4 - Tuesday, March 19, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com 4 - Tuesday, March 19, 2013 The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com C 1 4e Michigan laity Edited and managed by students at the University of Michigan since 1890. 420 Maynard St. Ann Arbor, MI 48109 tothedaily@michigandaily.com MELANIE KEUJVELIS and ADRIENNE ROBERTS MATT SLOVIN EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS MANAGING EDITOR ANDREW WEINER EDITOR IN CHIEF NOTABLE QUOTABLE We see elevated hydration signals in the narrow veins that cut many of the rocks in this area." - Melissa Rice of the California Institute of Technology said to CNN on Monday in regards to the recent discovery of evidence of water on the surface of Mars with the Curiosity rover. Weighing in on diets Unsigned editorials reflect the official position of the Daily's editorial board. All other signed articles and illustrations represent solely the views of their authors. Online learning, to a degree Michigan should give college credit for MOOC completion n Wednesday, California state senators proposed a new bill that requires the state's 145 public colleges and universities to grant credit for completing massive open online courses, called MOOCs. The preposed mandate on online credit reflects a necessary shift in higher education, allowing for easy and affordable access to courses for many students. This legislation will propel the conversation about online courses forward, and with any luck should prompt other states to adopt similar policies. Michigan should con- sider similar legislation to ensure that students who pass MOOCs, such as Udacity and Coursera, obtain credit toward their degree. The bill would create a system in which stu- dents can access courses virtually and receive credit at the University of California, Califor- nia State University and California Communi- ty College campuses. A nine-member faculty council, composed of three faculty members selected by each system's Academic Senate, would decide which courses can be taken for credit. They'll also decide logistics such as prerequisites, instructional support and text- book accessibility. The bill will help allow students to bypass California's overcrowded classrooms and lower the price tag attached to a college education by giving credit for MOOCs, which are often free to take. This mandate propels the future of MOOCs and other online education resources as a legitimate option in higher education. Taught by professors at top universities, these online classes allow for more flexibility and options for affordable instruction. Furthermore, these courses allow students to enroll in inex- pensive classes over the summer - an attrac- tive option for those looking to lighten their load during the school year or are ineligible for financial aid over the spring and summer terms. Currently, MOOCs don't necessar- ily offer any credit incentive, but a bill that requires universities and colleges to grant credit would ensure that students' effort helps them toward a degree instead of just for knowledge's sake. The bill also offers con- tent from the California Digital Open Source Library, where students can obtain free or cheap textbooks. However, there are certain guidelines that need to be considered when granting college credit. When receiving credit for online cours- es, there should be a set credit limit a student can transfer. This system. would be similar to when a student wants to transfer credit from a community college or four-year university to another school. Additionally, the bill does create a faculty council that decides which courses that are a part of the system, and they should ensure that well-qualified profes- sors from accredited universities and colleges teach the courses. Not only do MOOCs and other online educa- tion tools allow easier access and affordability, but they also give students more time to take advantage of a liberal arts education. Students using MOOCs for required courses would have time to explore other interests. California's legislature has actualized the conversation about MOOCs and various other online tools, andnow it's time for Michigan to start moving toward the future of online learning as well. We're caught in the midst of an obesity epidemic. One-third of Ameri- can adults are considered overweight; another third is clinically obese. Michigan is frequently cited as one of the fattest states in the nation, with JENNIFER an adult obese XU population that teeters past the 30-percent mark. Obese people live shorter lifespans, and their quality of life is decreased by diseases such as diabetes, hypertension, stroke and cancer. Exhortations to improve nutri- tion and increase physical activity have only made a dent in the under- lying issue. As any dieter can tell you, it's not so easy to shed the extra pounds once they're packed tight on the belly. Try as we might to eat more greens and hit the treadmill, our bodies appear to have a tightly regulated set point: If we deviate from the norm, we just gain the weight back later. what's more, overly aggressive governmental efforts to curb the obesity problem have drawn ire from social activists. Advertise- ments depicting children loading shopping carts with processed