp;</span><a href="/ibg/sally-wadsworth" rel="nofollow"><span>Sally J. Wadsworth</span></a><span> and&nbsp;</span><a href="/psych-neuro/chandra-reynolds" rel="nofollow"><span>Chandra A. Reynolds</span></a><span>, all members of 缅北禁地鈥檚 team within the&nbsp;</span><a href="/ibg/catslife/about-us" rel="nofollow"><span>CATSLife project</span></a><span>, aim to address these uncertainties with a longitudinal study on video games and cognitive health. CATSLife stands for Colorado Adoption/Twin Study of Lifespan behavioral development and cognitive aging.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Chandra%20Reynolds.jpg?itok=6Z6e03Ni" width="1500" height="2251" alt="portrait of Chandra Reynolds"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Chandra Reynolds, a 缅北禁地 professor of psychology and neuroscience, and her research colleagues found small, positive cognitive benefits of playing video games.</p> </span> </div></div><p><span>鈥淲e can leverage the twins and siblings鈥 similarities and differences to understand aspects of behaviors and cognitive abilities,鈥 Reynolds explains, a 缅北禁地 professor of </span><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><span>psychology and neuroscience</span></a><span>, 鈥渆specially as they relate to how well people maintain their cognitive functioning, not only now, but eventually we hope to continue following them as they transition into midlife.鈥</span></p><p><span><strong>Video games and cognitive health</strong></span></p><p><span>Video games are an accessible way to engage one鈥檚 mind for several reasons. Like board games, video games do not require much in the way of physical ability, unlike sports and other such ways to exercise the mind. Additionally, video games are widely popular, with 2.7 billion gamers worldwide as of early 2025,&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.statista.com/topics/1680/gaming" rel="nofollow"><span>according to Statista</span></a><span>.</span></p><p><span>These traits suggest that video games could be used as a tool to support cognitive health, but this assertion raises some questions: What are the specific abilities that comprise generalized cognitive functioning, and how can scientists determine whether video games serve this purpose?</span></p><p><span>The study covered three important cognitive domains: processing speed, working memory and spatial reasoning. It included 1,241 individuals from CATSLife between 28 and 49 years old who had taken at least one of these tests. Some of the participants played video games and some did not, so the effects of playing video games were determined based on what video games they played. These games were categorized broadly into Action+, Puzzle+, and Other genres. The plus signs refer to the fact that the categories include genres that are not usually described with the base name, like life simulation games being included in Puzzle+ even though they aren鈥檛 puzzle games.</span></p><p><span><strong>Reverse selection</strong></span></p><p><span>One argument against prior studies suggesting that video games provide a cognitive benefit is the concept of reverse causation. In this case, reverse causation refers to certain people鈥檚 cognitive skills making them more likely to play video games, as opposed to playing video games causing an increase in cognitive skills.</span></p><p><span>Reverse causation is therefore part of the nature vs. nurture discourse, and as such, the point is not that engaging in an activity can鈥檛 improve people鈥檚 abilities, but that part of the correlation between activity and ability comes from those who already have above-average abilities choosing to engage in activities that take advantage of them. For example, a hypothetical study that compared Olympic runners with people who never run without accounting for reverse causation would overestimate the physical benefits of running, because a large part of the gap between the two groups is baked in: Most people can鈥檛 reach the level of Olympic athletes just by exercising.</span></p><p><span>This study factored in the participants鈥 baseline cognitive ability by looking at their adolescent IQ scores. 鈥淲e鈥檙e fortunate that we had a longitudinal design,鈥 Reynolds says, 鈥渁nd that we鈥檝e assessed our participants multiple times over their earlier development into adolescence. Most studies of video games are cross sectional, and they don鈥檛 have indices of people鈥檚 cognitive performance at earlier ages.鈥</span></p><p><span>The researchers also considered several variables associated with performance on specific cognitive tasks. These included age, sex and educational attainment. The first two of these are especially important, because the genre of video games that people play varies within these demographics. Specifically, women and older adults are more likely to play Puzzle+ games, and men and younger people are more likely to play Action+ games.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/boy%20playing%20video%20game_0.jpg?itok=2ouZPOOG" width="1500" height="1875" alt="boy sitting on floor facing TV and playing video game"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">缅北禁地 researcher Chandra Reynolds and her colleagues found that <span>spatial reasoning benefited most consistently from playing video games. (Photo: Unsplash)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>鈥淭here are some sociodemographic differences in what kinds of games people are playing,鈥 Reynolds says, 鈥渁nd we wanted to account for that to isolate the differences that might arise from the gameplay itself.鈥</span></p><p><span><strong>Increased processing speed</strong></span></p><p><span>Spatial reasoning benefited most consistently from playing video games, with a significant effect measured in all three tests before and after adjustment for adolescent IQ, although the effect was about half as large after adjustment. There is also evidence that processing speed performance could increase after playing video games, as the results of one test remained significant even after adjustment. Working memory was the only domain that did not show evidence of improvement due to video game play, with non-significant numbers before and after adjustment.</span></p><p><span>Reynolds says that unimproved working memory results could be a consequence of the test used and the fact that only one test was used for this ability, compared to the three tests used for both processing speed and spatial reasoning.</span></p><p><span>鈥淲e can鈥檛 say a whole lot about working memory from one test,鈥 he says. 鈥淚n the future, we want to extend to other measures that would get more specifically at attention, working memory and other aspects of executive functioning.鈥</span></p><p><span>When video game play was broken down by the broad genre of game, there were some negative correlations: people who played Action+ games scored worse on processing speed, and those who played Puzzle+ games scored worse on spatial reasoning. However, these correlations were very small, and only statistically significant for one of the processing speed tests.</span></p><p><span>These results seem counterintuitive, which makes it particularly interesting to see if they will be replicated in other studies. As to benefits by genre, Action+ games had a particular association with spatial reasoning and Puzzle+ games had a particular association with processing speed.</span></p><p><span>According to the paper, the results for different tests may have been affected by how similar they are to video games. For example, with respect to spatial reasoning, Action+ gamers scored best on the Block Design test, which involves three-dimensional operations similar to those involved in playing many modern action games. By the same token, gamers may have performed worse on tests that were more divergent from video games due to their familiarity with related but substantially different tasks.</span></p><p><span><strong>Future assessments</strong></span></p><p><span>The researchers are currently collecting more data from the CATSLife sample, asking the same questions for further insight into how the observed effects change over the course of five or six years. 鈥淚f people continue to play games, they鈥檒l likely nominate newer games鈥攊t would be interesting to see if there is a long-standing influence or if new game play factors emerge,鈥 Reynolds says.</span></p><p><span>Some changes could be made to the assessment of people鈥檚 gameplay to get more particular results. In the future, Reynolds says, 鈥渨e would conduct more specific surveys of our participants: asking for more details about the games they play, the systems they use and how they approach gameplay. We asked questions that allowed us to get at the kinds of games they play, but not how they play them, and we鈥檙e making some inferences, so we鈥檇 want to dig deeper into that.鈥</span></p><p><span>鈥淭here has been some debate in the literature about the potential benefits or even detriments of video game play,鈥 Reynolds explains, 鈥渂ut I think we found that, in a general sample that isn鈥檛 selected for pathological use or other characteristics related to playing video games, we found some salient, small positive effects.鈥</span></p><p><span>This brings up an important caveat, which is that even though there could be positive effects of playing video games, it is still possible to experience negative effects by engaging with them in a unhealthy manner. Because the positive effects are small, any negative effects due to playing video games irresponsibly, such as playing them for an excessive amount of time each day, are likely to outweigh the benefits.</span></p><p><span>鈥淚 think it will bear additional replication and future work,鈥 Reynolds says, 鈥渂ut the benefits are quite interesting, and we鈥檇 like to see how this plays out with other kinds of activities as well.鈥</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about psychology and neuroscience?&nbsp;</em><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 scientists find that playing video games comes with small but significant cognitive benefits.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/video%20game%20controllers%20cropped.jpg?itok=wWVr2eVt" width="1500" height="529" alt="Hands holding video game controllers with TV in background"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 18 Aug 2025 20:06:22 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6200 at /asmagazine Scholar dissects voter perceptions of transnational politics /asmagazine/2025/08/14/scholar-dissects-voter-perceptions-transnational-politics <span>Scholar dissects voter perceptions of transnational politics</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-14T15:24:57-06:00" title="Thursday, August 14, 2025 - 15:24">Thu, 08/14/2025 - 15:24</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/AfD%20booth.jpg?h=9849aab7&amp;itok=Ve1-EkLs" width="1200" height="800" alt="Alternative fur Deutschland booth set up on sidewalk"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/524" hreflang="en">International Affairs</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/212" hreflang="en">Political Science</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1283" hreflang="en">honors</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/bradley-worrell">Bradley Worrell</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>缅北禁地 political scientist Jeffrey Nonnemacher asserts that Western European national political parties use their affiliations with party families to signal their own political viewpoints</em></p><hr><p><span>In the 2013 German national elections, the upstart political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) failed to gain a single seat in parliament. Just four years later, the AfD won 97 seats and became the third-largest political party in Germany.</span></p><p><span>The AfD made its historic inroads in the 2017 German elections at the same time it transformed itself from a&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euroscepticism" rel="nofollow"><span>Euroskeptic</span></a><span> but relatively moderate party into a political movement that became much more closely aligned with radical right parties in the rest of Western Europe, says&nbsp;</span><a href="/polisci/jeffrey-nonnemacher-1" rel="nofollow"><span>Jeffrey Nonnemacher,</span></a><span> an assistant teaching professor with the 缅北禁地&nbsp;</span><a href="/iafs/jeffrey-nonnemacher" rel="nofollow"><span>International Affairs Program</span></a><span>, whose research focus is political parties and elections.</span></p><p><span>In particular, Nonnemacher points to a decision by AfD鈥檚 party leader, Frauke Petry, in 2017 to host radical right leaders from across Europe, including Marine Le Pen with the French National Rally, Geert Wilders of the Dutch Party for Freedom and Matteo Salvini of Italy鈥檚 Northern League. That decision effectively telegraphed to voters the party鈥檚 shift to the right and signaled its embrace of the transnational radical right party label, says Nonnemacher, who recently published a paper in the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/british-journal-of-political-science/article/do-voters-pay-attention-to-transnational-politics-party-positions-transnational-families-and-voter-perceptions/2767DAD9263F96460E8CDBB4A767FE04" rel="nofollow"><em><span>British Journal of Political Science</span></em></a><span> about voter perceptions of transnational politics.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Jeffrey%20Nonnemacher.jpg?itok=OpRkODpc" width="1500" height="1632" alt="portrait of Jeffrey Nonnemacher"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">缅北禁地 scholar <span>Jeffrey Nonnemacher is an assistant teaching professor in the International Affairs Program and the Arts and Sciences Honors Program and a lecturer in the Department of Political Science.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>鈥淢y goal with this paper is to tackle the question of: Do voters care if the AfD鈥檚 leadership is spending a lot of time with France鈥檚 Marine Le Pen and the National Rally? Are voters getting some sort of information from the party family label attached to a party and the party鈥檚 relationship with that label?鈥 he explains. In his paper, Nonnemacher contends that political parties in Western Europe are responsive to politics outside their home country鈥攁nd that strategic choices to embrace a larger party family label, such as radical right in the case of AfD, do influence how parties are perceived by a country鈥檚 voters.</span></p><p><span>In a recent conversation with </span><em><span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span></em><span>, Nonnemacher emphasized that a political party that embraces the party family signifies its commitment to the larger ideological goals associated with the party family, while parties that push back and work to distance themselves from their sister parties from other countries signal that they may not be credible champions for core issues. His answers have been lightly edited for style and clarity.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Can you define what constitutes a transnational party family?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:&nbsp;</strong>In political science鈥攅specially in comparative politics鈥攐ne of the goals is to think about the ways we can compare political outcomes. One of the ways we do this is by looking at these so-called party families. These are basically categorizations of parties based upon shared histories, shared ideology and common networks of activists and leaders.</span></p><p><span>There are a whole host of party families. The largest families in Europe are the Social Democrats, which is your center-left, working-class parties, and the Conservatives, which are your traditional center-right parties. You鈥檝e also got your Green parties, which are your environmental parties, among many other families.