When MSU biochemistry and molecular biology professor Robert Last identified two new genes and enzymes in the tomato plant, his view of the vegetable was forever changed. “It is almost like discovering one of your best friends really isn’t what you thought he or she was,” Last said. “This compound is fundamentally different than was thought.”
Visitors to East Lansing can walk across the Breslin Center arena floor Saturday for $1 as part of the Be A Tourist In Your Own Town event. Breslin and more than 60 Lansing-area businesses and attractions will offer free admission or discounts from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday for the 15th annual tourism event, sponsored by the Greater Lansing Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Most college graduates won’t face an uphill battle paying off student loans according to a report in The Chronicle of Higher Education. The report, published in the Chronicle’s May 22 issue, said 65 percent of college students leave school with debt, and the average debt is about $20,000.
MSU researchers are buzzing about a discovery they’ve made in the farmlands of Southwest Michigan. While conducting a three-year study in the region’s blueberry fields, researchers found seven species not previously known to inhabit Michigan. “Nobody had really surveyed the bees here, so that was sort of the premise for starting it,” said researcher Julianna Tuell, who conducted the study for her dissertation in entomology. The work accounted for more than 160 species of bees, 112 of which were present during blooming season.
President Barack Obama’s nomination of federal appellate Judge Sonia Sotomayor to the Supreme Court of the United States on Tuesday created a divide in the MSU community, with some praising the nomination and others questioning Obama’s choice.
The 50-year relationship between MSU and Africa has opened doors and shaped the histories of both MSU and some of Africa’s nations. From study abroad to establishing research programs in developing countries, what began more than half a century ago has elevated MSU to the top of the nation’s African studies programs.
Before heading off to have brain surgery at Lansing’s Sparrow Hospital, Tom Cook and his partner, Jerry Ward, made the decision to commit their lives to each other. And after Cook made it through his 1996 operation, the duo was the first male same-sex couple to wed at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Lansing in November of that year.
The Wraggs family is hoping small adjustments add up to big savings. The first weekend after picking up his kids from St.
Drivers might have to pay more to fill up their tank because of proposed national climate change legislation, but it could result in positive long-term effects for Michigan, state officials said.
Michael Nelson, an MSU associate professor of fisheries and wildlife, knows that being a scientist means having responsibilities outside of the lab. He and more than 180 Michigan scientists, lived up to those responsibilities last week by signing a letter pressuring Michigan lawmakers to take swift action against climate change in the Great Lakes State.
A 52-year-old male employee reported a GPS stolen from a university vehicle May 15, MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor said.
Students will have further protections from credit card company practices because of a bill signed into law by President Barack Obama on Friday. Those practices include aggressive solicitation, unclear terms of agreement, interest rate hikes and added fees.
East Lansing’s newest drug-detection dog was purchased using drug money last year. As part of the city’s Drug Forfeiture Fund, which consists of money and property seized during drug-related crimes, money is accumulated and then spent on drug prevention, equipment and education for the East Lansing Police Department.
Prosecutors plan to continue to stack evidence against Troy Brake, who is charged with killing MSU student Katherine A. Brown and three others, at his trial, which is scheduled to continue Wednesday.
Bicycles of all shapes and sizes can be seen rolling down the streets of East Lansing, and the riders of the bikes are just as diverse as the two-wheeled, pedal-powered machines that propel them. The MSU Department of Police and Public Safety reported in fall 2008 a 273 percent increase in campus bike registration since 2003, indicating more people are getting geared up to ride bikes.
MSU’s College of Music and College of Education will have a new base of operations in the Detroit area beginning this fall. The university signed a seven-year lease on a 22,000-square-foot building, located at 3408 Woodward Ave., in Detroit.
For Gordon Small, a Lansing resident and Korean War veteran, celebrating Memorial Day evokes more emotion each year, and the lack of community involvement he sees doesn’t help. “It’s too bad that the citizenry of Lansing just didn’t pour out here to honor these guys,” Small said.
An MSU committee is discussing options including lowering prescription drug costs and implementing wellness programs for faculty in an attempt to curb rising health care costs. The Health Care Strategy Advisory Committee was formed in February to find ways to make MSU’s health care system more efficient.
Students might be forced to put their cigarettes out if a proposal approved last week by a state House committee becomes law. The ban would prohibit smoking in workplaces such as restaurants and bars, with the exception of smoke shops and gaming floors in commercial casinos.
When Wacousta, Mich., resident Kathy Bender went to NCG Cinemas, 2500 Showtime Drive, in Lansing, Wednesday night to catch a movie, she wasn’t just paying for a ticket — she was paying for a physics lesson. Bender and a crowd of about 100 others were taken on a tour of the building blocks of life following a showing of “Angels & Demons” with MSU physics professor Raymond Brock acting as the tour guide.