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DOING GOOD THIS MONTH AT OR DOING HARM? 6 .blog. GRAPHIC NOVELS 7 DURHAM BLOGGERHOOD 8 DVOLUME 3.NUMBERUKE 8 . SEPTEMBER 2008 Most invasive plant species in North Carolina, such as tree-of-heaven and silktree mimosa, were DID YOU KNOW? brought here as ornamental plants for household gardens. FOR A DETAILED SUMMARY OF DAILY DUKE HAPPENINGS, PLEASE VISIT DUKETODAYAT WWW.DUKE.EDU/TODAY 2 DUKE IN THE NEWS VOLUME 3:NO.8 | THIS MONTH AT DUKE INDUKETODAY Duke Now Available on iPhones Duke’s main website is now accessible on iPhones and should be available on other smartphones soon. Users can access news, athletics, emergency updates and admis- A NEW WAY TO GET TO WORK sions information from the site. news.duke.edu Duke students, faculty and staff can now save money and help the environment with the new Duke GreenRide program, a ride-matching service that already has nearly 500 participants. The service connects Duke commuters who live and work in the same area and share similar schedules. Participants load Devils Represent their commuting and contact information online. They can then view a map marked with potential carpool in Beijing buddies and request that an automated e-mail be sent to initiate contact. From Mike Krzyzewski and Sharing a ride opens more Carlos Boozer winning the gold opportunities for staff and faculty medal in men’s basketball to “I drive each day, and to use Duke’s enhanced carpool first-year student Becca Ward 65 miles roundtrip earning two bronze medals in program. New incentives include I was surprised to find out that I could save fencing, Duke Olympians shined free, designated parking spaces in in Beijing. These three were about $2,700 a year by carpooling with two preferred lots for carpools with four joined by fellow Duke other people. I’m always telling the payroll staff or more people. Participants can Olympians Shannon Rowbury also see how their savings add up and Rebecca Smith. that numbers don’t lie.” with Duke Parking and goduke.com - ANNE COMILLONI Transportation Service’s new online DIRECTOR OF DUKE’S CORPORATE PAYROLL SERVICES carpool calculator. “I drive 65 miles roundtrip Students and Local Authors each day, and I was surprised to Work Together find out that I could save about $2,700 a year by carpooling with two other people,” said Anne Comilloni, Students in film and writing classes at Duke adapted director of Duke’s Corporate Payroll Services. “I’m always telling the payroll staff that numbers don’t lie.” ! works by local authors from page to stage and screen. They examined how fiction is translated from one medium to another, and got firsthand experience with on.the.web local artists. news.duke.edu Duke Adds Emergency Text Messaging Emergency text messaging is the latest in a series of steps Duke is taking to enable rapid notification to the campus community in an emergency. The univer- sity is also working to boost cell coverage by installing additional antennas and other hardware both outdoors and in buildings. news.duke.edu Extending the Lineage of Ancient Ancestors Duke researchers say tiny fossilized teeth excavated from an open-pit coal mine in India could be the old- est Asian remains ever found of anthropoids, the pri- mate lineage of today’s monkeys, apes and humans. They say the teeth are about 54.5 million years old. news.duke.edu Members of the Duke and Durham communities are now able to Pediatric Immunologist search more easily for concerts, films, lectures, games and other events Pioneers Treatment Duke researcher Louise Markert pioneers a life-saving at Duke with a new online events calendar. The calendar allows users treatment for a rare immune disorder. Markert’s thy- to quickly sort through upcoming events to view specific categories mus transplants see a 73 percent success rate, and have helped save lives for babies with rare DiGeorge or dates. Users can also subscribe to RSS feeds to receive automatic syndrome. Watch video on Duke’s multimedia notification of events posted by specific groups, during particular time research site. research.duke.edu periods or in categories such as arts, sports or religion. Any member Back to School First-year students were welcomed to campus with a of the Duke community with a valid ID can submit events to be scavenger hunt and other activities designed to reviewed and published on the new calendar. acquaint them with the campus and Durham. President Brodhead and other officials addressed the students in a convocation in Duke Chapel. calendar.duke.edu news.duke.edu FOR A DETAILED SUMMARY OF DAILY DUKE HAPPENINGS, PLEASE VISIT DUKETODAYAT WWW.DUKE.EDU/TODAY VOLUME 3:NO.8 | THIS MONTH AT DUKE COVER STORY 3 With some tools and training, regular folks help prevent invasive