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Issues & Experts Archive > Gangs, ice-age secrets, friends for life, overweight kids and politics
Gangs, ice-age secrets, friends for life, overweight kids and politics
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November 07, 2005
Issue: Gang culture clash
Due to the number of gangs butting heads on the Lower Mainland, police are becoming increasingly worried about culture clashes among gangs, and not just gang slayings. SFU criminologist and gang expert Robert Gordon can offer some thoughts on the differences in gang culture that go beyond being skin deep. For example, police say groups such as the Hell's Angels abhor South Asian gangs because they see them as bad for business.
Idea: Northern nests contain ice-age secrets
Fossilized remains of ground squirrel nests, frozen in permafrost for 25,000 years near Dawson City, Yukon, contain fossilized caches of food and seeds from plant species that are no longer found in the area. The remains detail an unprecedented picture of a rich landscape characterized by tundra and arctic grassland plains during harsh, ice-age climates. SFU doctoral student Grant Zazula can explain how these fossils may shed new light on environmental change, evolution and adaptation in the Arctic.
Idea: The role of friendship in later life
Brian deVries, a professor of gerontology at San Francisco State University whose research focuses on social well-being in later life, will deliver a public lecture on Nov. 10 at SFU Vancouver on the importance of friendship in old age. His research underscores the vast potential of friendship in lives of older adults-and the extent to which this potential has largely gone unrealized.
Idea: Overweight/obese children
Canadian children living in low socio-economic neighbourhoods are more likely to be overweight or obese than children in high socio-economic neighbourhoods according to new research by SFU geography doctoral student Lisa Oliver. Oliver's research, which is for her thesis, has just been published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
Issue: Will he or won't he?
That is the $64 million question of the day when it comes to predicting whether federal NDP leader Jack Layton will pull the plug on what is rapidly becoming a drowning Liberal government in Ottawa. SFU business professor Gary Mauser, a political marketing expert, can talk about the political mileage Layton has to gain by waiting for the right moment to pull his party's support from the Liberals' minority government. Layton has indicated that his party and the Liberals are at an impasse over healthcare, but Conservative leader Stephen Harper believes the NDP is not ready to bring down the government yet. Layton will be at SFU Burnaby campus tomorrow (November 9), speaking to students (noon to 1 p.m. AQ 3150) at the invitation of the Political Science Student Union (PSSU). Layton will be the featured speaker as part of the PSSU's free speaker series.
Due to the number of gangs butting heads on the Lower Mainland, police are becoming increasingly worried about culture clashes among gangs, and not just gang slayings. SFU criminologist and gang expert Robert Gordon can offer some thoughts on the differences in gang culture that go beyond being skin deep. For example, police say groups such as the Hell's Angels abhor South Asian gangs because they see them as bad for business.
- Rob Gordon, 604.291.4305, robert_gordon@sfu.ca
Idea: Northern nests contain ice-age secrets
Fossilized remains of ground squirrel nests, frozen in permafrost for 25,000 years near Dawson City, Yukon, contain fossilized caches of food and seeds from plant species that are no longer found in the area. The remains detail an unprecedented picture of a rich landscape characterized by tundra and arctic grassland plains during harsh, ice-age climates. SFU doctoral student Grant Zazula can explain how these fossils may shed new light on environmental change, evolution and adaptation in the Arctic.
- Grant Zazula, biological sciences, 780.424.2226, 780.492.4258 (Edmonton), gdzazula@sfu.ca
Idea: The role of friendship in later life
Brian deVries, a professor of gerontology at San Francisco State University whose research focuses on social well-being in later life, will deliver a public lecture on Nov. 10 at SFU Vancouver on the importance of friendship in old age. His research underscores the vast potential of friendship in lives of older adults-and the extent to which this potential has largely gone unrealized.
- Susan Jamieson-McLarnon, SFU Vancouver, 604.291.5151, susan_jamieson-mclarnon@sfu.ca
Idea: Overweight/obese children
Canadian children living in low socio-economic neighbourhoods are more likely to be overweight or obese than children in high socio-economic neighbourhoods according to new research by SFU geography doctoral student Lisa Oliver. Oliver's research, which is for her thesis, has just been published in the Canadian Journal of Public Health.
- Lisa Oliver, 604-291-4821; loliver@sfu.ca
Issue: Will he or won't he?
That is the $64 million question of the day when it comes to predicting whether federal NDP leader Jack Layton will pull the plug on what is rapidly becoming a drowning Liberal government in Ottawa. SFU business professor Gary Mauser, a political marketing expert, can talk about the political mileage Layton has to gain by waiting for the right moment to pull his party's support from the Liberals' minority government. Layton has indicated that his party and the Liberals are at an impasse over healthcare, but Conservative leader Stephen Harper believes the NDP is not ready to bring down the government yet. Layton will be at SFU Burnaby campus tomorrow (November 9), speaking to students (noon to 1 p.m. AQ 3150) at the invitation of the Political Science Student Union (PSSU). Layton will be the featured speaker as part of the PSSU's free speaker series.
- Rob Barlow, president, PSSU, 604.937.3792, rbarlow@sfu.caGary Mauser, 604.291.3652, mauser@sfu.ca