**Professor awarded grant to study social networking and politics**

UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AT MANOA- The 2008 U.S. presidential election was one with several firsts: first black president, first time the youth vote proved essential and the first time social media was used as a political tool.

University of Hawaii at Manoa associate professor Scott Robertson was recently awarded a $948,537 grant to research the relationship between social networking and politics.

The purpose of this study is to better understand how politics is shaped by social networking in today’s world. The research will potentially uncover how social networking is used to learn about political issues, as well as how it results in voting decisions.

Robertson will also focus his research on how to design a better environment for the social sharing of politics, which he hopes will in turn increase civil engagement and participation.

The research will help clarify the role social networking plays, and in turn it will “bring knowledge about how best to get knowledge out and how best to express yourself,” said Robertson.

The research will follow a group of people through several different elections and media styles over the allotted time period. As technology will advance as the study progresses, the grant will also focus on evolving technology.

_By Taylor Morris, Ka Leo_

**Scientists testing new treatment techniques**

UNIVERSITY OF HOUSTON- A research team at UH Center for Nuclear Receptors and Cell Signaling are helping in the fight against breast and colon cancer by seeking out estrogen characteristics hormones that could be used as a treatment method.

“The tumors starts growing slower, which makes us think that the tumor stops growing and with all the changes that we saw, we think that the tumor can become a lot more benign,” said Cecilia Williams, a Swedish graduate from KTH Royal Institute of Technology.

In a second experiment, Williams and her team revealed a gene responsible for cancer growth known as KCNK5, the main target of the therapy.

“If we can activate the estrogen receptor before cancer starts, then we believe it could protect against the development of breast cancer,” Williams said. “But we can’t tell for sure that it would stop the cancer completely. That’s to be determined with other tests in the future.”

From here, scientists and cancer patients look for areas of treatment, such as hormone therapy.

There are hopes that with the development of new discoveries and information, colon and breast cancer could be a thing of the past.

_By Bryan Dupont-Gray, The Daily Cougar_

**Lincoln ‘SlutWalk’ focuses on raising awareness of sexual assault**

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA AT LINCOLN- “Women should avoid dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized.”

With those words last January, a police officer from Toronto set off a movement to fight the idea of blaming the victim in sexual assault. The movement is called SlutWalk. It’s a series of marches that quickly spread beyond Canada’s borders and often includes women dressed both provocatively and normally, holding signs declaring “My Dress is Not a Yes” and “I’m Not Asking For It.”

Saturday at 11 a.m. is Lincoln’s own SlutWalk, which will begin at the Nebraska State Capitol Building thanks to the work of several graduate students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The walk will last about 30 minutes.

“It’s terribly common,” said Jan Deeds, director of UNL’s Women’s Center, of victim-blaming. “If you read any articles about sexual assault, the first thing they talk about is why the (victim) was there and what they were wearing, taking the responsibility off of the perpetrator.”

Ultimately, the event, provocative title and all, is about awareness.

“We feel like in not talking about sexual assault…we’re missing the opportunity to affect change,” Shayla Swift said. “Once society stops focusing on victim-blaming and changes its conception of those victims, then we change that.”

_By Dan Holtmeyer, The Daily Nebraskan_