</span></p><p><span>These party families are now much more useful than what academics created them for, which was tools for comparisons. Today, parties within similar party families tend to behave the same, learn from each other and form groups that transcend national boundaries based upon shared ideologies.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: What motivated you to explore the topic of transnational parties as a source of voter perceptions?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:&nbsp;</strong>The academic answer is that I felt there was a gap there. We know a lot about how voters in Europe today are concerned about integration and thinking about politics beyond their own borders. But we had not yet, as academics, come to terms with the consequences of this, for&nbsp;how they view their parties and the links between what information they鈥檙e getting and their political parties. That was the academic motivation.</span></p><p><span>The more topical answer was the rise of the radical right parties in these various countries and how these parties seemed to be learning from each other, copying each other and celebrating each other鈥檚 victories in a way that we hadn鈥檛 really seen before. You have Hungary鈥檚 Victor Orb谩n hosting CPAC (the U.S.-based Conservative Political Action Conference), and you have Marine Le Pen in France having these big rallies with other radical right leaders.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Viktor%20Orban%20CPAC.jpg?itok=RJFyLXeT" width="1500" height="911" alt="Viktor Orban onstage at CPAC 2023 in Hungary"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Hungary鈥檚 Victor Orb谩n hosts CPAC (the U.S.-based Conservative Political Action Conference). (Photo: Elkes Andor/Wikimedia Commons)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>My motivation was trying to understand the consequences of this seeminginternationalization of right party politics especially, but also party politics more generally.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: What are some specific reasons why parties might choose to embrace a transnational party?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher</strong>: The argument I make in the paper is very much an electoral argument.&nbsp;Parties win elections when voters know what they stand for. That鈥檚 one of the big theories that we have about party competition, is that parties need to distinguish themselves from their competitors&nbsp;and be able to communicate to voters what they believe.</span></p><p><span>If a voter can鈥檛 tell the difference between one party and another, they鈥檙e unlikely to support them. And if a voter doesn鈥檛 know where the party stands, then they don鈥檛 know if they鈥檙e going to get what they want out of the party. So, parties need to distinguish themselves. They need to signal to voters what their positions are.</span></p><p><span>One of the motivations here for parties is: This label tells voters where I stand. If I鈥檓 seen alongside other Social Democrats, I can kind of bolster my credentials on being a Social Democratic Party.</span></p><p><span>The other electoral motivation is parties want to win elections, and they look to who won and say, 鈥榃e should copy that.鈥 In 2021, when the Social Democrats won in Germany, Social Democratic parties across Europe all immediatelylooked to Germany and said, 鈥榃hat did they do? How did they win this election? What can we do to&nbsp;kind of copy that?鈥</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: So, it鈥檚 not just radical right parties learning from radical right parties in other countries, but also leftist and centrist parties learning from their transnational sister parties?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:</strong> Yes. One of the things I wanted to do in this paper was to make the case that it鈥檚 not just the radical right that鈥檚 doing this and benefitting from it. It鈥檚 the British Labour Party taking lessons from Germany鈥檚 Social Democrats, for example.</span></p><p><span>Green parties are an especially interesting transnational group, because inherently, they see fighting for the environment as a global issue. They view international cooperation and international learning as core to solving the problems that they are running on. Notably, almost all of them have 鈥榞reen鈥 in their name and almost all of them have the sunflower as their logo.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: What makes Germany鈥檚 AfD party a particularly noteworthy example of a national party forming associations with like-minded parties in Western Europe?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher: </strong>There鈥檚 probably two reasons for that. One is they exploded in Germany in terms of growing support from 2013 to 2017; the other is that by 2017, the radical right in Europe had exploded. There鈥檚 just a lot more attention on the far right, and it鈥檚 Germany, so whenever the far right does anything in Germany, people notice.</span></p><p><span>The AfD is an interesting case, because in 2013 they were not&nbsp;the far-right party that they are today.&nbsp;They have had a big transformation in the last 10 to 12 years. In 2013, they were really just angry about the European Union and the Euro crisis, and with Germany having to bail out the rest of the European Union.&nbsp;They were a Euroskeptic party first and foremost.&nbsp;They were anti-immigrant, but it wasn鈥檛 their main focus.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Marine%20le%20Pen.jpg?itok=F3q-Snqt" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Marine Le Pen speaking at podium with arm raised"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">France's Marine Le Pen of the French National Rally <span>has helped lead a far-right shift, particularly on immigration, in Europen politics. (Photo: J茅r茅my-G眉nther-Heinz J盲hnick/Wikimedia Commons)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>They had a disappointing election in 2013, where they barely missed out on getting seats in the parliament.Then by 2017, they shifted dramatically to the right on immigration.&nbsp;They really started to copy France鈥檚 Le Pen and other prominent, far-right leaders in Europe tobe this anti-immigrant party, just like the rest of these radical right parties,&nbsp;and that worked out really well for them. In 2017, they became the third-largest party in parliament, so it was a quite successful strategy for them.</span></p><p><span>By the elections in&nbsp;2021, they plateaued a little bit,&nbsp;and then in February this year they became the second largest party in the Bundestag (the German parliament), and they鈥檝e come to be embraced by the broader far-right movement.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Why might a national party choose to distance itself from a sister party?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:&nbsp;</strong>There are two family labels where this generally applies. The first is the radical right鈥攐r at least that was the case in the past鈥攚here if you were seen as too close to the radical right you were punished, because there was a lot of stigmas around being affiliated with that ideology.</span></p><p><span>With the AfD example, when they made the transition to embrace more radical right principals from other countries and hosted the rally with Le Pen, Wilders and Salvini to signal the AfD鈥檚 embrace of transnational radical right parties, this was incredibly controversial, both inside and outside of the party. It was a delicate balance, because there were some in the party who were very nervous that if they embraced the radical right movement they could face a backlash, because Germans are very conscious of their history. So, 10 years ago there was more hesitation about embracing their fellow party members abroad.</span></p><p><span>We see similar patterns on the left, especially when it comes to communism. Parties on the radical left are generally hesitant to embrace communists or things that look like communism because of the similar kinds of stigmas around that that exist in western and especially eastern Europe.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Do you think voters are consciously recognizing these European family party associations and how their own parties are relating to sister transnational parties, or is it happening at a subconscious level?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:</strong> We know from political psychology that voters rely on&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heuristic" rel="nofollow"><span>heuristics</span></a><span> for a lot of things. So, just hearing the label鈥攖hat a particular party is a radical right party, for instance, triggers for voters a set of assumptions about what a party stands for and what it鈥檚 leaders believe and what they are advocating for.</span></p><p><span>But I also believe that there is something much more active going on here, where voters start to make those kinds of connections between the party and the label and where voters deliberate what those labels mean in relation to their own politics.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: If a national party is not in alignment with its transnational party family on foundational ideological issues, does it cause voter distrust or just confusion?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:</strong> I think it鈥檚 a bit of both. Definitely it causes confusion, because if you鈥檙e watching the news and you鈥檙e being told that Marine Le Pen is a radical right politician, but then let鈥檚 say you hear she is endorsing letting more immigrants into (Europe), you鈥檙e going to say, 鈥榃ait a minute; that doesn鈥檛 make any sense. How is she radical right, then?鈥</span></p><p><span>It also probably leads to distrust. If you see yourself as a Social Democratic voter and you believe in this center-left Social Democratic vision for Europe, but your Social Democratic politician is talking about de-regulating markets and shrinking the state, that鈥檚 probably going to make you say, 鈥楬e鈥檚 not a Social Democrat. I don鈥檛 trust him to be an advocate for my goals.鈥</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Your paper focused a transnational politics in Western Europe. Do you think the paper鈥檚 findings have any relevance for the United States?</strong></span></em></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><blockquote><p class="lead"><em><span>"Understanding how voters perceive their parties is a huge part of what makes democracies work.&nbsp;If&nbsp;voters don鈥檛 know what their parties are fighting for and don鈥檛 know where their parties stand, they check out."</span></em></p></blockquote></div></div><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:&nbsp;</strong>I don鈥檛 know how well the paper鈥檚 findings travel to the United States. We have a very strong two-party system that doesn鈥檛 map as neatly to the multi-party competition in European elections. That being said, I think if we look at parties in the United States as factions of various ideological groups, we can see green factions of the Democratic Party, radical right and center-right Christian democratic factions of the Republican Party. I think for activists and people inside these parties, it matters a lot what kind of broader ideological movements that they are associated with are doing.</span></p><p><span>I鈥檓 skeptical that voters will derive the same utility, just because the labels don鈥檛 fit as neatly, and (American voters) tend to think we鈥檙e unique in our politics as voters, so we don鈥檛 tend to look abroad for political inspiration.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Anything else relating to Western European voters and their perceptions of their political parties and transnational parties that you think is important to share?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Nonnemacher:&nbsp;</strong>I think&nbsp;understanding how voters perceive their parties is a huge part of what makes democracies work.&nbsp;If&nbsp;voters don鈥檛 know what their parties are fighting for and don鈥檛 know where their parties stand, they check out; they disengage,&nbsp;and we鈥檝e seen that they become less satisfied with democracy.</span></p><p><span>I think&nbsp;anything that parties can do to really communicate their positions to voters and reaffirm for voters that they areserious about accomplishing their goals is important, because parties across Europe and the United States are having a credibility crisis right now.</span></p><p><span>What my paper does is highlight one such way that parties can go about communicating to voters&nbsp;what they stand for, which has a whole host of implications to address some of the big problems facing Western democracies today.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about political science?&nbsp;</em><a href="/polisci/give-now" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 political scientist Jeffrey Nonnemacher asserts that Western European national political parties use their affiliations with party families to signal their own political viewpoints.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/AfD%20booth%20cropped.jpg?itok=dGdB2ZHe" width="1500" height="636" alt="Alternative fur Deutschland booth set up on sidewalk"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 14 Aug 2025 21:24:57 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6199 at /asmagazine Raised with pets? Your immune system remembers /asmagazine/2025/08/12/raised-pets-your-immune-system-remembers <span>Raised with pets? Your immune system remembers </span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-12T10:46:30-06:00" title="Tuesday, August 12, 2025 - 10:46">Tue, 08/12/2025 - 10:46</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/dog%20and%20cat.jpg?h=c3878e91&amp;itok=Hh0hZeHs" width="1200" height="800" alt="white dog and striped cat rubbing faces together"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1195" hreflang="en">Health &amp; Wellness</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/352" hreflang="en">Integrative Physiology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <span>Cody DeBos</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>缅北禁地 researchers, with an international team of colleagues, find that childhood pets are linked to healthier stress responses</span></em></p><hr><p><span>If you grew up in a city and without a pet, your immune system likely developed differently than that of someone who shared their childhood with a dog or cat. That difference, new research from </span><a href="/iphy/people/faculty/christopher-lowry" rel="nofollow"><span>缅北禁地 Professor Christopher Lowry</span></a><span> suggests, could influence how your body responds to stress even decades later.</span></p><p><span>In </span><a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0889159125000996" rel="nofollow"><span>a study published</span></a><span> in the journal </span><em><span>Brain, Behavior, and Immunity</span></em><span>, an international team of researchers, including Lowry and 缅北禁地 PhD student </span><a href="/iphy/john-sterrett" rel="nofollow"><span>John Sterrett</span></a><span>, found that for people raised in urban environments, having regular contact with pets early in life may protect against harmful immune responses to stress.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Christopher%20Lowry.jpg?itok=6NvlRDCA" width="1500" height="1500" alt="portrait of Christopher Lowry wearing white lab coat"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">缅北禁地 scientist Christopher Lowry and his research colleagues found that <span>having regular contact with pets early in life may protect against harmful immune responses to stress.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>鈥淏eing raised in a home with pets can provide protection against chronic low-grade inflammation, which we know is a risk factor for stress-related psychiatric disorders and more,鈥 Lowry says.</span></p><p><span>The study adds to a growing body of evidence that our childhood environments can leave a lasting mark on our physical and mental health.