While several states have recently limited the ability for teacher unions to collectively bargain for their members, teachers will continue to flex their political muscle in a way scholars of policymaking have overlooked: through their pocketbooks, says a Baylor University political scientist.

A new study from biology researchers at Baylor University and the University of Maryland-Baltimore has found that there are consistent and widespread declines in stream biodiversity at lower levels of urban development more damaging than what was previously believed.

More than a hundred researchers from around the world will gather at Baylor University June 24-26 for the 2011 Transformative Consumer Research Conference to discuss ways to help alleviate the most pressing social and economic problems facing society today.

A new study has found that an emerging tool for combating climate change may cause less harm to some soil animals than initial studies suggested. Earthworms perform many essential and beneficial functions in the soil ecosystem, including soil structure improvement and nutrient mineralization. However the earthworms' ability to perform these crucial functions can be suppressed when they are exposed to toxic substances.

While scientists know humans domesticated horses about 6,000 years ago, little research pinpoints the exact time period and place that humans used horses for transportation, food and work. But now, a new Baylor University study funded by a grant from the National Geographic Society will attempt to help answer when and where humans started domesticating horses in Turkey.

A new study by Baylor University environmental health researchers found that zebra fish exposed to several different technical mixtures of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) - a common fire retardant - during early development can cause developmental malformations, changes in behavior and death.

Male rappers see the "independent woman" as an educated, bill-paying person who will care for an average guy without making demands, while female rappers stress their sexual prowess and keep mum about their domestic skills, according to a Baylor University researcher's study.

Amanda Randolph, a May 2011 Baylor University graduate from La Vernia, Texas, has been selected for a Fulbright grant, becoming Baylor's 25th Fulbright recipient since 2001. Randolph will study at the University of Jyväskylä in Finland as part of the flagship international educational exchange program sponsored by the U.S. Department of State.

Baylor University, in collaboration with the U.S Forest Service (USFS) Rocky Mountain Research Station, has developed a model that predicts the risk of wetland habitat loss based on local wetland features and characteristics of the landscape surrounding the wetland. The new model was used to predict the fate of wetland habitats over a 13-state area in the southern United States and was published in the journal Ecological Applications.

A Baylor University geology professor has been awarded a Marie Curie Fellowship that will provide more than $300,000 for a future research study in Europe. Dr. Boris Lau, assistant professor of geology at Baylor, is the first professor at Baylor to be selected as a Marie Curie Fellow.

Two Baylor University chemistry professors have invented a new polarimeter, a basic scientific instrument used to measure and interpret the polarization of transverse waves, such as light waves, that could prove useful in determining the purity of pharmaceuticals.

People living in countries with governments that have a greater number of social services report being more satisfied with life, according to a study by a Baylor University researcher.

If Jesus' Great Commission to "Go ye therefore, and teach all nations" were viewed as a business, it would be booming. The number of U.S. Christians taking part in trips lasting a year or less has grown from 540 in 1965 to an estimated more than 1.5 million annually, with an estimated $2 billion per year spent on the effort. But is the spiritual profit worth the investment? A Baylor religion professor gives the question a qualified "Yes."

Baylor University has experts in terrorism, national security, ethics and religion available to comment on the death of Osama bin Laden.

A team of four graduate students from the Baylor University Graduate Sport Management Program brought home the championship in the third annual Case Study Competition held during the Scholarly Conference on College Sport April 20-22 at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The conference was sponsored by UNC's College Sport Research Institute (CSRI).

A study led by Baylor University and Wesleyan University geologists shows that a new method that uses different size and shape traits of leaves to reconstruct past climates over the last 120 million years is more accurate than other current methods.

Baylor University graduates Sarah Berry, Jessie Kuykendall and Christa Leotti have been selected as this year's recipients of the F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis. The award honors the life of the beloved Baylor professor of biology and Master Teacher, who directed 37 Honors theses during more than 30 years of teaching at the university.

Robert Darden, associate professor of journalism and media arts in the College of Arts and Sciences known for his work on Baylor University's Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, has been named the Cornelia Marschall Smith Professor of the Year. The annual award is presented to a faculty member who makes a superlative contribution to the learning environment at Baylor.

Baylor University President Ken Starr warns that private universities in Texas will be harmed if the Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) program is cut. Calling it an issue of vital importance, Starr is strongly encouraging alumni, students, parents, faculty, staff and friends of the university to show their support for the embattled program.

With an estimated 10,000 Mexican Free-tailed bats living around the greater Waco area, a new Baylor University study will attempt to document where, exactly, the bats like to roost around the city and identify certain structures and variables that attract the bats in the first place.

