Kara J. Manke

Duke Today • 18th September 2017

Why Bad Sleep Doesn’t Always Lead to Depression

Poor sleep is both a risk factor, and a common symptom, of depression. But not everyone who tosses and turns at night becomes depressed. Individuals whose brains are more attuned to rewards may be protected from the negative mental health effects of...

Duke Today • 6th September 2017

One Powerful Cell Makes or Breaks Your Habits

DURHAM, N.C. -- Some habits are helpful, such as automatically washing your hands before a meal or driving the same route to work every day. They accomplish an important task while freeing up valuable brain space. But other habits -- like eating a...

Duke Today • 3rd August 2017

World’s Smallest Neutrino Detector Makes Massive Discovery

When it comes to neutrino experiments, bigger is usually better. Super-Kamiokande in Japan, home to the Nobel-prize winning discovery that neutrinos have mass, is an underground tank of water about the size of football stadium. And at the South Pole,...

Duke Today • 23rd June 2017

Chatter in the Deep Brain Spurs Empathy in Rats

It’s a classic conundrum: while rushing to get to an important meeting or appointment on time, you spot a stranger in distress. How do you decide whether to stop and help, or continue on your way? A new study by neuroscientists at Duke and Stanford...

Duke Today • 30th May 2017

Breaking Glass in Infinite Dimensions

Zoom in on a crystal and you will find an ordered array of atoms, evenly spaced like the windows on the Empire State Building. But zoom in on a piece of glass, and the picture looks a bit messier -- more like a random pile of sand, or perhaps the...

Duke Today • 19th April 2017

3-D-Printable Implants May Ease Damaged Knees

A cartilage-mimicking material created by researchers at Duke University may one day allow surgeons to 3-D print replacement knee parts that are custom-shaped to each patient’s anatomy.

Duke Today • 11th April 2017

Wiring of the ‘Little Brain’ Linked to Multiple Forms of Mental Illness

A Duke University study is the first to link specific differences in brain structure to what is common across many types of mental illness.

Duke Today • 3rd April 2017

'Spray-On' Memory Could Enable Bendable Digital Storage

USB flash drives are already common accessories in offices and college campuses. But thanks to the rise in printable electronics, digital storage devices like these may soon be everywhere – including on our groceries, pill bottles and even...

Duke Today • 14th March 2017

Webs of Minds and Ideas Bind Duke’s Campus

The era of the lonely genius is over. These days, research success usually requires teams of scholars, often crossing over departments, disciplines or continents, who combine their unique tools and tactics to take on previously insurmountable problems.

Duke Today • 23rd February 2017

Light-Driven Reaction Converts Carbon Dioxide Into Fuel

Duke University researchers have developed tiny nanoparticles that help convert carbon dioxide into methane using only ultraviolet light as an energy source. Having found a catalyst that can do this important chemistry using ultraviolet light, the...

Duke Today • 13th February 2017

Mismatched Eyes Help Squid Survive Ocean’s Twilight Zone

From eyes the size of basketballs to appendages that blink and glow, deep-sea dwellers have developed some strange features to help them survive their cold, dark habitat. But with one normal eye and one giant, bulging, yellow eye, the “cockeyed”...

Duke Today • 3rd January 2017

Nanowire “Inks” Enable Paper-Based Printable Electronics

By suspending tiny metal nanoparticles in liquids, Duke University scientists are brewing up conductive ink-jet printer “inks” to print inexpensive, customizable circuit patterns on just about any surface.

Duke Today • 21st November 2016

Breast Cancer Cells Starve For Cystine

Cancer rewires the metabolism of tumor cells, converting them into lean, mean, replicating machines. But like Olympic athletes who rely on special diets to perform, tumor cells’ amped-up metabolism can also make them dependent on specific nutrients...

Duke Today • 7th November 2016

Mapping the Biology of Drug-Resistant Multiple Sclerosis

For more than 15 years, people suffering from multiple sclerosis have relied on a drug called interferon-beta to prevent flare-ups of the disease and avoid its crippling neurological symptoms.

Duke Today • 19th October 2016

Dust Mite Allergens Share Rare Combo of Qualities

A combination of stability and abundance may be what gives allergy-triggering dust mite proteins their sneeze-inducing power, says a new study by scientists at Duke University and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).

Duke Today • 14th October 2016

Female Chimpanzees Don’t Fight for “Queen Bee” Status

But male and female chimpanzees achieve social status in dramatically different ways, says a new study by primatologists at Duke University. While males actively challenge their superiors to win higher rank, females accept their position in the social...

Duke Today • 5th October 2016

Brain Surgery May Get A Bit Easier, With Augmented Reality

Doctors do what it takes to save the lives of their patients -- even if it means drilling holes into their skulls and sticking giant needles into their brains. Luckily for those of us with heads, surgeons and engineers at Duke are working to make...

Duke Today • 2nd October 2016

Peter Hoff: Reckoning With Big Data to Tease Out Network Patterns

Duke statistician Peter Hoff finds great beauty in his chosen field: the precision, the order, the binary, true or false outcomes. But for him, statistics is also a gateway to a much larger world.

Duke Today • 11th August 2016

After 9/11, a Rush to Improve Port Security

The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks prompted a major push to secure our nation’s seaports from the threat of nuclear terrorism.

Duke Today • 25th March 2016

New Class of Molecular ‘Lightbulbs’ Illuminate MRI

Duke scientists have discovered a new class of inexpensive and long-lived molecular tags that enhance MRI signals by 10,000-fold. T