foods were denounced as discrimi- natory and ineffective. "There is nothing that anyone is going to do or say that's going to make fat peo- ple skinny tomorrow," said Jezebel writer Lindy West. But what if there was something we could do? What if the answer to the obesity epidemic lay in a Japa- nese asthma and canker sore drug from the 1980s? Researchers at the University have found that the off-patent drug Amlexanox, originally developed as a topical paste for canker sores and a tablet for asthma by the Takeda Pharmaceutical Company in 1987, is effective in reducing fat deposits and type-2 diabetes in obese mice. The study, headed by Alan Saltiel, the Mary Sue Coleman Direc- tor of the Life Sciences Institute, discovered that populations of genetically obese mice and mice on a high-fat diet lost significant amounts of weight after being treat- ed with this Japanese asthma drug. The drug also caused obese mice to have improved glucose tolerance - a sign of decreased diabetic effects on their metabolism - and produced less fatty tissue in their livers. Most significantly, the drug didn't reduce the animals' food intake. That's right: the obese mice bulked down considerably - even while they continued to gorge themselves on food. Why? The researchers think it has something to do with metabolism. Though the Amlexanox-injected mice didn't stop overeating, they were much more active than those not exposed. Normally, the fatter you are, the less you move, and if you restrict calories, you're likely to move even less. That's because our brains have a tricky way of regulat- ing body weight: cut calories, and the body will respond by slowing down metabolism. It's a key reason why it's so difficult to lose weight even after diet restriction. But the Amlexanox-treated mice had metabolisms comparable to those mice of a much lower weight, dissi- pating the extra energy in their fat cells as heat. Can a canker sore drug solve the obesity problem? Obviously, mice are not people, so researchers can't draw strong conclusions about the drug's effec- tiveness on obese patients. But the benefit of using Amlexanox is that we already know it's safe - it's been used in Japan to treat canker sores and asthma for the past 25 years. Researchers can begin clinical tri- als immediately, without the usual rigmarole involved in getting a drug approved for human studies. The sequestration - a govern- mental cut that slashed National Institutes of Health's $31-billion budget by $1.5 billion - couldn't come at a more inopportune time. It's frustrating to know that, though the pieces to combating the obesity epidemic are in front of us, the receptacle holding the money is pe'rpetually shrinking. - Jennifer Xu can be reached at jennifxu@umich.edu. EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS Kaan Avdan, Sharik Bashir, Barry Belmont, Eli Cahan, Jesse Klein, Melanie Kruvelis, Maura Levine, Patrick Maillet, Aarica Marsh, Megan McDonald, Jasmine McNenny, Harsha Nahata, Adrienne Roberts, Paul ShermanSarah Skaluba,Michael Spaeth, Luchen Wang, Derek Wolfe MAURA LEVINE| Regulations, across the (bill)board Get active, not pretentious Everything is relative. Sometimes we're so distracted by certain things that we assume they're the only cause of an issue - even a major issue. Take distracted driving, for example. When I mention distracted driv- ing, the first thing you probably think of is someone talking or texting on his or her cell phone. Or maybe you think of someone try- ing to apply makeup in heavy traffic. You might even see someone reading a book on the way to work. But something fails to cross our minds: the enormous and ever-present use of billboards on every stretch of highway in Michigan. Lately, laws such as Kelsey's Law, signed by Gov. Rick Snyder on Jan. 8, target student drivers with a level one or two graduated license. The law bans cell phone use by people of this age group with the intent of keeping young drivers safe and undistracted. Studies from the University of Utah have shown that using a cell phone while driving -hands-free or not - is equivalent to the driver having a blood alcohol concentration at the legal limit of .08 percent. With the rise of cell-phone use, more attention has been given to stop- ping people from using their phones on the road. While these new initiatives are impor- tant, the government refuses to look at other highly dangerous road distractions. On a recent drive across Michigan, I noticed countless billboards with flashing lights, three- dimensional items and larger-than-life images. The sole purpose of billboards? To distract the driver. On the highway late at night, all it takes is a split-second glance at a billboard - a lawyer smiling oily, his phone number plastered below - and you've suddenly veered out of your lane, causing an accident. It's simply not fair that the government is cracking down on citizens for driving while making a business call (which is admittedly dangerous) but allow billboards to get big- ger and bigger. I don't remember seeing such extensive, fancy and distracting billboards when I was younger. The distractions are only getting worse as the technology to grab the driver's attention gets better. The reason the companies get away with it and the