It is often hard to imagine a ray of light emerging from the deep darkness of a bloody war…

But in dismal and violent South Sudan, the Washington Post tells us there’s an amazing story of hope beaming out.

His name is Lam Tungwar.

Dubbed as “South Sudan’s homespun blend of Bono and Bob Marley,” Tungwar is a bonafide star in East Africa.

The former child soldier fled the South Sudanese military and walked to refuge in Kenya at age nine. From there, he got an education and started making music.

He says from his website:

“I have been delivering positive messages through concerts, meetings, conferences, and campaigns and in various activities representing the voices of young people. I am working for the liberation of youth and fight for them in this tough world. My second album, Call the President, is talking a lot about the changes I want to see in our communities all over the world.”

Tungwar has attracted many young fans with his music, which combines positive lyrics with catchy hooks and danceable beats.

Unfortunately his songs, with titles like “Drop the Guns,” “Love,” and “Call the President,” are more of a vision for the future than a reality in today’s South Sudan. 

The turn for the worse in the country has affected Tungwar personally – his three brothers were killed just last month in the conflict. Still, he is hopeful for the future, despite the tremendous amount of suffering taking place.

Tungwar describes it like this:

“When a baby is born, they have diseases and are very sick, and their mother thinks they are going to die, but somehow they make it.”

We hope Tungwar’s music will be a part of the medicine that heals South Sudan. Keep fighting with love, Lam! Do it until they “Drop the Guns.”

No matter what your personal goals are, its safe to say that we can all agree on a few things:

• We want to be healthy and fit
• We want to feel good 
• We want to live long

Unfortunately, in the world of fad diets, Hollywood, and false advertising, its tough to know exactly how to achieve these goals. 

We are often fed information that is just plain wrong. 

Here are a few debunked nutrition myths to help you live a healthier and happier life. 

1. Carbs are bad and should be cut out of the diet

Nope. Carbohydrates are our bodies’ main source of energy. They provide the necessary glucose for our brain and muscles to function as well as a regulation of the digestive system. Dieters who are mislead to believe that carbohydrates need to be eliminated are left feeling lethargic and tired as well as constipated. 

2. Drinking milk is essential for strong bones

You know that whole Got Milk campaign? The dairy farmer-funded campaign has mislead many to believe that milk is the best source of calcium and vitamin D. This is not the case. Vegetables like kale and spinach are better sources.

3. Skipping meals will lead to weight loss

Many people skip meals hoping that this form of restriction will lead to weight loss. Unfortunately, they actually end up doing the opposite. Skipping meals causes a drop in  blood sugar levels that leads to fatigue and inadequate nutrition. In addition, metabolism is slowed down leading to increased fat storage. 

4. Calories are evil 

One of the most common mistakes made when dieting is obsessing over calorie intake. Calories are not indicative of the health of foods. In fact, there are endless foods that may be high in caloric content but their nutritional value makes them important, if not essential, to the diet. 

5. Weight is indicative of health 

Muscle is denser than fat. People who have large numbers on the scale may not necessarily be overweight or unhealthy. 

6. Organic food is always best 

Blindly buying solely organic  is simply a waste of money. Permeable produce such as berries soak up pesticides easily and rapidly and are worth buying organic. Non-permeable produce is not nutritionally worth it. 

In summary: Healthy and nutritious diets are not defined by restriction or fixation on certain foods or practices. By treating your body right you will live a healthier, happier, and longer life. 

CSEE Ph.D. student Omar Shehab received a travel grant to present his research, UNKNOTTING as a k-local Hamiltonian problem, at the 2014 Quantum Information Processing conference, which will be held early in February in Barcelona, Spain. Later in February he will also attend the Workshop on Quantum Games and Protocols at the Simons Institute for the Theory of Computing, UC Berkeley.

Omar’s research include adiabatic quantum Hamiltonian complexity, quantum computational simulation of topology and use of quantum optics to understand device independent cryptography. His work on quantum computing is done in collaboration with his mentor, CSEE Professor Samuel Lomonaco.

Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley is sending his final budget to the General Assembly this week. Political science professor Roy Meyers was a guest on WYPR’s Maryland Morning on January 13th and analyzed what the budget will look like and what Gov. O’Malley’s priorities will be.

“I think he’s probably going to stay the course. He’s going to claim credit for the innovations he’s made over the previous years and also try to promote additional job creation,” Meyers said.

He described potential ways Gov. O’Malley could create jobs with the budget including investments in infrastructure and education.

“The long term strategy of the administration is to try to build human capital and make investments in infrastructure. So for example, the increase in the gas tax last year has been creating jobs and it will continue to create jobs over the next couple of years,” Meyers added.

You can listen to the interview on Maryland Morning in its entirety here.

Asian studies program director Constantine Vaporis was recently interviewed in Education About Asia as part of an interview series with recipients of the AAS Franklin Buchanan Prize. Vaporis was the 2013 award winner for his book Voices of Early Modern Japan: Contemporary Accounts of Daily Life During the Age of Shoguns.

Education About Asia praised Vaporis for “producing a superb pedagogical tool” and interviewed him about his extensive scholarship on Tokugawa Japan and research methods for his book.

In addition to the interview, the magazine published a review of Voices of Early Modern Japan.  The reviewer, Kathleen Krauth, writes:

[The book] is a remarkable work in that it not only offers educators many topics and themes from the early modern era of Japan but also emphasizes how to read and understand a primary document. Because Vaporis’s text successfully presents content and skills, it serves as a model of how to meet the many demands of our jobs. High school and postsecondary teachers of Japan and Asia will find this book valuable for their teaching.

The interview and book review appeared in Volume 18, Number 3 winter edition of the magazine.

What’s the Absurd Creature of the Week in WIRED science? Why it’s none other than one of biologist Tom Cronin’s favorite sea critters, the mantis shrimp. And the eyes of these creatures are Cronin’s specialty and that’s where he comes into the article.

“As with bees or flies or crabs, they are compound eyes, but unlike those creatures, mantis shrimp “have a very unusual adaptation in that multiple parts of the same eye view the same point in space,” said biologist Tom Cronin of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, “which is sort of like having multiple eyes in one, in a way.” Whereas we use two eyes to judge distance, mantis shrimp can do that with a single eye.”

“On top of that, some mantis shrimp can see a variety of colors in ultraviolet, so “they’re seeing colors that no other animal can see, in a sense,” said Cronin. “Basically color is a property of the nervous system so it’s not really present in the real world, but they can see aspects of the ultraviolet that nothing else can see.”

There are some neat photos with the article and some videos. Well worth a read.