Research Blog

Dr. John Bartlett, Professor of Medicine and Global Health Researcher

In your retirement, would you ever hold four Zoom calls every week with colleagues?

To be fair, Dr. John Bartlett is not technically retired. He is employed by Duke at the 20% level and continues to serve as a Professor of Medicine. However, his busy schedule, which also includes 2-3 months in Tanzania every year and writing grants to support research education efforts, in no way resembles the glorified picture of retirement many of us imagine!

Fellow freshmen, we may be in for the long haul.

Before I dive into my interview with Dr. Bartlett, I must acknowledge the incredible enthusiasm he showed in response to my invitation to an interview. Even as cable lines are down in western North Carolina, where he resides, due to the impact of Hurricane Helene, he still offered to keep our original interview time and made himself fully accessible to my questions. I extend my sincere gratitude to Dr. Bartlett for his time, and it is only just for me to relay his thoughts to our readers at large.

For students unfamiliar with Dr. Bartlett’s background or professional experiences, he has been a Duke faculty member since the 1980s, serving as both a physician in infectious diseases and internal medicine and a professor. His lengthy career traversed continents, having become deeply involved in international HIV/AIDS research and treatment since the 2000 World AIDS conference held in Durban, South Africa.

“As I traveled to South Africa, I witnessed the profound disparities between clinical outcomes for patients in the U.S., who were thriving, and [those in] the continent most severely impacted by HIV, where no treatment was available,” said Dr. Bartlett, recalling his transition to international work. “We reckoned that [the] concept of research with service could be applicable with an African partner,” he added, which led him to spend two-thirds of the next decade in Tanzania, focusing on this new partnership.

Picture of the Kilimanjaro Christian Medical Centre, where Dr. Bartlett conducted most of his research and education efforts in Tanzania

Captivated by Dr. Bartlett’s unique experiences, I inquired why he became involved in Tanzania, a country halfway across the globe. To my surprise, it turned out that in the early 2000s, faculty and students at Duke held a strong inclination towards advancing global health research. At the same time, researchers also sought to expand the scope of their activities overseas. Dr. Bartlett shared what was perhaps the most important reason last: “I have to credit my wife, a social worker, who was also quite committed to international work.”

I learned much about global health throughout the interview. When Dr. Bartlett shared statistics showing 100% effectiveness of certain HIV/AIDS treatments currently offered in lower-income countries, I was stunned. From no access to treatment a few decades ago to successful management of the disease today, there has been remarkable and swift progress that is saving millions of lives. Of course, there are still barriers to treatment including cultural norms, “ubiquitous” stigma, lack of testing resources, and cost. However, the global health field is advancing every day, with newfound knowledge regarding protective factors against HIV transmission helping to further lower mortality rates.

Discussing Duke’s global health efforts at large, Dr. Barlett was quick to point out the diversity of current projects around the world. “I would refer you to the website for the latest list of countries because I can’t keep up with the continuing growth!” Upon a quick search, this sentiment makes sense: Duke works in more than 40 countries and there are more than 100 active projects. “I am especially proud to see that [the institute’s work] is not limited to a single geographic region or a single topic”, Dr. Bartlett added, reflecting how projects “run the gammit from infectious diseases to non-communicable diseases to cancer to mental health to health systems strengthening.”

By this point in the article, maybe some engineer readers are yearning for a message pertaining to their academic interests. Don’t worry, Dr. Bartlett talked about your importance in global health work during the conversation too! “There are quite a few BME professors who work with students to develop practical, low-cost solutions to common global health problems,” he said. From rapid diagnostic tests to laparoscopes, the BME department has played a crucial role in the Global Health Institute’s efforts. And these engineering projects are still active: for students desiring to involve themselves in this work, Dr. Bartlett recommends reaching out to Dr. Ann Saterbak, a Biomedical Engineering professor who coordinates many opportunities.

Before I conclude, I would like to share a quote from Dr. Kathy Andolsek, professor of family medicine, discussing the character, expertise, and work of Dr. Bartlett:

“He was a dedicated researcher and clinician and an early pioneer in HIV/AIDS. [As a] primary doc, I [worked] with him to get my patients into his clinical trials… so we ‘shared’ many patients. He was inspirational to students and a great listener.”

Thank you, Dr. Bartlett, for your tireless work on HIV/AIDS treatment around the world. As an educator, researcher, and clinician, you have contributed much to the betterment of health outcomes for patients. Your commitment towards this noble cause and desire to help Tanzanian counterparts become independent in their research encourage all of us, medical students and non-medical students alike, to persistently pursue goals we believe in.

Sticking to Sweat: The Future of Biosensors and Tracking Our Health

By Monona Zhou and Nicolas Zepeda

On October 18, 2024

In Biomedical Engineering, Engineering, Medicine, Science Communication & Education, Uncategorized

Bandaids and pimple patches are the first things we consider when discussing adhesives in medicine. But what if there is more to the story? What if adhesives could not only cover and protect but also diagnose and communicate? It turns out Dr. Wei Gao, assistant professor of medical engineering at the California Institute of Technology, is asking these exact questions. In the field of biomedical adhesives, Gao’s research is revolutionizing our understanding of precision medicine and medical testing accessibility. He visited Duke on Oct. 9 to present his work as part of the MEMS (Mechanical Engineering and Material Science) Seminar Series.