Baylor University is mourning the death of Dr. F. Gordon A. Stone, Emeritus Robert A. Welch Distinguished Professor of Chemistry and one of the 100 most-referenced chemists in the world by the Institute for Scientific Information. Dr. Stone passed away April 6 at the age of 85. Services are pending at OakCrest Funeral Home in Waco.

Some linguistics students at Baylor University haven't been minding their "P's" and "Q's." Instead, they've been tending to "R's" -- and finding they crop up in Central Texas conversations much more than they did decades ago.
The finding is of interest because it provides clues to identity and socioeconomic status.

Baylor University geology researchers, along with scientists from Texas A&M University and around the country, have found the oldest archaeological evidence of human occupation in the Americas at a Central Texas archaeological site located about 40 miles northwest of Austin.

A new study by Baylor University geology researchers shows that Native Americans' land use nearly a century ago produced a widespread impact on the eastern North American landscape and floodplain development several hundred years prior to the arrival of major Europe settlements.

Dr. Lynne Gackle, associate director of choral ensembles at the Baylor University School of Music, has long been an advocate for the power of singing as a catalyst for helping young women gain self-approval and encouraging self-esteem. Now, Gackle's new book, Finding Ophelia's Voice, Opening Ophelia's Heart: Nurturing the Adolescent Female Voice, has been released by Heritage Music Press.

The more honesty and humility an employee may have, the higher their job performance, as rated by the employees' supervisor. That's the new finding from a Baylor University study that found the honesty-humility personality trait was a unique predictor of job performance.

Establishing small groups within a megachurch -- heralded by some as a remedy to the drawbacks of burgeoning congregation size -- is "good medicine," but not a cure-all, according to a national study by Baylor University sociologists.

Bridget Fuselier, associate professor of law at Baylor Law School, has received the inaugural "Section Award" presented by the Real Property, Trust and Estate Law Section of the American Bar Association for her article "Pre-embryos in Probate: Property, Person or Something Else?" The article appeared in the September issue of Probate & Property.

An article by Baylor Law assistant professor Jill Lens on "Punishing for the Injury: Tort Law-Based Limitations on Punitive Damage Awards" was recently listed on Social Science Research Network's (SSRN) Top 10 download list for LSN: Judgments & Remedies. Statistics were based on the number of times the article was downloaded from Oct. 24 through Dec. 23, 2010.

Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business is launching a new collaborative program for professors and businesses within the Innovative Business Accelerator (IBA), a broad-based spectrum of business, science and technical services designed to lend value to both new start-ups and existing businesses. The first stage in the IBA - the Business Research Program - will link companies and Baylor business researchers in order to develop applicable industry business research goals.

New results from a Baylor University study show that different behaviors and strategies lead some families to cope better and emerge stronger after a weather-related event.

Some of the most intense emotions people feel occur during a conflict in a romantic relationship. Now, new research from Baylor University psychologists shows that how each person perceives the other partner's emotion during a conflict greatly influences different types of thoughts, feelings and reactions in themselves.

Despite reporters' goal of objectivity, some broadcast accounts and articles about rumors that President Barack Obama is Muslim suggest that being an Arab or a Muslim automatically is "a sinister accusation," according to a study by Baylor University researchers published online in the American Communication Journal.

Researchers have known for years that teens are less sensitive than adults to the motor-impairing effects of alcohol, but they do not know exactly what is happening in the brain that causes teens to be less sensitive than adults. But now, neuropsychologists at Baylor University have found the particular cellular and molecular mechanisms underlying the age-dependent effect of alcohol in teens that may cause the reduced motor impairment

The graduate program in the department of mathematics at Baylor University is one of the youngest mathematics Ph.D.-granting departments in the country, but despite positive internal metrics, it took an external assessment like that conducted by the National Research Council to show just how far the department had come in just a few years.

The continuing trajectory of improvement for Baylor University's department of physics now is being recognized on the national level. The recently released rankings by the National Research Council show substantial progress between 1995 and 2006 on all of the various measures and indexes.

The doctoral program in political science at Baylor in the College of Arts and Sciences began with a focus on the history of political philosophy and constitutional studies, which quickly allowed Baylor to develop a strong national presence. The latest Academic Analytics report bears this out, with recognition for Baylor political science in several areas, most notably faculty productivity.

The recently released National Research Council rankings of doctoral programs includes Baylor's statistics program for the first time.

When the National Research Council (NRC) last ranked doctoral programs in 1995, Baylor University's sociology program had just been approved by the Board of Regents. Much has happened in a relatively short amount of time.