species By Robin Smith from taking over the Eno PlantStalkers on the trail. mapping Not far down the path, ranger Gwinn program that dis- gestures toward a pale green patch of plays satellite Japanese stiltgrass and Chinese lespedeza images of the growing in the underbrush. Earth’s “This is one of the ones that’s really bad,” surface — to cre- he says, leaning over to give the stiltgrass a ate a bird’s-eye view of closer look. “This stuff is everywhere.” the distribution of inva- PHOTOS BY JON GARDINER BY PHOTOS The volunteers stand close to the plants sive plants along the trails. You don’t need a Ph.D. in science to make an important and push a button on their GPS units to (See maps from a pilot project record the location, then continue down the at science writing.org/results07.html). contribution to scientific research. If you’re like retired trail. Leading the way, Gwinn points to a Depending on the GPS device, high school teachers John and Rita Goebel of Durham, all spray of multiflora rose on the edge of the the location is accurate to within you need is a home computer and a pair of hiking shoes. forest, its arching stems dotted with small 9 feet or so, Reynolds says. red berries. A tender vine of Japanese honey- When comparing the data collected by Duke biologist Julie Reynolds and the Eno River State suckle twines its way up a nearby tree, and in volunteers to that collected by professional Park in Durham will provide the rest. an adjacent clearing, a lush stand of tree-of- botanists, Reynolds has found the results are heaven reaches upward toward the sky. remarkably similar. “People can collect high- quality data if In collaboration with you teach park officials, Reynolds has “It’s hiking — with a purpose.” - REYNOLDS them how,” launched the Plant Stalkers says program to identify and locate invasive plants “Right here within 6 feet of Reynolds. “Last year we had in the park. She is deputizing citizens like each other we’ve got three dif- about an 89 percent accuracy the Goebels and arming them with hand- ferent invasives,” Gwinn notes. rate. That’s really good.” Volunteer! held GPS navigation devices to mark the pre- These plants look harm- People who visit the park Plant Stalkers Training Session cise locations of non-native plants along the less enough. Many are plant- on a regular basis “will trails while they enjoy the park. ed as ornamentals in urban notice changes through time 1-3 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 20, “It’s hiking — with a purpose,” says parks and home gardens. But that scientists who come out Eno River State Park, Reynolds, an instructor in the Duke biology when left unchecked in natu- once a year might not 6101 Cole Mill Road, Durham. department who coordinates the Citizen ral areas, these unwelcome notice,” Reynolds says. Science project. arrivals can cause severe ecologi- “We hike it all the time,” Information: A Plant Stalkers training session is sched- cal and economic damage. Rita Goebel says. “As often as science-writing.org/ uled for 1-3 p.m. Sept. 20 at Eno River State With fewer natural predators North Carolina state park ranger we’re in the park, [we thought] Park in Durham. and diseases to slow their spread, Jason Gwinn shows volunteers how this could be a way of making citizenscience.html; to identify invasive plants such as The data that citizens gather will be many invasive plant species grow the tree-of-heaven, a plant native ourselves useful. And learning in 383-1686 uploaded to the Internet to build an ever- more aggressively than their to both Taiwan and China. the process.” changing map that guides park plan- native counterparts, slowly Sponsored by the Duke ners and biologists who are trying crowding out or killing native plants that Center for Science Education, these citizen to prevent invasive species from wildlife depend on for food and cover. scientists are part of a growing army of vol- crowding out native plants “This is the perfect example right here,” unteers — many of whom have no formal sci- and taking over the park. says Gwinn, pointing to a cluster of tree-of- entific training — who do scientific research At a Saturday afternoon heaven shoots surrounding a native dogwood in their spare time. From tracking animal training session in the park, tree. “In three years, these sprouts will be migration patterns to monitoring rare or the volunteers first learn taller than the dogwood. They’ll block the threatened species, everyday citizens are con- which trees, shrubs, herbs light and kill the dogwood. They just spread tributing in meaningful ways to scientific and vines to look out for. like crazy and take over and kill the native research programs across the country.

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