</span></p><p><span><strong>Our oldest friends</strong></span></p><p><span>Lowry is a professor in the </span><a href="/iphy/people/faculty/christopher-lowry" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Integrative Physiology at 缅北禁地</span></a><span> and has spent much of his career studying how the microbial world interacts with the human brain. It鈥檚 a fascination that traces back to the 1990s when he started exploring how soil microbes influence mood.</span></p><p><span>鈥淔or about 25 years, we have been interested in understanding how microbes found in our environment鈥攊n nature, soil, fermenting vegetable matter, and unpurified water鈥攃an signal from the body to the brain,鈥 Lowry says.</span></p><p><span>Along with a research team directed by Stafford Lightman at the University of Bristol鈥檚 University Research Center for Neuroendocrinology, Lowry studied </span><em><span>Mycobacterium vaccae</span></em><span> NCTC 11659 (</span><em><span>M. vaccae</span></em><span>), a microbe commonly found in soil.</span></p><p><span>His lab found that exposure to </span><em><span>M. vaccae</span></em><span> in mice activated serotonin pathways in the brain and produced antidepressant-like behavioral effects.</span></p><p><span>鈥</span><em><span>M. vaccae</span></em><span> is representative of diverse microbes in nature that have the ability to promote immunoregulation and protect us from inappropriate inflammation,鈥 Lowry explains.</span></p><p><span>The microbe soon became a model for studying what scientists now call 鈥淥ld Friends鈥濃攖he microorganisms humans co-evolved with and depend on for proper immune system development.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/guinea%20pigs%20eating%20carrots.jpg?itok=CWCocAGg" width="1500" height="1000" alt="two spotted guinea pigs eating shredded carrots"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>鈥淏eing raised in a home with pets can provide protection against chronic low-grade inflammation, which we know is a risk factor for stress-related psychiatric disorders and more,鈥 says 缅北禁地 researcher Christopher Lowry. (Photo: Bonnie Kittle/Unsplash)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>It鈥檚 thought that modern urban living, with its clean indoor environments and reduced contact with naturally occurring microbes, disrupts this relationship. In turn, people living in such environments have experienced a rise in chronic, stress-related disorders.</span></p><p><span><strong>Pets as microbial messengers</strong></span></p><p><span>In a previous study, Lowry and his colleagues </span><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29712842/" rel="nofollow"><span>showed</span></a><span> that people raised on farms, with regular exposure to animals, exhibited lower inflammatory responses to psychological stress. But in that study, it was hard to separate the effects of rural living from contact with animals.</span></p><p><span>So, the team designed a new study to answer a more specific question.</span></p><p><span>鈥淲e designed the study to determine if having pets in the home could protect against inappropriate inflammation in individuals raised in urban settings,鈥 Lowry says.</span></p><p><span>The team recruited healthy adult men who had been raised in cities either with or without household pets. The participants were then exposed to the Trier Social Stress Test, and measurements of their immune function and inflammation were taken both before and after completing stressful tasks like public speaking.</span></p><p><span>Compared to their pet-free peers, individuals who grew up with pets showed a more balanced immune response and better regulation of stress-reactive cells.</span></p><p><span>But what accounts for this striking result?</span></p><p><span>鈥淓xposures to 鈥極ld Friends,鈥 which are thought to increase in homes with pets, interacts with our immune system to produce more regulatory T cells,鈥 Lowry explains. 鈥淲ithout sufficient exposure to 鈥極ld Friends鈥 we have reduced capacity to produce these regulatory T cells, which leads to inappropriate or unresolved inflammation.鈥</span></p><p><span>In short, a four-legged friend in the house means more microbial diversity. That might be just what your immune system needs to stay in balance.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/cat%20and%20dog%20playing.jpg?itok=V-bHFBuW" width="1500" height="998" alt="a bengal cat and small dog playing with a feather wand"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Something as simple as living with a pet could help buffer the long-term health risks of urban living, notes 缅北禁地 researcher Christopher Lowry.</span> (Photo: Helena Jankovi膷ov谩 Kov谩膷ov谩/Pexels)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span><strong>From theory to therapy</strong></span></p><p><span>Lowry and his team鈥檚 findings are just the beginning. He is now involved in several projects exploring how they could be applied in the real world.</span></p><p><span>鈥淲e are interested in exploring if we can increase mental health outcomes by increasing exposure to 鈥極ld Friends,鈥欌 he says, pointing to clinical trials testing microbial supplements and high-diversity plant-based beverages, which contain diverse microbial communities.</span></p><p><span>He鈥檚 also a co-founder of a </span><a href="/venturepartners/startup-portfolio/kioga-inc" rel="nofollow"><span>缅北禁地 startup company Kioga</span></a><span>, which is developing soil-derived microbiome-based nutritional supplements, food ingredients and therapeutics. Their goal is to improve mental health outcomes for anyone experiencing high levels of perceived stress, whether or not they have a diagnosed disorder.</span></p><p><span><strong>What comes next?</strong></span></p><p><span>Lowry also notes that more research is needed to explore if the recent findings hold true for women or people of different ages or backgrounds.</span></p><p><span>鈥淭his is an extremely important question,鈥 Lowry says. 鈥淢ore work is needed to fully understand the importance of upbringing in rural versus urban lifestyles in females.鈥</span></p><p><span>Still, the implications are clear. Something as simple as living with a pet could help buffer the long-term health risks of urban living. Given that more people than ever today live in cities and stress-related conditions are on the rise, Lowry鈥檚 work offers a hopeful solution.</span></p><p><span>鈥淗umans co-evolved with these microbes in nature, and our body depends on them for a normally functioning immune system,鈥 he says.</span></p><p><span>So, the next time you鈥檙e scrubbing muddy paw prints off the floor, remember that your four-legged friend is just trying to help you stay healthier in the long run.&nbsp;</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about integrative physiology?&nbsp;</em><a href="/iphy/give-iphy" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 scientist Christopher Lowry and research colleagues find that childhood pets are linked to healthier stress responses.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/dog%20and%20cat%20header.jpg?itok=MhD-5u_D" width="1500" height="577" alt="white dog and striped cat rubbing faces together"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Tue, 12 Aug 2025 16:46:30 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6193 at /asmagazine Study: Using cannabis and psilocybin together may increase dependence /asmagazine/2025/08/07/study-using-cannabis-and-psilocybin-together-may-increase-dependence <span>Study: Using cannabis and psilocybin together may increase dependence</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-07T12:16:17-06:00" title="Thursday, August 7, 2025 - 12:16">Thu, 08/07/2025 - 12:16</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/psilocybin%20cannabis%20header.jpg?h=7f294760&amp;itok=jYlW-aME" width="1200" height="800" alt="Photo of psilocybin mushrooms over photo of marijuana leaves"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/bradley-worrell">Bradley Worrell</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>缅北禁地 researchers studied cannabis-psilocybin co-users and cannabis-only users to look for similarities and differences between the two groups, including drug-use motivations</span></em></p><hr><p><span>In November 2022, Colorado voters approved Proposition 122, decriminalizing the personal use of mushrooms containing psilocybin, a psychedelic substance. That followed a decision by Colorado voters in 2014 to legalize recreational marijuana use.</span></p><p><span>Cannabis and psilocybin are becoming more commonly used, but there is still relatively little research on what happens when people use both, says&nbsp;</span><a href="/center/cuchange/maddie-stanger" rel="nofollow"><span>Maddie Stanger</span></a><span>, a 缅北禁地&nbsp;</span><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Psychology and Neuroscience</span></a><span> researcher whose area of focus is motivations behind substance abuse and how people use substances to cope.</span></p><p><span>A recently published&nbsp;</span><a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38885938/" rel="nofollow"><span>research paper</span></a><span> co-authored by Stanger examined differences in cannabis dependence and reasons for using among individuals who regularly use marijuana and psilocybin versus marijuana-only users. In this case, co-use could either be the simultaneous use of cannabis and psilocybin or concurrent use over the same time period, Stanger explains.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Maddie%20Stanger.jpg?itok=_9IGYBKv" width="1500" height="1540" alt="portrait of Maddie Stanger"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Maddie Stanger is&nbsp;a 缅北禁地&nbsp;</span><a href="/psych-neuro/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Psychology and Neuroscience</span></a><span> researcher whose focus is motivations behind substance abuse and how people use substances to cope.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span>Stanger says this research is valuable because assessing individuals鈥 reasons for using substances can provide insight into potential harms, such as addiction or mental health issues. This is because motivations are related to quantity and frequency of use.</span></p><p><span>The researchers used a previous, larger study by the Center of Health and Neuroscience, Genes and Environment within the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience that investigated the effects of different cannabis strains on metabolic processes and insulin sensitivity.</span></p><p><span>From that study, researchers drew a test sample that included 97 regular cannabis users (those who used marijuana more than seven times a month) in Colorado. About a third of those had used psilocybin in the past three months while the rest had not. The researchers compared these two groups to understand how psilocybin use might affect marijuana use motives and dependencies.</span></p><p><span>Study participants were, on average, about 35 years old, mostly male and white, healthy overall and predominantly from the 缅北禁地 area, with at least some higher education. They reported using cannabis 21.73 out of the previous 30 days.</span></p><p><span>The motivations of all participants were measured using the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2653613/pdf/jsad279.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span>Comprehensive Marijuana Motives Questionnaire</span></a><span> (CMMQ), which encompasses 12 possible motives, including enjoyment, coping, experiment, boredom, celebration, altered perception, social anxiety, sleep and availability. Participants were also assessed for cannabis dependence based upon an 11-item Marijuana Dependence Scale (MDS) scoring system, which asks users to self-evaluate if they believe their cannabis use is excessive.</span></p><p><span><strong>Considering motivation</strong></span></p><p><span>Stanger says she and her research colleagues hypothesized that recent psilocybin users would have higher MDS scores and more strongly endorse coping, expansion (also referred to as 鈥渁ltered perception鈥) and enhancement/enjoyment motives compared with non-recent psilocybin users. Additionally, the researchers hypothesized that there would be correlations between dependence and coping motives for both groups, but that these would be stronger for recent psilocybin users relative to non-recent users.</span></p><p><span>The prediction that recent psilocybin users would have higher dependence scores than non-recent users was borne out, Stanger says. As expected, the research data demonstrated that psilocybin users showed mild signs of marijuana dependence, while non-psilocybin users did not, she says.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><blockquote><p class="lead"><em><span>鈥淚nterestingly, we found that recent psilocybin users had indicated they were more likely to use for enjoyment, boredom and availability鈥攁nd boredom and availability are shown in previous literature to be linked to increased cannabis problems and mental health symptoms.鈥</span></em></p></blockquote></div></div><p><span>Additionally, compared to cannabis-only users, Stanger says the psilocybin co-user group exhibited higher scores on the motivations of enjoyment, boredom relief and availability/access, which can be indicative of dependency problems.</span></p><p><span>鈥淚nterestingly, we found that recent psilocybin users had indicated they were more likely to use for enjoyment, boredom and availability鈥攁nd boredom and availability are shown in previous literature to be linked to increased cannabis problems and mental health symptoms,鈥 she says.</span></p><p><span>However, contrary to the researchers鈥 hypothesis, Stanger says there was no difference in coping motives between the two groups.</span></p><p><span>The researchers note that these findings should be considered within the confines of the study limitations. Specifically, Stanger explains that the data came from a preexisting study and that this &nbsp;analysis was not the primary purpose of the larger project. Thus, there is no data on the dose of the psilocybin used and no information as to whether cannabis and psilocybin were used simultaneously versus concurrently. Additionally, the study ideally would have involved a more diverse group of participants, Stanger adds.</span></p><p><span>Still, Stanger says she believes the research is timely and valuable, as more states have followed Colorado since 2014 in legalizing marijuana sales for medicinal or recreational purposes, and it鈥檚 conceivable that states will follow the Centennial State in legalizing psilocybin in the coming years.</span></p><p><em><span>In addition to Stanger, co-authors of this paper include Professor Angela Bryan and Research Assistant Professor Carillon Skrzynski, both with the Department of Psychology and Neuroscience; and Researcher Harmony Soffer with the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center.&nbsp;</span></em></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about psychology and neuroscience?&nbsp;</em><a href="/psych-neuro/giving-opportunities" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 researchers studied cannabis-psilocybin co-users and cannabis-only users to look for similarities and differences between the two groups, including drug-use motivations.