The doctoral program in the department of religion at Baylor University has risen significantly in the recent National Research Council (NRC) rankings, making major strides in several areas, including faculty productivity.

Baylor University's philosophy department has come a long way since it admitted its first Ph.D. student in 2003. While the program is considered too new to be included in the most recent rankings from the National Research Council, data from Academic Analytics, a private firm that assesses all Ph.D. programs in the nation, demonstrates Baylor philosophy's remarkable climb.

In the first detailed survey of doctoral programs in the United States by the National Research Council (NRC) since 1995, Baylor University's Ph.D. program in Psychology received strong marks and now ranks among the nation's best programs.

Dr. Sang-Chul Nam, assistant professor of biology at Baylor University, has received a $40,000 grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation to study Leber congenital amaurosis, an inherited eye disease that appears at birth or in the first few months of life. It affects around 80,000 people in the United States.

Dr. Sang-Chul Nam, assistant professor of biology at Baylor University, has received a $40,000 grant from the Knights Templar Eye Foundation to study the Leber congenital amaurosis, an inherited eye disease that appears at birth or in the first few months of life. It affects around 80,000 people in the U.S.

A new Baylor University study has identified several key physical, chemical and biological factors that influence the success of blue catfish populations in Texas reservoirs. The study was completed in collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and is the largest and most comprehensive study ever done exploring catfish survivability in Texas.

Baylor University along with the National Science Foundation and the Society for Sedimentary Geology (SEPM) are sponsoring a combined field and research conference Sept. 21-26 at the Petrified Forest National Park near Holbrook, Ariz. that will address several key questions relating to fossilized soils called paleosols and soil surface systems.

What causes our sinful behavior? Is there a biological predisposition for biblically defined sinful behaviors? A Baylor University researcher has compiled years of research into a new book called The Biology of Sin (Biblica Publishing, 2010), which discusses sinful behaviors, including adultery, rage and addiction, asking of each: "What does science say, and what does the Bible say about this behavior?"

In an effort to see if wind-generated power is feasible in Waco, Baylor University researchers have built a tower with several wind-measuring devices on the property of the Education Service Center (ESC) Region 12 on Highway 6, a location that provides one of the highest elevations in the area.

A new study by geochemists at Baylor University and Rice University in Houston has found that human activity, like dams, have completely obscured the natural carbon dioxide cycle in Texas' longest river, the Brazos.

In a case of students inspiring the professors, two faculty members in Baylor University's School of Social Work came to their latest area of research partially because of how they witnessed graduate students in the program who are military spouses cope with their challenges.

Teachers have been too slow to incorporate social media -- which can be an attention-grabbing and effective teaching method -- into their courses, according to research by an assistant professor of journalism and media arts at Baylor University.

With an estimated 85 percent of women experiencing hot flashes as they approach menopause, researchers are concentrating on finding effective treatments that do not include hormonal or other pharmaceutical therapies. Now, a new Baylor University study has shown that women who specifically pictured images associated with coolness during hypnotherapy had a dramatic decrease in hot flashes.

Baylor University sociologists Dr. Carson Mencken and Dr. Christopher Bader lay on the ground at 1 a.m., shivering in 19-degree December weather in a Texas forest with a group of hushed men hoping to lure Bigfoot. Mencken and Bader are not in search of the paranormal, but rather in quest of people who believe in the paranormal -- and that makes for some abnormal research.

National media coverage of missing women is unequal when it comes to race, with missing Anglo women receiving more attention than black women, said Dr. Mia Moody, assistant professor of journalism and media arts at Baylor University.

A new Baylor University study has found that there are two fundamental underlying concerns when partners in a committed relationship fight.

The National Institutes of Health has awarded two Baylor University researchers a $1.46 million grant to research and test new compounds that could help fight cancerous tumors.

Baylor University's 2012 commitment to building strong, research-intensive graduate programs is producing impressive results in a relatively short time. The university significantly enhanced its graduate student stipends, which resulted in an increasing number of high-scoring graduate students seeking doctoral degrees at Baylor. And now, national data from Academic Analytics shows that the scholarly productivity for many of Baylor's graduate faculty - in fields ranging from physics, political science and preventive health to religion, sociology and philosophy - is among the strongest in the nation.

The Weddell seal is one of the deepest diving seals on earth and can hold its breath underwater for up to 90 minutes in their native habitat of Antarctica. Scientists have just begun to unravel what physiological characteristics in the seals' swimming muscles allow them to dive so deep and for so long. But now, new research from Baylor University biologists has found that there is a switching of fuel usage as this animal goes from a non-diving pup to a juvenile diver.