individual citizens using their cell phones don't is because the set-up of our soci- ety promotes the unlimited freedom of the advertising companies. The government has little to no interest in stopping the advertisers from doing whatever they want. Multi-million dollar corporations exemplify this statement in everything they do from polluting the earth to sponsoring obnoxious billboards for revenue purposes. Our society promotes doing what- ever is necessary to get ahead and make the most money. If that means distracting drivers to promote a product and putting people's lives in danger, these companies will do it. The prob- lem is that our government isn't checking the advertisers' actions. We cannot ask companies to stop putting up billboards. Some of them are innocuous enough to ignore and businesses big and small use them. But it's the principle of the matter. Why is it fair for billboards to exist to entertain and distract us while we have to put our cell phones away? The government needs to take a closer look at what distracts drivers. If they make laws prohibiting distracting activities, especially targeting students, they must follow this action across the board. Maura Levine is an LSA sophomore. Turn off the lights. Use reus- able water bottles. Skip the tray. With all these orders, the environmental movement starts to soundalot like a nagging moth- er (sorry Mom, but it's true!). Even so, I try my ZOE best to listen - I STAHL obsessively turn off the lights around my apartment to save ener- gy, I lug my water bottle around to avoid adding plastic to ever-growing landfills and I've learned to balance plates and cups and bowls like a waitress. All this so that there's one less tray to wash and, hopefully, a little less food waste, too. Even though I care deeply about the environment and am commit- ted to creating a more sustainable future, I must admit that I'm sick of it. All those reminders put the onus on the individual. You have to spend your time, your energy and sometimes even your money to make the sustainable choice in a fundamentally unsustainable system. And you know what? Not everyone can, knows how to or even cares to do so. So, I'm looking at you, kid - you who also cares about the environ- ment and totes a reusable bag. Maybe you've even worked on an organic farm or volunteered with Natural Resources Defense Council one sum- mer. I know how you feel. I feel ittoo. I'm frustrated by what sometimes seems like a lack of concern for envi- ronmental issues and, even more, by a lack ofurgency to address them. But you know what I find equally worrying? How self-righteous and self-satisfied (and not to mention, insular) we environmentalists can sometimes be. If you're anythinglike me, you can't help but feel the slight- est bit proud as you sip out of your Camelbak while fellow Wolverines drink out of a disposable bottle. And though it sounds like I'm dripping with disdain for the envi- ronmental movement and its adher- ents, I commend them, really. I just have a suggestion: We should sac- rifice some of the satisfaction we derive from these personal acts of sustainability and start advocating for structural changes that promote an even more environmentally con- scious university. So, how about instead of your weekly Saturday trip to the Farm- ers' Market, you attend a Student Sustainability Initiative roundtable meeting and get involved in efforts to make the Big House a zero-waste facility? Don't get me wrong, sea- sonal produce is certainly a step in the sustainable direction, but it's ultimately a small, individual- ized drop in the reusable bucket. By helping to make systemic changes, you'll ultimately have a greater effect on the environment and the University itself. Maybe you think the Univbersity should stop installing air condition- ers in newly built residence halls in order to preserve energy. Or maybe you would like to see the University use organic fertilizers for all of the campus greenery so we can prevent soil erosion and toxic run-off while simultaneously lowering costs. Write the Office of Campus Sustain- ability or the Graham Institute of Sustainability an e-mail. Pen a let- ter to University President Mary Sue Coleman while you're at it. I care about the environment - but I'm sick of the movement. "The University is too big," you say? "I'm only one person." "They won't listen." "I don't have enough time." "Michigan is so bureaucrat- ic." Maybe, but what isn't bureau- cratic these days? Where does it seem easy to make a change? If you put in the time and effort, good things will happen. You might argue that I'm now placing the burden on you again. And you know what? To some degree, I am. But at the very least you'd be using your time and energy to create a more sustainable system that will ease and facilitate more environmentally friendly behavior, benefiting all. But hey, don't forget to still turn off those lights. Zoe Stahl can be reached at zoestahl@umich.edu. CHECK US OUT ONLINE Keep up with columnists, read Daily editorials, view cartoons and join in the debate. Check out @michdailyoped and Facebook.com/MichiganDaily to get updates on Daily opinion content throughout the day. INTERESTED IN CAMPUS ISSUES? 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