Office of Public Relations - We Said, They Said

"We Said, They Said"

This page is designed to provide readers with a quick review of some of the many articles printed in the mass media regarding a person, program or other aspect of the University of Florida. The selected articles are compared to the actual information provided to the print media by the University of Florida.

Since many of the articles are provided to us by mail so as to include the various small weekly newspapers published throughout the state, there will be a lag between an article's publication date and our posting.

April-May 2003
Submitted by: Connie Rizzo

Food for Thought

In fear of losing funding because of low-test scores, some schools appear to increase the calorie content of their students' lunch menu in an effort to improve short-term cognitive energy according to a University of Florida study.

In her article, UF NAPA writer Cathy Keen discussed the study of University of Florida economists David Figlio and Joshua Winicki that tracked the calorie content in a random sample of Virginia elementary-school lunch menus. They found an 18 percent increase in calories at typically low-scoring schools on test days.

According to their research findings, some schools pump up the energy of student test takers with calories by providing more carbohydrates, such as sweeter desserts or corn dogs instead of hotdogs. Carbohydrates contain glucose, a sugar that research shows can temporarily sharpen thinking, but has little long-term nutritional value.

Although the study doesn't conclude that high calorie lunches directly improve test scores, some data showed that the low-scoring schools with higher-calorie lunches had higher passing rates. Mathematics increased by 11 percent, and English and social studies both improved by 6 percent.

In an article about this study in the Richmond Times in November 2002, nutritionist Karen Schmidt of Virginia Commonwealth University said adding simple carbohydrates isn't the best way to prepare students for academic testing. School food directors should provide students with complex carbs, such as fruit and vegetables, beans, breads and cereals, which are healthier alternatives, Schmidt said.

In Palm Beach County, pancakes, sausage patties and scrambled eggs are served to students on FCAT testing days for free according to an article in south Florida's Sun Sentinel. Administrators told the Sun-Sentinel that Palm Beach County school won't serve students high-sugar junk food that is discouraged the rest of the year.

From third grade to tenth, the county's Food Services Director is encouraging a mental energy boost from healthier alternatives like trail mix, muffins, cheese cubes and fruit juice, foods that contain protein and carbohydrates that boost energy but are healthier than corndogs or sweet treats.

But Figlio warns in the UF study that changing the student diet on test days may have "short-term cognitive effects, but no long term benefits," which skew the rating scale between the scores of schools who do and don't change their menus.

"This study, as well as others looking at school responses to high-stakes testing, suggests that these test scores are more manipulated than one might naively assume," Figlio said.

Harnessing the Powers of Lightning

University of Florida researchers are also studying energy from lightning, which according to researchers is a tricky task.

Truly understanding Nature's own power source, bursts of energetic radiation from lightning, has tormented researchers who have studied it for years. Martin Uman, a lighting expert and director of the University of Florida's International Center for Lightning Research and Testing, and Joe Dwyer, who is an assistant professor of physics and space science at the Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne, and lead investigator of this project, said this is due to the unpredictable nature of lightening, but it hasn't stopped their research from moving forward.

In an article by UF NAPA writer Aaron Hoover, these experts discussed how their research has reduced the luck factor in studying lightening, which will enhance the basic understanding of lightning and help to develop lightening protection systems.

Most recently, the research team that has been essential to creating more effective aircraft protection through developments in understanding lightning has discovered that lightening emits X-rays, which are high frequency energy waves and possibly gamma rays or relativistic electrons created by strong electric fields.

Researchers at UF's lightning investigation and testing center located at Camp Blanding near Starke, Fla. recorded the presence of X-rays through a specially designed lightning-triggering and recording machine.

"I think it's really exciting," Uman said. "We didn't expect to see anything at all, and then, all of a sudden, with almost every lightning stroke, we had X-rays."

The Los Angeles Times reported in February that UF and Florida Tech scientists detected X-rays right before lightning flashes 31 out of 37 times.

This discovery supported other reports from the previous year, as well as an article published in the Jan 31, 2003 issue of Science Magazine that could settle the 80-year debate whether or not X-rays are created more frequently than just during supernova explosions in outer space and in vacuum tubes in a doctor's office.

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