Reading in the news - Mon 18 May

Community Festival: BBC Radio Berkshire highlighted centenary celebrations across the weekend, including the RAG parade and Community Festival, with quotes from Molli Cleaver, Community Engagement Manager, featured by Greatest Hits Radio. 

Health and wellbeing:

• Dr Simon Clarke (Biomedical Sciences) spoke to Greatest Hits Radio, BBC Radio Berkshire, and LBC on reported cases of meningitis. Quotes from Dr Paddy Woodman, Director of Student Services, about meningitis in the local area are included in Irish Independent, Tyla, Yahoo News, National World, Hounslow Herald, Oxford Mail, Greatest Hits Radio, The Standard (republished AOL, MSN, and Inkl) and others. From our comment: Meningitis update - students advised on staying safe. 
• Dr Simon Clarke also spoke to The World Today about a recent Ebola outbreak in the Republic of Congo and Uganda. 
• BBC Radio Berkshire mentioned a study by Professor Darius Widera and Dr Graeme Cottrell (both Pharmacy) which found that stem cells found in the mouth could help beat brain cancer. From our story: Mouth stem cells could help beat brain cancer defences 
• A talk from PhD student Chloe Irwin (Psychology) about devices used to help stroke recoveries at the Pint of Science festival was highlighted by BBC Radio Berkshire. 

Food and farming:  

• Professor Gunter Kuhnle (Food and Nutritional Sciences) was quoted by Firstpost on how fruit and coffee consumption impacts aging and by Daily Mail (and print) and Click about the risks of following the 1970s Vogue diet. 

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment

• Live Science, Syri, Open, Ground Report, and Telegrafi (republished by Yahoo News, Inkl, and MSN) included further comments from Professor Liz Stephens (Meteorology) on an upcoming El Niño event.  
• EPT News, Kontra News, Axia, Togegonos, Ecozen, and other global outlets reported that buses in the Greek cit Kalamata will carry a message about biodiversity loss inspired by climate stripes developed by Professor Ed Hawkins (Meteorology). 

Business and society:

• Visiting Professor Saul Lehrfreund (Law) wrote for Oxford Law Blogs (republished by Europe Says) about new death penalty laws in Israel.  
• ANI, Lokmat Times, Telegana Journal, Himachal, Indian Economic Observer, Indian News Network, and over 100 online outlets reported that Dr Caroline Baylon, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International) is on the new OneStep Global Advisory Board. 
• A study by Dr Rita Fontinha (Henley Business School) on four-day working weeks was featured by RH Magazine. 
• Professor Niaz Asadullah (Economics) was interviewed by Protomalo about economic challenges to the Bangladesh government.  
• Research into how people read and understand business performance charts was mentioned by IFA Magazine. 

Heritage and culture:

• 2SM discussed research from Dr Amy Richardson (Archaeology) about proto-Elamite, an ancient writing system. 
• A study by Professor Chris Venditti (Ecology) discovered how being right-handed is linked to humans walking on two legs, reports University of Oxford, NewsBreak, Scienmag, Bioengineer, China Times, Phys.org, Brighter Side of News (republished by Mirage News, MSN, Yahoo News, AOL, and Eurek Alert), and others.  
• ZNews and Divernet (republished by MSN) reported on research by Professor Duncan Garrow (Archaeology) on a 5,000-year-old artificial island. 

Other coverage:

• Professor Robert Van de Noort, Vice-Chancellor, was quoted by The Reading Chronicle, Reading Today, Wokingham Today, and Swindon Advertiser (republished by MSN) about the British Museum’s new research centre at Thames Valley Science Park. 
• Bracknell News and Wokingham Today highlighted the construction of the Harris Walled Garden.  
• BBC Radio Berkshire and The Reading Chronicle highlighted an upcoming public lecture on how animals are used in the University’s research, quoting Andrew Cripps, Technical Head of Reading’s Bioresource Unit. From our story: Learn how llamas, mice and fish help us fight human diseases 
• The Sun reported on the inquest into the death of Reading student Cian Everett. 

Alumni:

• UCLA reported that Typeface Design graduate and Curator Shani Avni will be a speaker at an upcoming webinar about Graphic Designer Ismar David. 
• RE Journals reported that Dermot Briody, Henley Business School graduate, has been appointed Chief Revenue Officer at MRI Software.