Research

NOTES

More Michigan children wearing safety belts

Phenomenal strides were made in the past year in increasing the number of children who wear seat belts. According to University researchers, safety belt use by children in Michigan rose to 81 percent in 2000, up from 66 percent in 1999.

Members of the University Transportation Research Institute made the discoveries in what was their second annual study of seat belt use. They found that nearly 97 percent of children under the age of three and 75 percent of children ages four to 15 wore safety belts on a regular basis.

The study also found that a child's chances of wearing a seat belt were higher if the driver of the car was also wearing a seat belt.

A recent study suggests that the ancestors of modern humans may have developed from several different regions around the world as opposed to a single area.

The study, which was conducted by University anthropologist Milford Wolpoff and his staff, made its conclusion based on the comparison of human fossils found in Central Europe and Australia with those found in Africa and the near East.

According to the "Eve theory," Africa and the near East are the one place where human evolution should have begun. The findings from the study, however, show differences that Wolpoff believes are significant enough to claim that the two are not closely related.

Elderly women with disabilities do not receive as much care from their families as their male counterparts do, a University research team has found.

The team focused on the gender differences of those who received informal home care. It showed that men generally got one-third of an hour more care than women with disabilities. Married disabled women receive about 80 percent more hours of care than disabled women living alone, while married disabled men received almost 230 percent more care than disabled men living alone.

The study suggested that this might be because older women have more limited financial funds than do older men.

Associate Aerospace Engineering Prof. Alec Gallimore and a team of colleagues are using the University's electric propulsion lab to design engines with the speed and durability to overtake many astrological bodies in outer space.

Gallimore used his idea that an electric propulsion system could put far more energy into an engine using electricity, making rockets fly faster and farther than they ever have before.

Researchers at Duke University have found significant differences in the treatment of heart disease between people of different types of gender and race.

This discovery, which was presented by the American Heart Association, has reinforced previous arguments to increase cultural awareness among those who treat heart disease patients.

The researchers said that minorities and women undergo fewer procedures to treat sever cardiac failure, although they are unsure why these two groups receive less treatment.

- Compiled by Daily Staff Reporter Susan Luth.

'U' scientists find evidence contrary to 'Eve theory'

Limited money creates problems for elderly women

'U' prof. develops speedier rocket

Gender, race affect heart treatments