SINCE 1891
THE BROWN DAILY HERALD FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
VOLUME CLIII, ISSUE 13
WWW.BROWNDAILYHERALD.COM
Bears place second in home opener U. researchers
tackle opioid crisis Medical School hosts four panelists to discuss treatment, addiction in R.I., beyond By DYLAN MAJSIAK SENIOR STAFF WRITER
COURTESY OF BROWN ATHLETICS
The gymnastics team competed in its annual ‘Beauty and the Beast’ meet, held with the wrestling team, at the Pizzitola Sports Center Sunday. The Bears’ team score of 190.900 placed them ahead of Rhode Island College.
Two gymnasts earn titles, team wears ribbons to show solidarity with sexual abuse survivors By TESS DEMEYER SENIOR STAFF WRITER
After traveling to competitions around New England for the past three weekends, the gymnastics team returned to the Pizzitola for its 2018 home opener.
During their annual dual meet with the wrestling team, the Bears posted a 190.900 team score to land in second place ahead of Rhode Island College and behind the University of Bridgeport. Bruno claimed two individual event titles as Kate Nelson ’21 placed first on the uneven bars, and Regan Butchness ’18 nabbed the top spot on the balance beam. Butchness was also named the Eastern College Athletic Conference Coaches Choice honoree for the week.
Prior to the competition, the team warmed up in teal “#TimesUp” T-shirts and sported matching hair ribbons to show their support for survivors of sexual assault. “The NCAA gymnastics community has come together and has been wearing the teal ribbons all season in support of the sexual abuse (survivors),” said head coach Sara Carver-Milne. “It’s a very relevant story in our gymnastics community right now but also » See GYMNASTICS, page 2
The Brown Medical Association held a panel to discuss how to better train doctors and medical professionals to prevent opioid addiction and treat those suffering from the epidemic Thursday night at the Alpert Medical School. Though the general focus is on the illicit overseas production of fetanyl, an opioid used in pain medication, doctors within the United States have contributed to the crisis by doling out 250 million opioid prescriptions a year, said Marc Siegel, associate professor of medicine at New York University Langone Medical Center and moderator of the panel. Twenty-five percent of patients who are prescribed opioids become addicted, he added. The panel was comprised of four medical professionals who considered ways in which the medical community could reduce its prescriptions of opioids, especially through reframing the
understanding of pain. There has been a general reduction in the number of pills prescribed, said Jennifer Clarke, medical director of the R.I. Department of Corrections. “If you have a tooth removed, you won’t get 40 Vicodin,” she joked, adding that it is important to figure out the root cause of a condition rather than using an opioid as a cure-all solution. There is also a movement toward not prescribing opioids in the first place, though each patient should be treated on a case-by-case basis, said Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry and Human Behaviour Laura Levine. “I don’t think there is any cause for people to pull it out and take all of their patients off of opioids,” she said. “I’ve had some pretty severe negative consequences from that happening.” In addition to discussing ways to decrease the accessibility of opioids, panelists emphasized the importance of destigmatizing addiction. There are shifts in terminology within the medical landscape to avoid ostracizing those affected by addiction, Levine said. The word “abuse” is used less and less in this context, she said, adding » See OPIOID, page 2
Cambridge ’21 knocks Researchers link lunar cycles to eruptions in two game-winners Freshman star averages 30.5 points per game over weekend, notches clutch three-point shot Saturday By ALEX SMOLAR SENIOR STAFF WRITER
Desmond Cambridge ’21 may be just a freshman, but his stand-out performances this season have earned the men’s basketball team three muchneeded wins against Ivy League rivals. He scored a total of 62 points in two games this weekend, three of which came on a game-winning shot with just four seconds left in overtime against Princeton. Cambridge, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, has been named Ivy League Rookie of the Week six times and Ivy League Player of the Week twice. For his outstanding performance in Saturday’s contest, which snapped Princeton’s 19game home winning streak, Cambridge has been named The Herald’s Athlete of the Week. Herald: Congratulations on the
INSIDE
great win last weekend! Can you talk about the game-winning shot? Cambridge: We were down two, and coach set up a play for me to get the shot. (The team) knows all of our live plays — the plan was to call out the play so everyone syncs in and acts like I’m going to the basket, and I would fake it and come out for the three pointer. Then Brandon (Anderson ’20) would kick it out to me. As you can see, it didn’t really work out that way. The ball rolled out, but I was supposed to shoot it. So I was like what the heck, just go for it. Even though it was kind of a crazy shot, I actually practice those shots and it went in. It felt good. After losing a tough game to Penn the night before, how hard was it to come out and play well a day later? It was definitely tough. (The Penn game) was heartbreaking because it was basically like the same situation (as the Princeton game). It turns out I was the one who actually missed the game-tying free throws and that really, really hurt. So that whole night I was thinking about » See BASKETBALL, page 2
COURTESY OF WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
Társilo Girona, a NASA postdoctoral fellow, examined the correlation between volcanic activity and lunar cycles. The study — co-authored by University researcher Christian Huber — could be used to predict eruptions.
Scientists find tidal forces could predict volcanic seismicity, save tourists from eruptions By KENDRICK TAN SENIOR STAFF WRITER
A recent study shows a likely correlation between volcanic seismicity and lunar cycles before an upcoming eruption. “We were interested in investigating whether we could use the response of volcanic systems to tidal stresses to
detect whether a volcano is in a critical state, or when it is about to erupt,” said Társilo Girona, a NASA postdoctoral fellow at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and leader of the study. “These stresses vary with the relative positions of the moon, sun and earth, and from the study, we found that volcanoes are sensitive to tides related to the lunar cycles when they are about to act.” The Ruapehu volcano in New Zealand was chosen as the subject of the study. Ruapehu is home to two ski resorts, and one of the main reasons it was chosen was because GNS Science, who
supplied the data, had been studying it for over a decade in an attempt to ensure the safety of tourists on the volcano, said Christian Huber, co-author of the study and assistant professor of earth, environmental and planetary sciences. The data provided by GNS Science was measured against a model of synthetic tidal signals linked to lunar cycles. “The correlation we are looking at is whether volcanic activity responds to fortnightly tides, which are related to lunar cycles,” Girona said. “Out of the 12 years of data, we didn’t find any type of » See VOLCANOES, page 2
WEATHER
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2018
SPORTS Brownsword ’18: Bears might enter Ivy basketball postseason for first time with talented team
METRO House Committee on Oversight discusses next step for social services at Thursday hearing
NEWS Alum’s educational program brings hip-hop into classroom, helps students build vocabulary
COMMENTARY Oke ’20: Words are strongest defense when confronting acts of racism, hatred on campus
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