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The Baltimore Sun: Treasure those who teach

When Thomas Cottle, SED professor of special education, asked a gas station attendant why it was possible for him to skip every other oil change if he used synthetic oil, his question was countered by the question, "Don't you know what synthetic is?" This led him to write an op-ed column in the July 22 Sunday Baltimore Sun about the "inexplicable art" of teaching: "What a vast set of resources a person must possess and have learned to successfully perform the intellectual and social psychological magic that constitutes the moment of learning. And to think that a teacher has to go on to the next moment, and the next. And in some high schools these moments last for 80 minutes several times a week, and that's just with one class. . . . It is a magical moment when someone seeks information and there is someone not only thoughtful and knowledgeable, but skilled in the ability to transmit this knowledge in such a manner that one's consciousness is altered."

CNN Tonight: Fighting West Nile virus

With suspected cases of the potentially deadly West Nile virus being reported throughout the country, CNN correspondent Bill Hemmer spoke on July 24 with Daniel Shapiro, MED assistant professor of pathology, about the virus and precautions that can be taken to decrease the risk of infection. Shapiro pointed out that the majority of people infected "will have a mild illness, perhaps headache and fever, and won't even know that there was an infection." The risks of coming down with the virus, Shapiro said, "are very, very low." To decrease the threat of contracting the virus, he recommended certain "prudent measures that can be taken," such as eliminating standing water, where mosquitoes breed, and the use of repellent containing DEET, "in lower concentrations for children, higher for adults, to prevent mosquitoes from actually biting you."

Money: A new approach to retirement investing

The August issue of Money magazine offers retirement investing advice from Zvi Bodie, SMG professor of finance and economics, on how to collect some of the current market's gain without losing a dime. Bodie argues that diversification isn't a surefire method of risk control, particularly when the entire market heads down. "If you have a target, whether it's retirement, a kid's college education, or a new home," say Bodie, "and you want to be sure you'll have at least a certain amount of money, the way to do it is to hedge it. And you can't hedge it with stocks."

Instead, Bodie suggests using a protected growth fund. The most popular type is a market index target-term security, or MITT, issued by Merrill Lynch.

"In The News" is compiled by Mark Toth in the Office of Public Relations.

1 August 2001
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