As the world's most powerful subatomic particle collider gathers data, Baylor University scientists will now be there to analyze the information.

While there is significant variability in water temperature, nutrient availability and plankton production in reservoirs, these bodies of water are nonetheless "hot spots" for plankton nitrogen fixation.

Baylor University's Center for Astrophysics, Space Physics and Engineering Research (CASPER) and the NASA Lunar Science Institute's (NLSI) Center for Lunar Science and Exploration recently conducted a pilot research project with a student team from high schools around the Waco area to help scientists in their quest to understand the Moon and prepare for future human exploration.

A new Baylor University study looking at the different fracture properties of bones at various stages of degradation has found that bones degrade and fracture differently under certain environmental conditions like sun, shade or in water.

A Baylor University study has found female mosquitoes prefer to lay their eggs on or close to water in which other mosquito larvae have developed, suggesting that female mosquitoes can somehow detect where other larvae have been successful.

Research into the effectiveness of implementing Violence-Free Zones at schools continues to show improved safety and attendance rates and decreased need for police interventions, say researchers at Baylor University.

Two Baylor University researchers have published a paper on their creation of a new equation for estimating rainfall amounts in ancient ecosystems. Understanding climate and rainfall through geologic time is crucial because they relate to plant and animal evolution, ecosystem function and the hydrological cycle, including erosional and depositional events.

A Baylor Law School assistant professor who studies immigration law has evaluated Arizona's recent immigration legislation and believes it violates the Equal Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution.

A Baylor University researcher has received a $72,000 grant from the John E. Fetzer Institute to start a new research area at Baylor into the study of forgiveness.

The last place you'd expect to find a hand-written manuscript from one of the giants of 19th century British literature would be deep the heart of Texas. Yet, that is where it is, and it will be celebrated during Armstrong Browning Library's annual Browning Festival, May 6-8.

A new Baylor University study will look at land management strategies and specifically assess fire potential and impacts on two endangered bird species within the Austin city limits.

Baylor University graduates Kirsten Appleyard, Lisa Funkhouser and Carrie Wallis have been selected as the inaugural recipients of the F. Ray Wilson II Award for Best Thesis, which honors the life of the beloved Baylor professor of biology and Master Teacher, who directed 37 Honors theses during more than 30 years of teaching at the university.

Two years ago, a Baylor University researcher developed an effective and accurate electromagnetic sensor that provides diabetics a noninvasive alternative to reading their blood glucose levels. There was just one problem: it was too big to carry around.

Two Baylor University researchers have received a $200,000 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to study a series of compounds that could be toxic against human cancer cells.

A Baylor University study that is the first to scientifically test the effect of religion on racial prejudice has found people primed with Christian concepts led to increased expression of racial prejudice and general negative views toward African-Americans.

Two non-resident research fellows of the Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion (ISR) - Dr. Jiexia (Elisa) Zhai and Dr. J. Gordon Melton - have been named recipients of a Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative Grant from the University of Southern California's Center for Religion and Civic Culture. The grant will allow the ISR researchers to pursue a focused study of the True Jesus Church, the largest Pentecostal movement operating among Chinese Christians worldwide.

While Christianity has been growing in China, religious practices still are tightly controlled. So Dr. Alan Raines, director of choral activities at Baylor University, was surprised and thrilled when he was invited to conduct an Easter Sunday performance of Handel's Messiah at the opening of a large new church in Suzhou.

Men who channeled positive thoughts into a five-week writing assignment about their testicular cancer showed signs of improved mental health afterward, in contrast to men who wrote negatively or neutrally about their condition, according to results of a Baylor University pilot study.

Jesus Wars, a new book by Dr. Philip Jenkins, Distinguished Senior Fellow of Baylor's Institute for Studies of Religion, explores how the world view of Jesus Christ was shaped.

When a martyr for Allah takes his place in Paradise, he will "marry beautiful-eyed young women," according to the Quran. It's a heady prospect for young men with slim chances of marriage, and recruiters use it to lure potential suicide bombers, said Dr. Brad Thayer, a Baylor University professor of political science. His research shows "defeating by domestication" -- turning the young men into husbands and fathers -- could be a powerful tool to fight terrorism.

A Baylor University researcher, who has conducted extensive research on how couples can best resolve relationship conflicts, has created a conflict resolution web site for couples totally based on his research.

If you smoked cigarettes when you were a teen, new research indicates you might be more susceptible to the negative effects of alcohol withdrawal later in life.

