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Boston Herald: The ripple effect of September 11

Millions of Americans have been emotionally affected by the terrorist attacks of September 11, even if they are on the periphery of the catastrophes in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. "For Boston, it's more like three degrees of separation," says Lynn Bufka, a CAS research assistant professor of clinical psychology, in the September 23 Boston Herald. "There's grief and mourning for something bigger that may be gone. A lot of people mention that their sense of freedom or what this country stood for has been shaken and in question as well." Maria Trozzi, director of the Good Grief Program at Boston Medical Center, points out that September 11 "was a tragedy that involved anyone that works, that travels on business, that lives in a city, that is a veteran, that has strong religious or political views. You can just keep going. It just threatened us to our very core."

New Scientist: Fixing the wobble

Balance disorders are a serious problem that increase the risk of falls in millions of people, particularly those with neurological disorders such as multiple sclerosis, those who have lost the sensation in the soles of their feet because of diabetes, and frail elderly people. But discovering what makes people wobbly and whether a person has a balance problem, according to an article in the September 22 New Scientist, is far from clear-cut. Lars Oddsson, a research associate professor at the NeuroMuscular Research Center's Injury Analysis and Prevention Lab, and graduate student Peter Meyer (ENG'02) use a pressure-sensitive platform to record pressure changes when someone is asked to stand completely still. Meyer says the platform is a better source of data than analyzing the way people walk because "collecting moving data is less practical from a clinical standpoint." Oddsson and Meyer find that people who wobble on a timescale of about a second are more stable than those who wobble more slowly, over several seconds. "We find people who are stiffer over the short period are less stable over a longer period," Meyer says. Certain kinds of exercise, including t'ai chi, can help people who are at risk of a fall.

New York Times: U.S. losing edge in spying

For decades, the United States used its technical expertise to gather electronic signals and eavesdrop on the intimate conversations of adversaries, including Kremlin leaders in their limousines. Fleets of satellites blanketed the globe, overhearing all manners of signals, messages, and conversations, day and night. But the rapid growth of commercially available technologies is fast eroding the government's edge, reports the September 20 New York Times. Although Washington has embarked on a campaign to research, design, and acquire equipment to sharpen its espionage edge, experts say the intelligence losses outweigh the gains -- and will for some time. "The government is trying to close the barn door," says Angelo Codevilla, a CAS professor of international relations, who was on the staff of the Senate Intelligence Committee for eight years. "The horse left a long time ago. And it's not coming back."

Boston Globe: Logan runway supporters press on

A business group that has been supporting a new runway at Logan Airport insists that the push for the controversial expansion should continue despite the terrorist attacks and the airport's new focus on improving its security system. Tobe Berkovitz, a COM associate professor in the department of mass communication, advertising, and public relations, cautions in the September 19 Boston Globe that "it's going to be tough to make a political argument for it over the next few months as air travel is cut back." Down the road of economic recovery, he says, the issue can resurface. "What the policymakers can say is: This is an aberration and air travel is America's mode of transportation, and in the future it will continue to grow and Logan had better be prepared for that if it will be viable."

Washington Post: ABC to stop airing crash footage

ABC News President David Westin told ABC staffers on September 18 that the network will no longer air pictures of the terrorist attack, the resulting fireball, or the collapse of the Twin Towers except in rare circumstances, reports the Washington Post on September 18. Westin's decision came after hearing a psychiatrist on a Peter Jennings special for children say that some small kids believe each showing represents a new attack. "People have seen it what, 100, 200, 300 times?" says Jim Thistle, a COM professor of journalism. "I think the country is suffering from horror fatigue at this point. I just don't think it adds to the story; it just turns off a lot of people." Thistle points out that Channel 5 made a similar decision in 1986, when the station elected to stop showing footage of the space shuttle Challenger exploding.

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

28 September 2001
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