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/psilocybin%20cannabis%20header.jpg?itok=K9gkeEnf" width="1500" height="843" alt="Photo of psilocybin mushrooms over photo of marijuana leaves"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 07 Aug 2025 18:16:17 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6191 at /asmagazine Medical issues and neighborhood opportunity can affect infant development /asmagazine/2025/08/04/medical-issues-and-neighborhood-opportunity-can-affect-infant-development <span>Medical issues and neighborhood opportunity can affect infant development</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-04T14:21:30-06:00" title="Monday, August 4, 2025 - 14:21">Mon, 08/04/2025 - 14:21</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/infant%20thumbnail.jpg?h=6733dcf8&amp;itok=30_PVvoI" width="1200" height="800" alt="smiling infant lying on stomach"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/352" hreflang="en">Integrative Physiology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1218" hreflang="en">PhD student</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/sarah-kuta">Sarah Kuta</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span lang="EN">缅北禁地 researcher Emily Yeo finds that some babies may benefit from more support and resources so they can grow up to lead long, happy and healthy lives</span></em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">In an ideal world, every baby would be born perfectly healthy. Unfortunately, many newborns arrive prematurely or suffer from medical conditions that could hinder their future development.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Some of these high-risk infants live in neighborhoods with access to healthy food, low crime rates and affordable housing. Others, however, live in worse-off communities with limited access to quality education, health care, housing and jobs.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Now, new research led by 缅北禁地鈥檚 </span><a href="/iphy/people/graduate-students/emily-yeo" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Emily Yeo</span></a><span lang="EN"> explores how medical complexity and neighborhood opportunity might affect the development of high-risk infants.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Emily%20Yeo.jpg?itok=6i9aodaO" width="1500" height="1630" alt="portrait of Emily Yeo"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Emily Yeo, a PhD student in the 缅北禁地 Department of Integrative Physiology, led research exploring <span lang="EN">how medical complexity and neighborhood opportunity might affect the development of high-risk infants.</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">The findings, recently published in the </span><a href="https://www.jpeds.com/article/S0022-3476(24)00536-5/abstract" rel="nofollow"><em><span lang="EN">Journal of Pediatrics</span></em></a><span lang="EN">, suggest some babies may benefit from more support and resources so they can grow up to lead long, happy and healthy lives.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淲hat the study highlights is that there鈥檚 sort of a double burden on medically complex infants living in lower-opportunity neighborhoods,鈥 says Yeo, a doctoral student in the </span><a href="/iphy/" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Department of Integrative Physiology</span></a><span lang="EN">. 鈥淭here needs to be a lot more research into how we can better support these infants, especially within the first couple of years of their lives, which are critical for development and when small interventions could have a huge, life-long impact.鈥</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Studying high-risk infants in California</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Public health professionals have long understood that social, environmental and economic factors affect human health and development. Everything from a person鈥檚 income and education levels to the purity of the air they breathe and their access to grocery stores can play a role in their well-being.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Against this backdrop, scientists wanted to understand whether there was a relationship between the complexity of infants鈥 medical conditions, their neighborhood opportunity and their developmental progress.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淭o fully understand the developmental challenges these infants face, it is essential to consider how their medical conditions interact with the social and environmental contexts of their upbringing,鈥 says Yeo.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The team studied 440 infants born in Southern California between 2014 and 2023. Doctors had deemed these babies 鈥渉igh-risk鈥 because they were born prematurely, had very low birth weights or suffered from conditions that required treatment in a neonatal intensive care unit.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">By reviewing the infants鈥 medical records, scientists were able to categorize them based on the seriousness of their situation. Infants with the highest level of medical complexity, for instance, had conditions like permanent brain damage or chronic respiratory issues. Those with the lowest level of medical complexity, meanwhile, had more easily treatable conditions, like acute lung or eye infections.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Researchers also assessed each child鈥檚 neighborhood opportunity level, based on their home address. For this, they turned to the </span><a href="https://www.diversitydatakids.org/child-opportunity-index" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Child Opportunity Index</span></a><span lang="EN">, a pre-existing, composite index that analyzes education, health, social and economic data from every census tract in the United States.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Some neighborhoods earn high scores, because the children who live there have access to quality schools, clean air, health care, playgrounds and other conditions that will help them grow up healthy and become thriving adults. Other neighborhoods, however, offer very few or none of these resources. Black, Hispanic and Native American children are more likely to live in very low-opportunity neighborhoods compared to their White peers.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For each child, researchers also collected developmental scores from standard tests conducted when they were between the ages of 4 months and 36 months old. The scores came from the Bayley Scales of Infant and Toddler Development, which doctors consider the 鈥済old standard鈥 for evaluating infant cognitive, motor and language skills, the researchers write in the paper.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/infant%20in%20striped%20onesie.jpg?itok=Ckn7BCpp" width="1500" height="1000" alt="infant lying on back wearing striped onesie"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span lang="EN">缅北禁地 researcher Emily Yeo found that childhood development is affected by both medical and social factors, which aligns with what pediatricians see in daily practice. (Photo: Emily May/Unsplash)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">When the scientists analyzed all of the data they had gathered, some clear patterns began to emerge. Developmental scores got worse as medical complexity increased, meaning that infants with more severe and complicated health conditions had lower cognitive, motor and language scores.&nbsp;</span><span>These finding are consistent with previous studies, says Yeo, which have found that infants with fewer medical complications are also likely to face fewer challenges achieving growth milestones.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The study also found that medical complexity had a more significant effect on developmental outcomes than gestational age, or how early a baby was born. This is an important takeaway for pediatricians, who have long used gestational age to predict potential developmental delays or issues, says Yeo.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淕estational age might be useful for infants who are not medically complex, but if you鈥檙e looking specifically at those infants, we need a more granular tool,鈥 she says. 鈥淲ith this group of infants, we saw that gestational age didn鈥檛 really play a huge role in deciphering differences in development, whereas their degree of medical complexity did.鈥</span></p><p><span lang="EN">The researchers also found a correlation between lower neighborhood opportunity scores and decreased language scores, but not cognitive and motor scores. The reasons for this discrepancy are not clear. But, overall, this finding indicates that where an infant lives does seem to play a role in their development.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Importantly, the study also ruled out differences in development based on race and ethnicity alone. Black and Hispanic babies did have lower developmental scores than White babies, but the findings indicate those disparities resulted from differences in the infants鈥&nbsp;</span><span>socio-demographic and medical factors.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淭he differences do not come from race and ethnicity itself鈥攖hey come from other influential factors that tend to be worse in those groups,鈥 says Yeo, adding that this finding aligns with the general shift from race-based to race-conscious medicine.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>More social supports for development</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Together, the study results align with what pediatricians see in real life鈥攖hat childhood development is affected by both medical and social factors. The research also highlights the importance of early intervention programs and policies designed to help children succeed.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚t鈥檚 one more indication of how, if we really want to move the needle and improve the outcomes of these babies that are born with medical risk factors, we need to put as many social supports in place as we can to support their development,鈥 says study senior author </span><a href="https://www.chla.org/profile/christine-mirzaian-md-mph-ibclc" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Christine Mirzaian</span></a><span lang="EN">, a pediatrician at Children鈥檚 Hospital Los Angeles and an associate professor of clinical pediatrics in the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><blockquote><p class="lead"><em><span>鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the child鈥檚 medical diagnosis that is going to impact their development鈥攊t鈥檚 also the neighborhood the child is brought up in, how much medical care their family is able to afford and other barriers.鈥</span></em></p></blockquote></div></div><p><span lang="EN">The study did not explore the possible mechanisms at play鈥攖hat is, why medical complexity and neighborhood opportunity seem to be linked with development. But the researchers have a few theories.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For one, children with very serious health issues often need to use medical equipment that helps them breathe and eat鈥攍ike feeding tubes in their stomachs or oxygen tubes in their noses. From a purely physical standpoint, these devices may make it difficult for infants to do 鈥渁ll the basic things babies do,鈥 Mirzaian says, like rolling around or pulling themselves up to a standing position.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Another possible explanation is that a child鈥檚 appointments and treatments may leave little time for activities that promote development, like reading and playing with toys, Mirzaian adds.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Families living in neighborhoods with low opportunity scores, meanwhile, may be grappling with poverty鈥攁nd having a baby with a serious medical condition likely only adds to their stress. Through no fault of their own, caregivers may need to focus more on basic needs鈥攍ike how they鈥檙e going to pay next month鈥檚 rent or put food on the table鈥攁nd less on their child鈥檚 development, says Mirzaian.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>鈥楳edical Data Alone Does Not Tell the Whole Story鈥</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Looking ahead, the co-authors hope other researchers will repeat and replicate the study, perhaps in other geographic locations or with slightly different populations. Future work might also involve following the same children as they grow up, to see whether and how their developmental outcomes change over time.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For now, though, the study is a good first step toward understanding the link between medical complexity, neighborhood opportunity and development. Zooming out, the findings also reinforce the idea that 鈥渕edical data alone does not tell the whole story,鈥 says Yeo.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚t鈥檚 important for researchers to consider social explanations to formulate a holistic picture of infant development,鈥 she adds. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not just the child鈥檚 medical diagnosis that is going to impact their development鈥攊t鈥檚 also the neighborhood the child is brought up in, how much medical care their family is able to afford and other barriers.鈥</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about integrative physiology?&nbsp;</em><a href="/iphy/give-iphy" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 researcher Emily Yeo finds that some babies may benefit from more support and resources so they can grow up to lead long, happy and healthy lives.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/infant%20header.jpg?itok=wRtd4rTR" width="1500" height="660" alt="smiling baby lying on stomach"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top photo: Philip Mroz/Unsplash</div> Mon, 04 Aug 2025 20:21:30 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6190 at /asmagazine Family shares courtroom and campus legacy /asmagazine/2025/08/01/family-shares-courtroom-and-campus-legacy <span>Family shares courtroom and campus legacy</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-08-01T14:06:32-06:00" title="Friday, August 1, 2025 - 14:06">Fri, 08/01/2025 - 14:06</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/Maureen%20and%20Don%20McGinnis%20thumbnail.jpg?h=f67c3628&amp;itok=if25a83b" width="1200" height="800" alt="Don and Maureen McGinnis"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/532" hreflang="en">Advancement</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/54" hreflang="en">Alumni</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1246" hreflang="en">College of Arts and Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/212" hreflang="en">Political Science</a> </div> <span>Cody DeBos</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>Father and daughter Donald and Maureen McGinnis both pursued 缅北禁地 educations and then careers in the law</span></em></p><hr><p>When Judge Maureen McGinnis (PolSci 鈥00) steps into the courtroom, she carries more than a robe and gavel with her. Several decades of family legacy and lessons in reputation, integrity and the power of doing the right thing have brought Maureen where she is today.</p><p>But her journey to the bench didn鈥檛 begin in law school. It started at the dinner table during conversations with her father, Donald McGinnis (A&amp;S 鈥69), a respected Michigan attorney who built his own career on relationships and the strength of his word.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Don%20and%20Maureen%20McGinnis.JPG?itok=J5-RcO7D" width="1500" height="2000" alt="Don and Maureen McGinnis"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Don and Maureen McGinnis at a legal event, one of many they have attended together.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>鈥淚鈥檝e always looked up to my dad,鈥 Maureen says. 鈥淕etting an opportunity to grow up in a family where you have a parent that鈥檚 a lawyer, you get sort of immersed in that.鈥</p><p>Maureen鈥檚 immersion led her to follow in her father鈥檚 footsteps to 缅北禁地, where Donald first fell in love with the idea of carving his own path in life.</p><p>鈥淚t鈥檚 been a great ride for me from back in 缅北禁地 all the way until now,鈥 Donald says.</p><p><strong>CU roots of the family tree</strong></p><p>For Donald, 缅北禁地 was a natural fit. His parents were avid skiers, and he鈥檇 grown up making trips out west. When it came time to choose a college, there was little question where he would go.</p><p>鈥淚t was definitely going to be CU without question,鈥 he says. 