Baylor University researchers have received a $250,000 grant from the Texas Environmental Health Institute to study water pollution from the San Jacinto River waste pits near the Houston Ship Channel. The Baylor researchers will study how the pollution, including cancer-causing compounds known as dioxins and furans, spread from the soil into the fish and ecosystem.

The Baylor University Libraries' Black Gospel Music Restoration Project, a popular download among the university's content available on iTunes U, is a digital record and catalog of the most at-risk music from the black gospel music tradition from the 1940s to the 1980s. Sixteen songs from the project are available as a free download on iTunes U, a dedicated area within the iTunes U Store.

The National Weather Service has issued a Winter Storm Warning, effective at 3 a.m. Tuesday, for McLennan and surrounding counties. While the university does not presently anticipate any disruption to regular business operations or class schedules, Baylor officials will monitor the weather during the overnight and late morning hours and will make a decision accordingly. Please continue to monitor the Baylor web site for more information.

The National Science Foundation awarded a $394,654 Innovation and Organizational Sciences Program Grant to Baylor University to fund research that explores the impact of religious communities on entrepreneurial behavior.

Baylor University's school psychology program has received national approval from the National Association of School Psychologists (NASP), one of the specialized professional associations of the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) that conducts national program reviews.

Baylor University researchers along with ecologists from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County have developed a new method that measures the impact of human-caused environmental degradation on environmental biodiversity.

Dr. Morris George, assistant professor of marketing at Baylor University's Hankamer School of Business, has received the 2010 William R. Davidson Award for Best Article in the Journal of Retailing 2008. The award will be presented at the winter conference of the American Marketing Association Feb. 19-21 in New Orleans.

A Baylor University researcher has used a new search method that he adapted for use on the seafloor to find a potentially massive source of hydrocarbon energy called methane hydrate, a frozen form of natural gas, in a portion of the Gulf of Mexico.

The 2010 State of the Union address may be THE most important speech of President Barack Obama's career. The reason is simple - his presidency hangs in the balance, says Dr. Martin J. Medhurst, co-director of www.PresidentialRhetoric.com and Distinguished Professor of Rhetoric and Communication at Baylor University in Texas.

Two Baylor University researchers have received a $200,000 grant from the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) to study a series of compounds that could be toxic against human cancer cells.

Baylor University has named Dr. Edward B. Burger, Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Gaudino Scholar at Williams College in Massachusetts, as the 2010 recipient of the Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teaching, the only national teaching award - with the single largest monetary reward of $200,000 - presented by a college or university to an individual for exceptional teaching.

A new Baylor University study funded by the Environmental Protection Agency has found that concentrations of phosphorus above 20 parts per billion (ppb) are linked to declines in water quality and aquatic plant and animal life.

With 2009 in the rearview mirror, Americans are making resolutions for the New Year. Getting physically fit may top the list, but a Baylor University consumer behavior expert suggests that Americans resolve to get in good financial shape in the coming year.

Teen-aged boys are more likely to use tanning booths, take diet pills and have their bodies waxed -- even if they think those activities are unhealthy -- if they are influenced by their peers, according to research by a Baylor University assistant professor of fashion merchandising.

Baylor University has been chosen by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) to join the Science Education Alliance, which will engage Baylor students in scientific discovery on a national scale.

Researchers with Baylor University's Institute for Studies of Religion have received a two-year, $992,000 grant from the John Templeton Foundation for a first-ever series of studies examining the impact of Scouting in fostering positive youth development and healthy, virtuous behaviors--termed "prosocial behavior."

Christmas offers a golden opportunity to go green -- and save a little green -- when decorating your home. "The idea is to focus on going local and natural with decor and to emphasize family togetherness," said Dr. Suzy Weems, chair of the department of Family and Consumer Sciences at Baylor University.

The City of Waco, Baylor University and the Waco Mammoth Foundation are proud to announce the grand opening of the Waco Mammoth Site. A public ribbon-cutting with U.S. Rep. Chet Edwards will take place at 1 p.m., Saturday, Dec. 5, at the site, located at 6220 Steinbeck Bend Rd.

Baylor University researchers have identified a key component that increases the toxicity of golden algae (Prymnesium parvum), which kills millions of fish in the southern U.S. every year.

A symbolic shift from 20th century manufacturing to 21st century technology took place Oct. 23 with the announcement of plans to turn a long-shuttered manufacturing plant into a modern research collaborative. A group of state, county and city governments and organizations and higher educational institutions in Central Texas announced the creation of the Central Texas Technology and Research Park, and the park's first project, the Baylor Research and Innovation Collaborative (BRIC) to be housed in the former General Tire facility on South Loop Drive in Waco.