News

Gulf Oil Spill Could Affect Maine Bird Populations

Contact: Rebecca Holberton, (207) 581-2526 ORONO, Maine — Even though the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico isn’t likely to directly affect Maine coastal habitats and wildlife, it likely will affect some of the birds that are iconic in Maine, including the common loon, many of the state’s shore birds and some of its […]

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Schools See Suspensions Decline with ‘Restorative Discipline’

Contacts: Barb Blazej, (207) 581-2625; Jon Moody, (207) 465-2167; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO — After implementing a new philosophical approach to discipline about 3 years ago, teachers and administrators at Messalonskee Middle School in Oakland watched disciplinary problems decline and student morale rise. The new approach called restorative discipline encourages students who misbehave to […]

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UMaine Researchers Look for Answers to Growing Fire Ant Populations

Editors’ note: fire ant infestations are being studied in Massachusetts, Nova Scotia, Ontario, and on Mount Desert Island and Orono and Wayne in Maine Contacts: Ellie Groden, (207) 581-2984; Tamara Levitsky, (207) 581-2679 ORONO, Maine — Researchers from the University of Maine are working on solutions to the rapid population growth of invasive stinging fire […]

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New Research Model Improves Lobster Population Forecasting

Contact: Andy Thomas, (207) 581-4335; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 ORONO, Maine — Managing the Gulf of Maine’s $300 million lobster industry has been a practice mostly reliant upon the physical size of adult stocks, a system called stock assessment and one that’s made policymaking largely reactive with little environmental input. Now, a research team from […]

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English Teacher Finds Digital Age Engages Student Interest, Literacy

Contact: Dave Boardman, (207) 649-9863; George Manlove, (207) 581-3756 OAKLAND, Maine — When two students with disabilities at Messalonskee High School in Oakland, Maine, wanted to raise awareness about the lack of accessibility in their school, they made a video. Within 24 hours, hundreds of students, teachers and even the school board had seen it. […]

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Researchers Assessing Water Policy Effectiveness, Climate Change

Contact: Shaleen Jain, (207) 581-2420 ORONO — Water, sometimes plentiful, other times scarce, is a vital resource to humans and the environment, but finding a balance that keeps the needs of both fulfilled is complicated, especially when combined with climate change concerns. A University of Maine research team studying how shifting climate conditions are affecting […]

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UMaine Researchers Study Blood Pressure, Physical Ability, Cognition Correlations

Contact: Pete Elias, (207) 581-2097; George Manlove (207) 581-3756 ORONO, Maine — According to a new study led by University of Maine psychologists and epidemiologists, high blood pressure is indirectly related to lowered physical ability by way of lowered cognition. Professor Pete Elias (Merrill F. Elias) and colleagues have established the relationships using a comprehensive […]

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UMaine and Waterville Company Gain Patent Approval for Sustainable Food Packaging Material

Contact: Joe Carr, UMaine, at (207) 581-3571 Tom Moore, Cerealus President (207) 504-0374 or tmoore@cerealus.com ORONO — The University of Maine and Cerealus Holdings, LLC, a Waterville-based product development and technology commercialization company, have received a patent for an innovation that can provide a sustainable alternative to traditional food packaging materials. Known as Holdout (TM), […]

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UMaine Grad Student Wins Prestigious Research Award

Contact: Joe Carr at (207) 581-3571 ORONO — University of Maine doctoral student Juan Luis Garcia has earned the Geological Society of America’s prestigious J. Hoover Mackin Student Research Award.  That society’s Quaternary Geology and Geomorphology Division provides the annual award. Garcia is a native of Chile studying in UMaine’s Dept. of Earth Sciences.  He […]

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UMaine Students, Researchers Tackle Tough Questions in Biomedical Research

Contact: Carol Kim, (207) 581-2803 ORONO — Understanding how cancerous tumors grow. Learning why some people feel pain more acutely than others. Searching for ways to cure vascular diseases. In biomedicine, the focus is on the basic underlying processes — how our bodies work. Greater understanding of disease through biomedical sciences research holds the promise […]

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