鈥淚 think it was the only place I applied.鈥</p><p>His daughter didn鈥檛 need much convincing, either. Long before she would set foot on campus, she had already envisioned her future as a CU Buffalo and a lawyer.</p><p>鈥淚 was the seventh grader wearing the University of Colorado sweatshirt and telling everybody I was going to go to law school. I don鈥檛 think I ever wavered from that,鈥 she recalls.</p><p>What began with an interest in skiing in the 1960s has since evolved into a lifelong connection to a place that would shape the beginning of both their careers. For Donald, the legacy is deeply personal.</p><p>鈥淥bviously, my legacy is my daughter attending CU, which is a very proud one. She also chose to join my profession and then excelled so well at it. I couldn鈥檛 be prouder,鈥 he says.</p><p><strong>A shared journey in the courtroom</strong></p><p>Despite knowing she wanted a career in law, Maureen says she didn鈥檛 know what her path would look like. Long before she wore a judge鈥檚 robe, she walked into her first job as a lawyer and found herself working alongside her dad.</p><p>鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I had a huge plan for exactly what I was going to do once I became a lawyer,鈥 she says. 鈥淏ut the door was open. As soon as I started working with my dad, there was nothing to figure out. I wasn鈥檛 going to leave.鈥</p><p>Donald McGinnis built his family law practice from the ground up, never working for another firm, never having a boss. Running his own practice has helped him understand more than most the value of connection in a field that can be harsh and impersonal.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Maureen%20McGinnis%20swearing%20in.jpg?itok=WtvDVnMB" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Don and Maureen McGinnis in courtroom facing judge"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Don McGinnis (left) moves for Maureen McGinnis' (right, back to camera) admission to the State Bar of Michigan to practice law.&nbsp;</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>鈥淚 would always like to be remembered as the handshake lawyer. If I tell you something and shake hands on it, I don鈥檛 need to have 18 emails and five letters,鈥 he says. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 the way I would like to be remembered鈥攁s a lawyer鈥檚 lawyer.鈥</p><p>During her time working at her father鈥檚 law practice, Maureen absorbed plenty of legal strategy, but his passion for reputation also bled through.</p><p>鈥淧eople will talk about how you treat them, how you honor your word. 鈥 I remember that being really constant in our discussions about the practice of law,鈥 she says.</p><p>Working with her dad gave Maureen a head start, but most of all showed her that law could be more than a job. It would soon turn into a lifelong calling shaped by values passed down through the generations.</p><p><strong>Carrying the legacy forward</strong></p><p>After more than a decade of practicing as a lawyer, Maureen felt pulled toward something more. She wanted a way to serve not just individual clients but her entire community.</p><p>鈥淚鈥檝e always had a passion for community service and engagement. So, getting to have the role I have now pretty much marries both of those things,鈥 she says.</p><p>The role she speaks humbly of is presiding judge at the 52-4 District Court in Troy, Michigan, where Maureen weighs her opinion on cases that impact everyday lives.</p><p>She was elected to the bench in 2014, but the decision to run had been quietly planted years earlier in conversations with her father.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Maureen%20McGinnis%20with%20parents.jpg?itok=VwnchaX6" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Maureen McGinnis in courtroom with parents"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Maureen McGinnis (center) <span>celebrates with her parents after graduating law school and passing the bar exam.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>鈥淗e sort of has this habit of putting something in your head, and if we talk about it enough, it鈥檚 like it helps you visualize it鈥攅ven when it鈥檚 something that isn鈥檛 really on the horizon,鈥 she says.</p><p>Housing disputes, traffic violations and local criminal offenses are just a few of the cases now crossing Maureen鈥檚 desk every day. She says it isn鈥檛 glamorous work, but it directly shapes her community, and for Maureen, that is exactly the point.</p><p>鈥淪he sets an example that other lawyers and I commend her for. It makes it easier for the litigating parties when you have a smart judge and smart lawyers,鈥 Donald says.</p><p><strong>Reflections on CU and the legacy they鈥檙e still writing</strong></p><p>Looking back, both Maureen and Donald agree their time at 缅北禁地 influenced more than just their resumes. For Donald, college was a time of discovery and independence. After decades of legal work, he looks back on his time in 缅北禁地 as uniquely freeing.</p><p>鈥淚 took it way too serious,鈥 he laughs. 鈥淐ollege is probably the only four-year period of time that you have in your life where you don鈥檛 really have a lot of responsibility. You should enjoy it with great vigor, in my opinion.鈥</p><p>Maureen, always focused on the next step, says she sometimes wishes she鈥檇 taken more of those opportunities鈥攍ike studying abroad in Australia. But she鈥檚 never questioned the choice to attend CU. In fact, she鈥檚 already planning to pass that connection on to her kids.</p><p><span>鈥淚f you have an ability to start a legacy in that way, it鈥檚 amazing. I feel like having those shared memories about places and things that we experienced at CU keeps my dad and I very close. It鈥檚 something you can never take away.鈥</span></p><div class="row ucb-column-container"><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Don%20McGinnis%20campaigning%20for%20Maureen.JPG?itok=7bvJEBI7" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Don McGinnis in white SUV campaigning for Maureen McGinnis"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Don McGinnis on the campaign trail <span>when Maureen McGinnis ran for district court judge.</span></p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Maureen%20McGinnis%20and%20other%20judges.JPG?itok=66k1dNMt" width="1500" height="1000" alt="Maureen McGinnis in black judge robes with other judges at investiture ceremony"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Maureen McGinnis (first row, right) at her investiture when she was seated as a judge.</span></p> </span> </div></div><div class="row ucb-column-container"><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Don%20McGinnis%20on%20campus.jpeg?itok=PRioIHX0" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Don McGinnis with Flatirons in background"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Don McGinnis when he returned to 缅北禁地 to help his daughter, Maureen, move into Farrand Hall.</p> </span> </div><div class="col ucb-column"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Maureen%20McGinnis%20undergrad.jpeg?itok=Osgl0RPy" width="1500" height="1125" alt="Maureen McGinnis with friends at 缅北禁地"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Maureen McGinnis (center) with friends while she was an undergraduate student at 缅北禁地.</p> </span> </div></div><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about arts and sciences?&nbsp;</em><a href="/artsandsciences/giving" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Father and daughter Donald and Maureen McGinnis both pursued 缅北禁地 educations and then careers in the law.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/McGinnis%20header.jpg?itok=vZrFuWQl" width="1500" height="546" alt="Don and Maureen McGinnis"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>All photos courtesy Maureen McGinnis</div> Fri, 01 Aug 2025 20:06:32 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6189 at /asmagazine Cycling tradition meets biomechanics at CU /asmagazine/2025/07/31/cycling-tradition-meets-biomechanics-cu <span>Cycling tradition meets biomechanics at CU</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-31T12:47:46-06:00" title="Thursday, July 31, 2025 - 12:47">Thu, 07/31/2025 - 12:47</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-08/cycling%20shoe%20thumbnail.jpg?h=80340972&amp;itok=xOqT2wmf" width="1200" height="800" alt="underside of white cycling shoe in bicycle pedal"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/378" hreflang="en">Buffalo Bicycle Classic</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/352" hreflang="en">Integrative Physiology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <span>Cody DeBos</span> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>In time for Buffalo Bicycle Classic, 缅北禁地 researchers challenge cycling norms that stiff cycling-shoe soles are essential for efficient riding</em></p><hr><p>Years ago, <a href="/iphy/people/emeritus/rodger-kram" rel="nofollow">Rodger Kram</a>, a biomechanics researcher and now 缅北禁地 associate professor emeritus of <a href="/iphy/" rel="nofollow">integrative physiology</a>, offered a student in his lab a challenge.</p><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/asher-straw-80b23a119/" rel="nofollow">Asher Straw</a>, a sophomore at the time and an avid cyclist, was convinced that stiff, carbon fiber soles were essential for serious riders because they made for more efficient pedaling. Kram, with a twinkle in his eye, disagreed.</p><p>鈥淚 provocatively said that I didn鈥檛 think they made any difference,鈥 Kram recalls. 鈥淚 figured even very flexible running shoes would be just as efficient as carbon fiber cycling shoes when riding at a steady pace and moderate intensity.鈥</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/Rodger%20Kram.jpg?itok=Y0n5YYNj" width="1500" height="2100" alt="portrait of Rodger Kram"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><a href="/iphy/people/emeritus/rodger-kram" rel="nofollow"><span>Rodger Kram</span></a><span> is a biomechanics researcher and 缅北禁地 associate professor emeritus of integrative physiology.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>Straw was determined to prove his professor wrong. So, the two set out on a small but illuminating study and found that ultra-stiff shoes didn鈥檛 offer improved efficiency during moderate cycling.</p><p>But that was just the beginning.</p><p>Kram and his students have since spent nearly a decade exploring a deceptively simple question: How stiff does a cycling shoe really need to be?</p><p>The answer, it turns out, may surprise even the most gear-obsessed riders.</p><p><strong>The stiffness myth</strong></p><p>Carbon fiber shoes have been marketed as the gold standard for years, and riders have adopted the message. These shoes are sleek and featherlight, and their unyielding soles allegedly transfer more power from leg to pedal.</p><p>Kram鈥檚 research team, including then-graduate student <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tripp-hurt/" rel="nofollow">Tripp Hurt</a>, conducted a study to test the limits of this belief. They equipped trained cyclists with a set of three identical shoes, each fitted with a unique sole material of varying stiffness. The cyclists were then asked to sprint as hard as possible up a 50-meter stretch of road in each pair.</p><p>After multiple experiments, the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19424280.2024.2415082" rel="nofollow">researchers had their answer</a>.</p><p>鈥淭here was a breakpoint,鈥 Kram says. 鈥淏elow a certain stiffness, sprint performance does trail off.鈥</p><p>But not by much. Going from nylon soles (a very stiff reference) to a medium-stiff TPU (thermoplastic polyurethane) sole caused only a 3.1% drop in maximal one-second power output. The more flexible, soft TPU sole yielded a further power-output decrease of just 2.4%. At those levels, most cyclists wouldn鈥檛 notice the difference.</p><p>鈥淭he $150 shoes were just as good as the $450 shoes,鈥 Kram says.</p><p><strong>Comfort over carbon</strong></p><p>鈥淔or most of us, like <a href="/event/buffalobicycleclassic/" rel="nofollow">riders in the Buffalo Bicycle Classic</a>, there are far more important qualities in a shoe beyond sprint performance. Are they comfortable would be number one. Do they fit your foot?鈥 Kram asks, adding that when picking out new shoes, 鈥渟ole stiffness should be way down your list.鈥</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/underview%20of%20cycling%20shoe%20on%20pedal.jpg?itok=pGWAokPg" width="1500" height="1788" alt="underside of white cycling shoe on bicycle pedal"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>鈥淔or most of us, like </span><a href="/event/buffalobicycleclassic/" rel="nofollow"><span>riders in the Buffalo Bicycle Classic</span></a><span>, there are far more important qualities in a shoe beyond sprint performance. Are they comfortable would be number one. Do they fit your foot?鈥 asks researcher Rodger Kram. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>It鈥檚 a refreshing perspective in a world where the latest (and often most expensive) iterations are always advertised the loudest. Stiff soles may seem impressive in an ad, but they aren鈥檛 always practical, Kram says. They can even be a hazard.</p><p>鈥淪ocial riders often stop for a snack or coffee, and it鈥檚 easy to fall when trying to walk in carbon fiber soles on the tile floor of a caf茅,鈥 Kram says.</p><p>There鈥檚 also a growing awareness of carbon fiber鈥檚 environmental toll. Making carbon fiber is energy intensive and expensive, and the end product is nearly impossible to recycle. Though the sole of a cycling shoe isn鈥檛 world-ending, the cumulative effect of our consumption habits adds up.</p><p>If riders are sacrificing comfort, affordability and sustainability for just a few watts of power they may never use, Kram wonders, what鈥檚 the point?</p><p><strong>Lab to innovation</strong></p><p>That question stuck with Tripp Hurt, the aforementioned 缅北禁地 graduate. Inspired by the science, he found <a href="https://ridebrevay.com/" rel="nofollow">Brevay</a>, a shoe startup based in Seattle.</p><p>鈥淚 had my 鈥榣ightbulb鈥 moment after a night out with friends,鈥 Hurt says. 鈥淚 started to think about my biomechanics research and how it was relevant to the overall cycling market. We see these results, but nothing has changed about the way cycling companies were building their product.鈥</p><p>So, Hurt decided to build a new kind of shoe. Brevay鈥檚 first model, the Road One, will be a high-performance road cycling shoe made from sustainable materials.</p><p>鈥淪ustainability and performance are the north star for Brevay. We鈥檙e the first brand developing a sustainable cycling shoe, so the market is unproven if this is a category that cyclists are interested in. But we鈥檙e building it anyway,鈥 Hurt says.</p><div class="ucb-box ucb-box-title-hidden ucb-box-alignment-left ucb-box-style-fill ucb-box-theme-lightgray"><div class="ucb-box-inner"><div class="ucb-box-title">&nbsp;</div><div class="ucb-box-content"><p><em>This year, Rodger Kram will work at the Buffalo Bicycle Classic aid station near his home in Ward, handing out water and snacks to the riders. Though he鈥檚 retired from teaching, he nevertheless considers it important to help make CU Bulder affordable for the next generation of curious students.</em></p></div></div></div><p>That means sourcing bio-based materials, investing in an alternative supply chain and pricing the shoes competitively with the high-end carbon-fiber models they aim to replace.</p><p><strong>Challenging assumptions</strong></p><p>For Kram, the research is about more than shoes.</p><p>鈥淲e love challenging conventional wisdom,鈥 he says, 鈥渁nd cycling is a sport fraught with tradition.鈥</p><p>That spirit of inquiry is part of what makes 缅北禁地鈥檚 research culture special, he adds. The study, and its illuminating results, started with a student鈥檚 curiosity and a professor鈥檚 willingness to be proven wrong.</p><p>鈥淚t represented a major shift in my career trajectory,鈥 Hurt says of his time in Kram鈥檚 lab. 