TECHNICIAN
Professor makes rare discovery Jason Katz Staff Writer
22 2013
Textbook costs rise, NCSU Bookstore loses cutomers Jacqueline Lee
because I can sell back my books for the same price as what I paid for them.” Textbook prices have risen Although sites like Amazon 6 percent each year and for a and Half can save students total of 82 percent money, they since 2002, acoften lack conEC 301 cording to an arvenience. ticle published in B ook s for Used : USA Today TuesGerman 202 Bookstore : $143 day. Though the and a techNCSU Bookstore nica l geomAmazon : introduced a price etry book for $128.98 comparison shopGC 330 were ping tool last year b ot h av a i lto help combat able immedirising book costs, ately from the students can often find better bookstore. However, virtudeals elsewhere. ally all the books for these The new comparison shop- subjects from Amazon and ping tool allows students to Half weren’t available until compare the price of a text- Sept. 11, with very few being book in the bookstore to available by Aug. 30. websites such as Amazon, The comparison Barnes & Nosite also shows the ble, eBay and condition of the 0 others without books and the date PSY 23 having to leave each one should New : store : one webpage. arrive. k Boo 0 For example, “Textbook pric.5 7 0 1 $ the tool shows es have always : n Amazo that the bookbeen way too 8 $75.7 store sel ls t he expensive, but new textbook for at least there EC 301 Microecoare sites such nomics for $143. as the bookstore comparison It also shows that the text site that let me compare pricis available at Amazon for es to get the best deal,” said $128.98 and prices range Allison Kittinger, a freshman from $150.44 to $185.43 for in English. the same book on the site NCSU Bookstore Associate Half, which is a part of eBay. Director Anthony Sanders A new book for PSY 230 said N.C. State has been tryResearch Methods costs ing to save students money in $107.50 from the bookstore more ways than one. and $75.78 from “We a lways Amazon. look for new FLG 201 Sometimes, ways to make New : h o w e v e r, t h e sure students Bookstore: book store ca n get the best deal $204 offer a better deal, on their textUsed: and some new books,” SandAmazon: books, like the ers said. “This $225.06 one for FLG 201, is why we have are cheaper than started the price used versions on comparison site Amazon. and market heavily to stuSophomore Jon Mizrach, dents about our tax-free a first-year engineer, said weekend book ordering.” Amazon has better buy-back Sanders said that so far this value. school year, the majority of “I like to buy my books on sites such as Amazon, BOOKS continued page 2 Correspondent
SOURCE: WWW.WIKIMEDIA.ORG
Researchers estimate 42 percent of the Olinguito’s habitat has already been developed.
years.” Initially, the discovery was somewhat of an accident. Accord i ng to Kays, Kristofer M. Helgen, a zoologist from the Smithsonian Institute, originally set out to try and ascertain the number of different known types of olingos in existence. “In the process, [Helgen] ran across these completely
different specimens that were much smaller, much redder, [and] had different teeth,” Kays said. Kays said the new species also has much longer hair. “That’s when [Helgen] realized that there was this yetundescribed form out there.” Kays said the two species are actually quite different from each other and therefore
was a little surprised that the olinguito had not previously been identified. He said, however, it was difficult to find because the species is so scattered and lives at such high elevations in the trees. Kays was tapped for the research team as a result of the extensive research he had
MAMMAL continued page 2
Casual sex linked to mental duress Jacob Fulk Staff Writer
The one-night stand holds a prominent place in collegiate culture. Though stories of “hook-ups” are plentiful in popular media, behavioral researchers have begun to investigate the negative psychological consequences of casual sex. A recent article in the Journal of Sex Research documents a correlation between casual sex and various forms of psychological distress. Specifically, those who participated in casual sex reported elevated levels of depression and anxiety. The authors of the article, entitled “Risky Business,” also concluded, “The link between casual sex and psychological distress and diminished well-being may represent a manifestation of sexual regret.”
august
Raleigh, North Carolina
technicianonline.com
An N.C. State professor is among a small group of researchers that recently announced that it had discovered a new species of carnivore in the Western Hemisphere—a feat that has not been accomplished in the past 35 years. For many years, the olinguito, which lives in the high forest canopies of Ecuador, had been mistakenly identified as another creature, the similarly named olingo. Roland Kays, a zoology professor at N.C. State and the director of the Biodiversity and Earth Observation Lab at the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, was on the three-person research team that made the discovery. “Every year or two there’s a new mammal found, but they’re usually bats and rats,” Kays said. “This is basically the first bigger mammal [found] in the New World in
thursday
DANIELLE SCHMIDT/TECHNICIAN
A recent study suggests STD’s aren’t the only health consequences of casual sex.
Lead researcher, Melina M. Bersamin of California State University, Sacramento, told U.S. News and World Report that the cause-and-effect relationship between casual sex and negative psychological effects isn’t clear. “It may be that people who are depressed or anxious are more likely to seek out casual sex relationships and not that casual sex causes depression
or anxiety,” she said. Monica Osburn, director of the N.C. State Counseling Center and former president of the American College Counseling Association, agreed that the study’s results were inconclusive. “From my perspective, what needs to be discerned is what comes first: casual sex or diminished wellbeing?” Osburn said.
“I can see the linkage, but not a causal relationship.” Osburn speculated that alcohol abuse in response to symptoms of depression might lower inhibitions toward casual sex. Researchers found that the number of students engaging in casual sex was unrepresentative of “hook-up” culture portrayed in popular media. Of the 3,907 surveyed, only 11 percent reported a casual sexual experience 30 days prior to the assessment. Osburn compared the misrepresentation of casual sex in popular culture to stereotypes of drinking behavior: College students may think everyone is doing it, she said, but not all students are. According to the study, out of those who admitted to having casual sex, men were twice as likely as women to
SEX continued page 2
Study abroad gives students global perspective, school credit Chris Hart-Williams Staff Writer
For students looking to travel the world, meet new people, gain a global perspective and still get school credit, there’s no better way than studying abroad. That’s exactly what scores of N.C. State students did over the summer, representing the Wolfpack in England, the Czech Republic, Thailand, Peru, Spain, China,
Italy and Botswana among other countries. Within the N.C. State Study Abroad program, there are numerous programs that cater to a range of interests and majors, and no one program is exclusive to a specific major.
ENGLAND
Bethaney Lewis, a junior in nutrition science, studied abroad in London, England for five weeks. While there, Lewis camped
outside Buckingham Palace titular character in the Harry along with thousands of Brit- Potter movies, outside of a ons to await London theword on the atre. newborn Lewis says son of Prince she enjoyed William and t he roya l Catherine baby watch Middleton, because she t he Duchand another John Pujal ess of Camstudent got junior in accounting bridge. to be on TV Lewis also around the met Daniel Radcliffe, an ac- world. As reporters from tor known for his role as the Russia, South Africa, Italy
“Going to another country teaches you to deal with a lot.”
and France reported live, they still found time to show their love for N.C. State. “We went up behind them and prett y much photo bombed, and said ‘Wolfpack!’ and did the Wolfpack sign in their shot while they were broadcasting live, so we were on TV around the world,” Lewis said.
CZECH REPUBLIC
Alex Sanchez, a senior in communication, traveled to Prague, Czech Republic,
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where he studied Czech literature and women and gender studies. Sanchez said the study abroad program made it easy to travel around Prague. “I would not have been able to go and have the experience I had if I had traveled on my own,” Sanchez said. Sanchez said he enjoyed sharing his experience with
ABROAD continued page 3