鈥淚 felt more at home working on running and cycling biomechanics.鈥</p><p>As elite athletes continue to chase fractions of a second, Kram and Hurt hope their work encourages others to rethink what performance really means.</p><p>For many, like riders tackling 缅北禁地 Canyon to fundraise for scholarships in the Buffalo Bicycle Classic, choosing the right shoe shouldn鈥檛 be about speed, Kram says, but about enjoying the ride, staying comfortable and being mindful of the environment.</p><p><span>In the end, as Kram puts it, 鈥渢here are far more important qualities in a cycling shoe than sprint performance.鈥</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about integrative physiology?&nbsp;</em><a href="/iphy/give-iphy" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>In time for Buffalo Bicycle Classic, 缅北禁地 researchers challenge cycling norms that stiff cycling-shoe soles are essential for efficient riding.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-08/cycling%20shoe%20header.jpg?itok=HafE2cQ7" width="1500" height="607" alt="close-up of cyclist's leg and red cycling shoe"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Thu, 31 Jul 2025 18:47:46 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6188 at /asmagazine Competitive electricity markets help clean up the U.S. energy sector /asmagazine/2025/07/28/competitive-electricity-markets-help-clean-us-energy-sector <span>Competitive electricity markets help clean up the U.S. energy sector</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-28T07:30:00-06:00" title="Monday, July 28, 2025 - 07:30">Mon, 07/28/2025 - 07:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/power%20lines%20orange%20sunset.jpg?h=c6980913&amp;itok=AFsjU89Y" width="1200" height="800" alt="rows of power lines and an orange sunset"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1240" hreflang="en">Division of Social Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/130" hreflang="en">Economics</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1063" hreflang="en">Sustainability</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/sarah-kuta">Sarah Kuta</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>缅北禁地 economics researcher Daniel Kaffine finds that whole electricity markets might help reduce carbon emissions</em></p><hr><p>Even though we use it every day, most of us don鈥檛 give much thought to the electricity powering our homes, schools and offices. As long as the lights come on when we flip the switch, we don鈥檛 stop to consider where our power comes from, who produces it and how.</p><p>Yet, in recent decades, electricity markets鈥攖he way power gets bought and sold鈥攈ave changed dramatically in many parts of the United States. These shifts have largely been good for consumers, promoting competition that often leads to lower electricity bills. But <a href="/faculty/kaffine/home" rel="nofollow"><span>Daniel Kaffine</span></a>, a 缅北禁地 economics professor, wanted to investigate another, less-obvious ripple effect: How are these shifts affecting the environment?</p><p>It鈥檚 a commonly held belief that competitive markets tend to be bad for the environment. But Kaffine finds the opposite to be true. His latest research, published in <em>The&nbsp;</em><a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/01956574241305584" rel="nofollow"><em><span>Energy Journal</span></em></a>, suggests that competitive whole electricity markets might help clean up the U.S. energy sector by reducing carbon emissions.</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-medium"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Daniel%20Kaffine.jpg?itok=cLONWYBN" width="1500" height="1500" alt="portrait of Daniel Kaffine"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Daniel Kaffine, a 缅北禁地 professor of economics, <span>finds in recently published research that competitive whole electricity markets might help clean up the U.S. energy sector by reducing carbon emissions.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>鈥淭he conventional wisdom on a lot of these topics is not always correct, and environmental economics is a very useful structure and framework for developing more nuanced thinking about the relationship between the economy and the environment,鈥 he says.</p><p><strong>Understanding U.S. electricity markets</strong></p><p>Before the 1990s, electricity in the United States primarily came from vertically integrated utilities鈥攖hat is, one company that owned and operated the entire electricity supply chain. These one-stop-shop firms handled every phase of the process, from generating electricity at power plants to transmitting it to substations to distributing it to customers. Overseen by public utility commissions, these companies usually had the exclusive rights to serve a particular region.</p><p>However, in 1996, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued two orders that transformed the nation鈥檚 electricity utility industry. The commission sought to break up public utilities and get more players into the mix, in hopes of lowering prices for consumers.</p><p>As a result, many states began moving away from the traditional utility model and toward competitive <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/introductory-guide-electricity-markets-regulated-federal-energy-regulatory-commission" rel="nofollow"><span>wholesale electricity markets</span></a>. In regions that have made this shift, there are multiple sellers (companies that produce power) and multiple buyers (local utilities that provide electricity to customers).</p><p>For the new paper, Kaffine and co-author <a href="https://agecon.tamu.edu/people/park-doyoung/" rel="nofollow">Doyoung Park</a>, a former 缅北禁地 graduate student who is now an assistant professor of agricultural economics at Texas A&amp;M University, turned their attention to one such market.</p><p>They looked at the <a href="https://www.ferc.gov/introductory-guide-participation-southwest-power-pool-processes" rel="nofollow"><span>Southwest Power Pool</span></a>, an independent system operator and regional transmission organization that manages the grid for some or all parts of 14 states. These are Arkansas, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Texas and Wyoming.</p><p>The Southwest Power Pool is a bit like an air traffic controller. It doesn鈥檛 own any of the region鈥檚 electricity infrastructure鈥攖hings like power lines and poles鈥攂ut it does operate them. It coordinates the flow of electricity, monitors congestion and prevents outages and emergencies.</p><p>Another big role the Southwest Power Pool plays is that of auctioneer, Kaffine says. Each day, it is in charge of sourcing enough power to meet the region鈥檚 anticipated demand for the following day. This is what鈥檚 known as the 鈥渄ay-ahead energy market,鈥 and it functions like an auction.</p><p>鈥淵ou have buyers and sellers of power,鈥 Kaffine says. 鈥淭he people who sell power offer up a certain amount of electricity at a certain price. And, basically, the cheapest bids win. Those are the power plants that end up producing power the next day.鈥</p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/power%20plant.jpg?itok=UF3Fol2r" width="1500" height="1000" alt="power plant at night"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>缅北禁地 researcher Daniel Kaffine and colleague Doyoung Park studied carbon emissions from power plants within the Southwest Power Pool before and after the introduction of day-ahead markets. They compared the emissions intensity, or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of power generated.</span></p> </span> </div></div><p>(The Southwest Power Pool also runs real-time markets every five minutes. But, for their study, Kaffine and Park focused only on the day-ahead markets, which were created in 2014.)</p><p>Consumers are not involved in this process, which runs seamlessly in the background to produce a continuous stream of on-demand electricity. But, because of the competition between sellers, they do end up paying lower electricity bills every month. And, according to Kaffine鈥檚 research, society as a whole gets the benefit of reduced carbon emissions.</p><p><strong>Carbon emissions decline in free markets</strong></p><p>For the study, Kaffine and Park looked at carbon emissions from power plants within the Southwest Power Pool before and after the introduction of day-ahead markets. They compared the emissions intensity, or the amount of carbon dioxide emitted per unit of power generated.</p><p>To isolate the effects of the day-ahead markets and rule out other variables, they also compared the data to a similar power pool in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, called PJM Interconnection.</p><p>When they crunched the numbers, the researchers found that the day-ahead markets caused a 4 percent drop in average carbon emissions intensity in the Southwest Power Pool. That equates to a reduction of roughly 7.66鈥塵illion tons of carbon dioxide emissions and about $383.4鈥塵illion in avoided damages per year.</p><p>鈥淪having off 4 percent from every unit of power that gets generated really adds up,鈥 Kaffine says.</p><p>When they drilled down into the data, Kaffine and Park were able to uncover the mechanisms responsible for the decrease in carbon emissions. Some individual power plants got slightly cleaner after the day-ahead markets were introduced. But the primary factor was the retirement of older, dirtier, costlier power plants in the region.</p><p>These plants simply couldn鈥檛 compete in the new environment, says Kaffine. When they shut down, what remained was a fleet of newer, cleaner and cheaper-to-run facilities鈥攁nd that resulted in lower carbon emissions overall.</p><p>鈥淚t鈥檚 just like if you have an old air conditioner鈥攊t takes more power to run the thing, and that鈥檚 expensive,鈥 he says. 鈥淚n a power plant, if you have an old boiler, it takes more fuel input to produce power and that鈥檚 more expensive and dirtier.鈥</p><p><strong>Looking ahead</strong></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-large"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><blockquote><p class="lead"><em><span>鈥淵ou have buyers and sellers of power. The people who sell power offer up a certain amount of electricity at a certain price. And, basically, the cheapest bids win. Those are the power plants that end up producing power the next day.鈥</span></em></p></blockquote></div></div><p>Zooming out, the results challenge the long-held assumption that competitive markets are always detrimental to the environment. The findings might be different in other regions but, at least in the case of the Southwest Power Pool, the 鈥渕arket incentives lined up nicely with the environmental incentives,鈥 Kaffine says.</p><p>In addition, the findings suggest that other states may want to consider creating or joining competitive electricity markets鈥攆or the economic advantages, but also for the potential environmental benefits. Many states in the Southeast and the West (with the exception of California) do not have competitive electricity markets.</p><p>Colorado, for example, still operates under the traditional, vertically integrated utility model. But a <a href="https://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb21-072" rel="nofollow"><span>2021 state law</span></a> requires all non-municipal electric utilities that own transmission lines to join a wholesale electric market by 2030.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.ourenergypolicy.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/C21-0755A_19M-0495E1.pdf" rel="nofollow"><span>study</span></a> conducted by the Colorado Public Utilities Commission estimates this change could result in savings of up to $230 million each year. And Kaffine鈥檚 research suggests it may also lead to a reduction in carbon emissions, too.</p><p>鈥淩ather than running an old, dirty plant here in Colorado, having a wholesale market might mean buying cheap wind [power] or cheap natural gas [power] from New Mexico,鈥 says Kaffine. 鈥淭hey do some of that trading already, but having a market in place to facilitate that trade makes it easier to find lower-cost producers. And if the lower-cost producers happen to be cleaner, that鈥檚 a win for the environment as well as consumers.鈥</p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about economics?&nbsp;</em><a href="/economics/news-events/donate-economics-department" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>缅北禁地 economics researcher Daniel Kaffine finds that whole electricity markets might help reduce carbon emissions.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/power%20lines%20header.jpg?itok=MTtHQJpX" width="1500" height="453" alt="rows of power lines and orange sunset"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> Mon, 28 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6182 at /asmagazine 'Your love will be your legacy' /asmagazine/2025/07/23/your-love-will-be-your-legacy <span>'Your love will be your legacy'</span> <span><span>Rachel Sauer</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-23T07:30:00-06:00" title="Wednesday, July 23, 2025 - 07:30">Wed, 07/23/2025 - 07:30</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20dad%20thumbnail.jpg?h=9fb6362d&amp;itok=I8Rik3FL" width="1200" height="800" alt="John and Giovanna Ruffolo holding illuminated balloons"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/352" hreflang="en">Integrative Physiology</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/144" hreflang="en">Psychology and Neuroscience</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/917" hreflang="en">Top Stories</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1102" hreflang="en">Undergraduate Students</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/456" hreflang="en">cancer</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1053" hreflang="en">community</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/sarah-kuta">Sarah Kuta</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em>Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 缅北禁地 undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine</em></p><hr><p><span lang="EN">Giovanna Ruffolo was a senior in high school when her dad died of pancreatic cancer.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">While other students were looking forward to prom and graduation, Ruffolo was navigating a web of tangled emotions鈥攕hock, disbelief, sadness, anger, uncertainty.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淟osing a parent is probably the most intense pain someone can feel in their entire life,鈥 she says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a terrible, terrible pain.鈥</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20family.jpg?itok=VzYChEgq" width="1500" height="1196" alt="Leo, Joey and Giovanna Ruffolo with their mother"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Giovanna Ruffolo (second from right) with her brothers Leo (left, a 2024 缅北禁地 graduate) and Joey (second from left, a CU Denver student) and their mom, Rosanna. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Mostly, though, she just felt numb. Heading off to college so soon after her father鈥檚 death was the last thing she wanted to do. But she knew education was important to her dad, so she pushed through the pain and enrolled at 缅北禁地.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Now a senior studying integrative physiology and psychology, Ruffolo is preparing for a career in medicine so that, someday, she can help support families just like hers. She hopes to work in pediatric oncology, providing compassionate care to children who are fighting cancer.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">As a Buff, Ruffolo is also honoring her father鈥檚 legacy by raising money and awareness for cancer prevention research, an initiative she started just after her father got his diagnosis.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚 just want people to know they have a support system and a network that hates cancer as much as they do鈥攖hat they鈥檙e not alone,鈥 she says.</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Helping others</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Life was rolling along for the Ruffolo family when they got the news that would change their lives forever. In 2017, their beloved patriarch, </span><a href="https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/legacyremembers/john-ruffolo-obituary?id=7635215" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">John Ruffolo</span></a><span lang="EN">, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, a disease that is often fatal.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚t hit us like a bus,鈥 says Ruffolo.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Pancreatic cancer is the third-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the United States, according to the National Institutes of Health. Between 2015 and 2021, the five-year survival rate was just </span><a href="https://seer.cancer.gov/statfacts/html/pancreas.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">13.3 percent</span></a><span lang="EN">鈥攎uch lower than other types of cancer. In 2025, the American Cancer Society </span><a href="https://www.cancer.org/cancer/types/pancreatic-cancer/about/key-statistics.html" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">estimates</span></a><span lang="EN"> 67,440 people will be diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and 51,980 people will die from the disease.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚t鈥檚 the cancer that really gives cancer its bad name,鈥 Ruffolo says.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Giovanna%20Ruffolo%20purple%20event.jpg?itok=FFIW31lE" width="1500" height="668" alt="High school students in group photo wearing purple shirts"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span lang="EN">Prospect Ridge Academy High School Students participate in a cancer fundraiser organized by Giovanna Ruffolo in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</span></p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">Ruffolo was just 14 at the time, but she felt compelled to take action. As a sophomore at Prospect Ridge Academy High School</span><em><span lang="EN">,&nbsp;</span></em><span lang="EN">she created TeamRuffolo, a student-led initiative to raise money and awareness for cancer research.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In November 2018, her school hosted a 鈥淧urple Out鈥濃攁 one-day event in which students were encouraged to wear purple to show their support for the cancer community and donate whatever they could toward prevention research. Students, teachers and administrators raised more than $1,000 for the American Cancer Society that day, and Ruffolo went home feeling inspired and hopeful.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">She organized similar fundraisers at her high school in 2019 and 2020 (though the initiative had to go virtual because of the COVID-19 pandemic).</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚t was such a wonderful feeling,鈥 she says. 鈥淎 lot of these people didn鈥檛 even know my dad, but&nbsp; they were still so supportive. Seeing people come together not only for him, but just to say, 鈥榊ou鈥檙e not alone,鈥 was tremendous for all of us.鈥</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>Balancing act</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Meanwhile, despite undergoing various treatments and surgeries, her father鈥檚 cancer continued to progress. Four years after his diagnosis, he succumbed to the disease in January 2021 at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Center.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">Ruffolo was utterly devastated, but she knew she had to finish high school and get a college degree for her dad. And, wherever she ended up next, she wanted to continue her awareness-raising and fundraising events to support other cancer patients and their families.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Giovanna%20Ruffolo%20CU%20缅北禁地%20runners.JPG?itok=l_ykhxGX" width="1500" height="1185" alt="缅北禁地 students running in a 5K to raise money for cancer"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">缅北禁地 participants run in the Stronger Together Annual 5K at CU in 2024, the event's most successful year. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">At 缅北禁地, Ruffolo has thrown herself into her studies, with an ultimate goal of working in the medical field. From her father鈥檚 experience, Ruffolo learned first-hand that cancer affects more than just the body鈥攊t also influences a patient鈥檚 mind, spirit and emotions. With that in mind, she鈥檚 majoring in integrative physiology and psychology to create her own pre-health pathway.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淢y father had trouble grasping being diagnosed with a terminal disease, as anyone rightfully would,鈥 she says. 鈥淚 want to understand people鈥檚 behaviors and thoughts better, so that when someone is going through a hardship, I can better support them.鈥</span></p><p><span lang="EN">To further build her skill set, Ruffolo also completed CU鈥檚 emergency medical technician (EMT) program, an online, non-credit specialization that prepares students for national registry testing. She has also worked as a research assistant at 缅北禁地 and Children's Hospital Colorado.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In addition, Ruffolo has taken on a leadership role with the 缅北禁地 chapter of the American Medical Student Association, spending three years on the executive board before being elected president for the 2025-26 school year. Through the student group, Ruffolo has carried on her TeamRuffolo efforts鈥攏ow called Stronger Together鈥攂y organizing 5-kilometer run/walk events to raise money for the American Cancer Society.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">She is also a journey leader with New Student &amp; Family Programs, where she helps incoming freshmen navigate the 缅北禁地 experience. Balancing her studies with her extracurricular activities鈥攚hile also supporting her family and honoring her father鈥檚 legacy鈥攈as been challenging. But, for Ruffolo, it all comes back to staying true to herself.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淧retty much my tippy-top value is helping others,鈥 she says.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">In class, Ruffolo has never been afraid to ask questions and speak up鈥攅ven when that means talking about her father鈥檚 death in a large lecture hall full of hundreds of students. </span><a href="/psych-neuro/jennifer-stratford" rel="nofollow"><span lang="EN">Jennifer Stratford</span></a><span lang="EN">, a 缅北禁地 teaching associate professor of psychology and neuroscience, says Ruffolo鈥檚 willingness to be vulnerable has opened the door for other students to share their experiences.</span></p><div class="feature-layout-callout feature-layout-callout-xlarge"><div class="ucb-callout-content"><p>&nbsp;</p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/John%20Ruffolo.JPG?itok=n3zTTbKf" width="1500" height="1183" alt="Portrait of John Ruffolo"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">John Ruffolo died from pancreatic cancer in 2021. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</p> </span> </div></div><p><span lang="EN">鈥淪he just kind of became an ambassador and a face for students who have lost parents,鈥 says Stratford. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a lot of feedback from students about how much they appreciated her bravery and how much they identified with some of the struggles she鈥檇 been through. It鈥檚 a once-in-a-decade or once-in-a-lifetime experience to see a single student have an impact on so many of her classmates.鈥</span></p><p><span lang="EN"><strong>鈥榊our love will be your legacy鈥</strong></span></p><p><span lang="EN">Since high school, Ruffolo estimates she鈥檚 helped raise more than $20,000 for the American Cancer Society. And she鈥檚 not done yet. She hopes the 缅北禁地 AMSA chapter will continue organizing the 5K run/walk fundraisers, and that she鈥檒l be able to host similar events during the next phase of her educational journey.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">For now, Ruffolo is focused on finishing up her studies so she can graduate in the spring of 2026. From there, she hopes to continue her education in the medical field, likely as a doctor or physician assistant specializing in pediatric oncology.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淚 really want to serve that specific community,鈥 she says. 鈥淵ou鈥檙e treating little people who have lots of emotions and a little body. They get very scared easily. You really have to be empathetic and treat them and their families with kindness. I love the idea of sitting down with people, holding their hands, talking to them鈥攏ot just giving them a death sentence, walking out the door and saying, 鈥楤est of luck.鈥欌</span></p><p><span lang="EN">That approach stems directly from her father鈥檚 experiences. As he neared the end of his life, Ruffolo remembers him breaking down and talking about how scared he was. She hopes to be the kind of practitioner who will help people like her dad move forward through their pain and fear, while also treating their underlying illness.</span></p><p><span lang="EN">鈥淵our love will be your legacy,鈥 she says. 鈥淚n a world where there鈥檚 no cure for cancer, investing your time in others is the only way you can live forever. And loving other people鈥攇iving them kindness and empathy鈥攊s one of the best ways to help fight any disease.鈥</span></p><hr><p>&nbsp;</p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Losing her father to pancreatic cancer inspired 缅北禁地 undergraduate Giovanna Ruffolo to raise money for cancer research and pursue a career in medicine.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Gio%20Ruffolo%20and%20dad%20cropped.jpg?itok=EiVcwaQ9" width="1500" height="528" alt="John and Giovanna Ruffolo holding illuminated balloons"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Top image: Giovanna Ruffolo (right) and her late father, John, representing Colorado cancer patients and survivors at Mile High Stadium at an event sponsored by the American Cancer Society in 2019. (Photo: Giovanna Ruffolo)</div> Wed, 23 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0000 Rachel Sauer 6181 at /asmagazine Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf? /asmagazine/2025/07/22/who-afraid-big-bad-dire-wolf <span>Who is afraid of the big, bad (dire) wolf?</span> <span><span>Kylie Clarke</span></span> <span><time datetime="2025-07-22T09:28:17-06:00" title="Tuesday, July 22, 2025 - 09:28">Tue, 07/22/2025 - 09:28</time> </span> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle focal_image_wide"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/focal_image_wide/public/2025-07/decorative-banner-NEWS-25-07-22_0.jpg?h=2d703ee9&amp;itok=1h_-P7yk" width="1200" height="800" alt="dire wolves in the snow"> </div> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-categories" itemprop="about"> <span class="visually-hidden">Categories:</span> <div class="ucb-article-category-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-folder-open"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/30"> News </a> </div> <div role="contentinfo" class="container ucb-article-tags" itemprop="keywords"> <span class="visually-hidden">Tags:</span> <div class="ucb-article-tag-icon" aria-hidden="true"> <i class="fa-solid fa-tags"></i> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/1242" hreflang="en">Division of Natural Sciences</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/160" hreflang="en">Environmental Studies</a> <a href="/asmagazine/taxonomy/term/686" hreflang="en">Research</a> </div> <a href="/asmagazine/bradley-worrell">Bradley Worrell</a> <div class="ucb-article-content ucb-striped-content"> <div class="container"> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--article-content paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div class="ucb-article-text" itemprop="articleBody"> <div><p class="lead"><em><span>Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf鈥攂ut should it? 缅北禁地 environmental studies and philosophy Professor Ben Hale says the answer is complicated</span></em></p><hr><p><span>Earlier this year, Colossal Laboratories &amp; Biosciences made headlines when it announced that鈥攖hrough the science of genetic manipulation鈥攊t had successfully re-created three dire wolves, a large wolf species that ranged across North America and South America some 10,000 years ago before going extinct. Some news outlets, including </span><em><span>Time</span></em><span> magazine, called the development species 鈥渄e-extinction鈥 while others touted it as 鈥渟cientifically seismic.鈥</span></p><p><span>Subsequently, other scientists challenged Colossal鈥檚 assertions of having de-extincted the species, arguing that these wolves鈥擱omulus, Remus and Khaleesi鈥攄id not meet the&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.newscientist.com/article/2481409-colossal-scientist-now-admits-they-havent-really-made-dire-wolves/#:~:text=But%20in%20her%20more%20recent,dire%20wolves%2C" rel="nofollow"><span>technical definition</span></a><span> of dire wolves. That鈥檚 because Colossal did not create the animals from a fully reconstructed dire wolf genome but instead relied on a gray wolf鈥檚 genetic material and made changes to it with ancient DNA recovered from dire wolf specimens.</span></p><p><span>Meanwhile, Colossal has announced plans to bring back a variety of other extinct species, including the wooly mammoth, the Tasmanian tiger (</span><a href="https://colossal.com/thylacine/" rel="nofollow"><span>or Thylacine</span></a><span>) and most recently&nbsp;</span><a href="https://www.yahoo.com/news/dire-wolf-companys-next-target-190842693.html" rel="nofollow"><span>the Moa,</span></a><span> a giant flightless bird that stood about 12 feet tall and weighed about 500 pounds.</span></p><p><span>However, seemingly lost amid the claims and counterclaims of whether scientists can bring back dire wolves鈥攐r any other extinct animals鈥攆rom extinction is the deeper philosophical and ethical issue: should they?</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/Ben%20Hale%20headshot_1.jpg?itok=T7W6qew7" width="750" height="500" alt="Ben Hale"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>As a 缅北禁地 philosophy professor in the Department of Environmental Studies, Ben Hale鈥檚 primary research focus is on environmental ethics and policy. He has followed the news reports about bringing back dire wolves and other long-gone animals through the lens of ethical issues associated with the extinction and de-extinction of species.</span></p> </span> </div> <p><span>For his part,&nbsp;</span><a href="/envs/benjamin-hale" rel="nofollow"><span>Ben Hale</span></a><span> has no easy answers. A 缅北禁地 philosophy professor in the&nbsp;</span><a href="/envs/" rel="nofollow"><span>Department of Environmental Studies</span></a><span>, Hale鈥檚 primary research focus is on environmental ethics and policy. He has followed the news reports about bringing back dire wolves and other long-gone animals through the lens of ethical issues associated with the extinction and de-extinction of species.</span></p><p><span>Recently, Hale spoke with </span><em><span>Colorado Arts and Sciences Magazine</span></em><span> regarding his thoughts on when it makes sense to attempt to de-extinct a species (and when it doesn鈥檛); what it means to de-extinct a species, ethically speaking; how ethicists in the larger scientific community are responding to the latest scientific breakthroughs; and his thoughts on the ethical implications of de-extincting a T-Rex. His responses have been lightly edited for grammar and clarity and condensed for space.</span></p><p>&nbsp;</p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Setting aside the issue of whether Colossal actually created dire wolves, or just something similar, why would we want to bring back an extinct species of wolf?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> That鈥檚 the question, right? For some (scientists and entrepreneurs), I think there鈥檚 the relatively straightforward scientific challenge of seeing if it can be done鈥攖o de-extinct a species. The dire wolf happens to be a particularly charismatic species in no small part because it鈥檚 a large mammal that has some resemblance to a dog. Popular fantasy shows like </span><em><span>Game of Thrones</span></em><span> elevated the ecologically real dire wolf species even further, to a kind of magical status, so there鈥檚 an element of fantasy and science fiction that makes the dire wolf intriguing.</span></p><p><span>Still, that doesn鈥檛 speak to the kind of public-facing rationale offered by Colossal Biosciences or other folks who are engaged in de-extinction efforts. Let鈥檚 call them 鈥榙e-extinction optimists.鈥 It鈥檚 not enough, generally speaking, just to say, 鈥榃e wanted to see if we could do it,鈥 or 鈥榃e did it because we think the species is beautiful or cool.鈥 Using that as a justification starts to look a lot like </span><em><span>Jurassic Park</span></em><span>, right? And Michael Crichton and Stephen Spielberg and numerous others have warned us about technology unchained with these cautionary tales.</span></p> <div class="align-right image_style-medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <div class="imageMediaStyle medium_750px_50_display_size_"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/medium_750px_50_display_size_/public/2025-07/dire%20wolf%20_Khaleesi%20pup.jpeg?itok=8sZjJ9QV" width="750" height="422" alt="dire wolf pup"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text"><span>Hale says he believes part of the appeal of de-extincting dire wolves is because they resemble a dog and that popular TV shows such as </span><em><span>Game of Thrones</span></em><span> have elevated the status of real dire wolves to an almost magical level.&nbsp;</span></p> </span> </div> <p><span>So, the public-facing justification that de-extinction optimists will offer is that we 鈥榦we it to the species,鈥 possibly because we鈥檝e made that species extinct by something we鈥檝e done鈥攕ay, human-caused extinction鈥攐r because extinct animals can serve as important elements or components of the ecological system, given that some ecosystems are not healthy. You can make the case that we can revive those ecosystems by reintroducing apex predators that were playing a valuable regulatory function.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: If you bring back a creature from extinction, but the natural habitat for it no longer exists, how much have you accomplished?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> I think this a question that looms large over the matter of de-extinction, particularly in an era of accelerated climate change. It may be the case that we can bring back a species that is genetically similar to a past species, but we may not have done anything to make that species function within the ecosystem. Is it in that case true that we鈥檝e brought back the species? Does it even make sense to speak of a species outside of its ecological context?</span></p><p><span>One of the stated reasons for de-extincting a species is to revive or rejuvenate deteriorating or degraded ecosystems. If you think the environment has been degraded to such an extent that it needs to have some kind of apex predator that was roaming the earth 10,000 years ago, like the dire wolf, reintroduced into the ecosystem, then it鈥檚 not clear what it means even to say that the species has been </span><em><span>brought back</span></em><span>. It鈥檚 not back at all. It鈥檚 just isolated somewhere. Keeping it as a specimen in Colossal Biosciences laboratories (as the company has done) doesn鈥檛 actually de-extinct the species, in my opinion.</span></p><p><span>Now, you could say that genetic replication is just the first step in a proof-of-concept de-extinction effort, and the next step is to create enough of the species that scientists can develop a viable population and then release them into the wild. Then perhaps that鈥檚 the ultimate step to de-extinction.</span></p><p><span>But&nbsp;if your criterion is that whatever species is brought back derives its status from its function in the system, then it鈥檚 a mistake for them to suggest that they have de-extincted the species鈥攂ecause they haven鈥檛 yet done that.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Generally speaking, how do ethicists within the scientific community think about the idea of de-extincting species? And what is your position on this subject?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> I would argue that most environmental ethicists, as well as most animal ethicists鈥攖hese are two different communities of ethicists who agree on some things but disagree on many others鈥攁re extremely skeptical of these efforts to de-extinct species. I think you鈥檙e going to be hard pressed among the ethics community to find people who are excited about the potential of these&nbsp;de-extinction technologies.</span></p><p><span>Personally, I tend to be more of a&nbsp;moderate regarding technologies such as these. My view鈥攗nlike some of my other colleagues at other universities鈥攊s that developing technologies like this can help us to address ecological issues&nbsp;in the near term, but that this gets much more complicated as we reach back in history.</span></p><p><span>With extinction, an animal can either go functionally extinct or ontologically extinct, which are two different things. For instance, the&nbsp;oysters in the Chesapeake Bay are often said to be functionally extinct. There are still oysters living in the Chesapeake Bay, but they鈥檙e not serving the function that they were once serving, which was the cleaning and purification of the bay.</span></p><p><span>In that context, it would be a much more meaningful outcome for us to revive or to </span><em><span>de-extinct</span></em><span> oysters in the Chesapeake Bay, say, than to de-extinct the dire wolf. Oysters are important for us, and they were vitally important to many communities in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. I think we should use technologies to de-extinct functionally extinctorganisms and species.</span></p><p><span>So, it鈥檚 a balance. We don鈥檛 want to drop the ball on the de-extinction discussion inasmuch as its an important tool for ecologists, but we also don鈥檛 want to introduce </span><em><span>Jurassic Park</span></em><span>-style scenarios where we fetishize a charismatic species simply because it is genetically related to something that we like. Also, as we get deeper into time and deeper into history, I think it becomes more ridiculous and more problematic, ethically speaking, for us to try to de-extinct a species.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: So, bringing back oysters to Chesapeake Bay could fulfill a useful ecological role, but ethically it鈥檚 harder to make the case for bringing back a Tyrannosaurus Rex?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> Is the de-extinction of a T-Rex the best use of our resources? My answer to that question is probably not.</span></p><p><span>Again, I鈥檓 generally supportive of research&nbsp;into a variety of different technologies that help us better understand how nature works and what we can do to address concerns in our natural environment. And it may well be that some of these gene-splicing technologies do precisely that.</span></p> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/Dire%20wolves%20young%20adults2.jpg?itok=qTaIo42k" width="1500" height="844" alt="Dire wolves young adults"> </div> <span class="media-image-caption"> <p class="small-text">Dire wolves Romulus and Remus, along with their sister, Khaleesi, will spend their entire lives in an animal refuge. Hale says there are ethical questions as to whether a species is really made de-extinct if it鈥檚 natural habitat no longer exists.</p> </span> <p><span>I believe it鈥檚 important for us as a society to have robust technologies, maybe even de-extinction ones in cases ofcatastrophe or calamity鈥攎uch like seed banks or insurance policies鈥攂ut we certainly should have security in place in case things go sideways.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Are there any governmental regulations at the international level, or at the national level, governing this kind of scientific work? If not, do you think there should be?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> This is not an area that I tend to work in, but I鈥檓 not aware of any regulations. Personally, I do think that this kind of private sector, entrepreneurial research should be regulated.</span></p><p><span>What would it mean to regulate more pure scientific research is an interesting question. I think it would mean that you would have some kind of external scrutiny of scientific operations in an open framework that would prevent opportunists from developing a technology that could be either weaponized, which would be unusual in this context, or that would prevent ecological recklessness, as in the case of an accidental or intentional release. Given the potential ecological, environmental, and economic impacts of release, we should be very careful about allowing self-replicating but misfit entities, like a de-extincted species, into the wild. The potential for misuse here is tremendous.</span></p><p><span>I think there probably are other reasons to regulate it as well. You might be concerned about the harm or suffering that you might cause to any given specimen of that species. For example, if you鈥檙e creating a huge laboratory of failed experiments with de-extinct species鈥攕ay, a bunch of failed versions that die prematurely or live out their short lives in pain鈥擨 think that should also have some oversight.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: So, potentially in the pursuit of a scientific good, scientists could, possibly inadvertently, cause harm to the animals?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> This was an issue with the cloning controversy, when&nbsp;</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolly_(sheep)" rel="nofollow"><span>Dolly the sheep</span></a><span> was cloned. Anytime you鈥檙e experimenting with technologies of this sort, you鈥檙e going to create some mutants or some mistakes during trial runs鈥攁nd there were quite a few of those when Dolly was cloned. Some of the animals had short lives or they were born with mutations and whatnot.</span></p><p><span>This is one of the key worries for animal ethicists: that the animal will be born with defects that will cause it to suffer, or maybe that it鈥檚 destined to spend its entire life in captivity being poked and prodded. 鈥</span></p><p><span>There are a range of different reasons why animal ethicists think that we should be concerned about the well-being of animals. Some of them include their capacity to experience pain and suffering, and some of them are more abstract, likethat&nbsp;they have rights. So, depending upon which sort of camp you fall in in the animal ethics literature, you may object to de-extincting individual entities for different reasons than environmental ethicists, but two sets of concerns鈥攁bout the ecology and about the individuals themselves鈥攕ort of work in tandem with one another.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Do you think there is a risk that, if scientists show they can successfully bring back extinct species, some people will come to believe that conservation efforts are no longer necessary?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> I think&nbsp;we should be thinking hard about the problem of extinction. The reason I鈥檓 interested in </span><em><span>de-extinction</span></em><span> is not just because I think it鈥檚 cool, but because I think it provides a good reason for us to try to prevent extinction in the first place. That鈥檚 my real objective in exploring the question of de-extinction.</span></p><blockquote><p><span>鈥淚t鈥檚 not enough, generally speaking, just to say, 鈥榃e wanted to see if we could do it,鈥 or 鈥榃e did it (de-extincted a species) because we think the species is beautiful or cool.鈥 Using that as a justification starts to look a lot like </span><em><span>Jurassic Park</span></em><span>, right?鈥</span></p><p class="small-text"><span><strong>Ben Hale, 缅北禁地 philosophy professor in the Department of Environmental Studies</strong></span></p></blockquote><p><span>I think we have good reasons to try to prevent extinction and that de-extinction alone is not going to be a solution to the problem of extinction. Potentially, it just introduces more problems. So, we should try where we can to prevent the extinction of animals or the extinction of a species.</span></p><p><span>In fact, in a lot of my work I discuss different kinds of reversal scenarios, from air pollution to geoengineering to remediation. Thinking about repair and restoration helps us see better that many of our most basic intuitions regarding environmental wrongdoing aren鈥檛, strictly speaking, about the harm that we鈥檙e doing to the environment. For instance, those who think that a company can pollute a river, say, and then right their wrong by cleaning up the pollution using remediation technologies, have a pretty limited sense of what an environmental wrong is. Environmental wrongs also happen in part because people are trespassed upon, their rights are violated, or there are other offenses to them and the world. Those kinds of cases are not properly related to de-extinction, but all of them are an effort to try to&nbsp;repair past harms or restore lost value, just as de-extinction is an effort to return something that is lost.</span></p><p><span>In many cases鈥攎aybe even in most cases鈥擨 think we should essentially operate&nbsp;under the assumption that interventions like de-extinctions are cases of last&nbsp;resort. And this goes for many different kinds of environmental interventions like the ones I mention above: We need to try to avoid&nbsp;circumstances in which we need to take drastic action to repair&nbsp;things that we鈥檝e done that are damaging or wrong.</span></p><p><em><span><strong>Question: Do you expect that, moving forward, companies like Colossal Biosciences will continue to pursue efforts to bring back extinct species?</strong></span></em></p><p><span><strong>Hale:</strong> I do. Again, I鈥檇 like to see scientists and governments deal with this globally, to set up some kind of&nbsp;commission to create some kind of oversight or monitoring that nudges private companies away from technologies that could be used recklessly, such that they threaten existing ecosystems. This is part of the reason that I think&nbsp;we should be cautious about de-extinction intervention overall. We just don鈥檛 know what the downstream impacts of our actions are going to be.</span></p><hr><p><em>Did you enjoy this article?&nbsp;</em><a href="https://cu.tfaforms.net/73" rel="nofollow"><em>Subscribe to our newsletter.</em></a><em>&nbsp;Passionate about environmental studies?&nbsp;</em><a href="/envs/donate" rel="nofollow"><em>Show your support.</em></a></p></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div>Advancing science may make it possible to bring back extinct species like the dire wolf鈥攂ut should it? 缅北禁地 environmental studies and philosophy Professor Ben Hale says the answer is complicated.</div> <h2> <div class="paragraph paragraph--type--ucb-related-articles-block paragraph--view-mode--default"> <div>Related Articles</div> </div> </h2> <div>Traditional</div> <div>0</div> <div> <div class="imageMediaStyle large_image_style"> <img loading="lazy" src="/asmagazine/sites/default/files/styles/large_image_style/public/2025-07/AS-MAG-banner-OBIT%20copy-25-07-22_0.jpg?itok=Oe2CH1Zf" width="1500" height="550" alt="dire wolves in the snow"> </div> </div> <div>On</div> <div>White</div> <div>Photos courtesy of Colossal Biosciences</div> Tue, 22 Jul 2025 15:28:17 +0000 Kylie Clarke 6187 at /asmagazine