Gao’s research team focuses on material, device, and system innovations that apply molecular research and principles to clinical settings and improve health. Gao focused his talk on the invaluable characteristics and uses of sweat. Sweat can offer doctors a broad spectrum of information, including nutrients, biomarkers, pH levels, electrolytes/salts, and hormones. He leverages this fundamental characteristic of human physiology to design wearable biosensors that can provide early warnings of health issues or diseases. Gao focuses on making biomarker detection more efficient than current methods, such as blood samples, which require hospital testing, involve highly invasive techniques, and lack continuous monitoring.

The first milestone in his research came in 2016 when he introduced a fully printed, wearable, real-time monitoring sensor device. The device allowed them to continuously collect sweat and wirelessly communicate data about these sweat samples from patients onto digital devices. The initial 2016 device focused on resolving four fundamental challenges: since most chemical sensors are not stable over long periods of time, the device had to be (1) low-cost and (2) disposable without sacrificing performance. In addition, the device had to (3) be mass-producible to be accessible to the public and (4) integrate multiple signals that could be real-time transmitted to a digital interface.

Schematic of the sensor array for multiplexed perspiration analysis in Dr. Gao’s 2016 biosensor design

To address the first two of those challenges, Gao and his group turned to printing techniques. The circuit substrate was a thin piece of flexible PET (a plastic), upon which they layered the circuit components. The flexible sensor array was constructed in a similar pattern, with a layer of PET patterned with gold to produce the electrodes, covered with parylene, and then each electrode was tuned to receive a specific chemical stimulus: potassium and sodium ion sensors, with a polyvinyl butyrate reference electrode, and oxidase-based glucose and lactate sensors paired with a silver/silver chloride reference electrode. This design allows the simultaneous monitoring of multiple biomarkers. To transmit the data wirelessly, the circuit board included a Bluetooth transceiver.

The next major step was to devise a way to monitor sweat without relying upon heat or vigorous exercise, neither of which may be feasible in the case of clinically ill patients. In a 2023 paper, Gao and colleagues published a biosensor that could induce localized sweating using an electric circuit. Called iontophoresis, the technique delivers a drug (a cholinergic agonist) that stimulates the sweat glands on demand and only in the area of the sensor.

Another important question was how to power the devices sustainably. Gao’s lab has devised two primary responses to this question: In a 2020 paper, his team powered a similar multiplexed wireless sensor entirely using electricity generated from compounds in sweat. This entailed using lactate biofuel cells to harness the oxidation of lactate to pyruvate (coupled with the reduction of oxygen to water) to provide a stable current. In a 2023 paper, they employed a flexible perovskite solar cell onboard the device to power the monitoring of a suite of biomarkers.

Dr. Gao’s recent publication in February 2024 highlighted a Consolidated AI-Reinforced Electronic Skin (CARES) for stress response monitoring

With these technical hurdles overcome, Gao and his lab have been able to develop sensors targeted to several important medical applications. The work can be directly applied to the monitoring of conditions like cystic fibrosis and gout. More broadly, wearable biosensors can be used to track levels of medically relevant compounds like cortisol (for stress monitoring), C reactive protein (inflammation), and reproductive hormones. The lab has also branched into other kinds of devices that use similar microfluidics approaches, including smart bandages for wound monitoring and smart masks to detect biomarkers in breath.

Through eight years of dedicated investigation, Gao serves as a pioneer in the field of bioelectronic interfaces. Gao continues to widen the possibilities of biosensors not only within the medical sphere but also for the general public. For example, his lab is collaborating with NASA and the U.S. Navy to support the performance and health of astronauts and our military, which is vital as they work in extreme environments. By pushing forward ground-breaking devices such as sweat biosensors, our healthcare systems can pursue preventative care, reducing the need for treatments or health resources by catching these issues early on. Following Gao’s footsteps, we can now build toward a healthier future as we improve the precision of our healthcare approaches and technological advancements.

Duke experts discuss the potential of AI to help prevent, detect and treat disease

By Robin Smith

On October 15, 2024

In Artificial Intelligence, Biomedical Engineering, Engineering, Entrepreneurship, Medicine

Sure, A.I. chatbots can write emails, summarize an article, or come up with a grocery list. But ChatGPT-style artificial intelligence and other machine learning techniques have been making their way into another realm: healthcare.

Imagine using AI to detect early changes in our health before we get sick, or understand what happens in our brains when we feel anxious or depressed — even design new ways to fight hard-to-treat diseases.

These were just a few of the research themes discussed at the Duke Summit on AI for Health Innovation, held October 9 – 11.

Duke assistant professor Pranam Chatterjee is the co-founder of Gameto, Inc. and UbiquiTx, Inc. Credit: Brian Strickland

For assistant professor of biomedical engineering Pranam Chatterjee, the real opportunity for the large language models behind tools like ChatGPT lies not in the language of words, but in the language of biology.

Just like ChatGPT predicts the order of words in a sentence, the language models his lab works on can generate strings of molecules that make up proteins.

His team has trained language models to design new proteins that could one day fight diseases such as Huntington’s or cancer, even grow human eggs from stem cells to help people struggling with infertility.

“We don’t just make any proteins,” Chatterjee said. “We make proteins that can edit any DNA sequence, or proteins that can modify other disease-causing proteins, as well as proteins that can make new cells and tissues from scratch.”

Duke assistant professor Monica Agrawal is the co-founder of Layer Health. Credit: Brian Strickland

New faculty member Monica Agrawal said algorithms that leverage the power of large language models could help with another healthcare challenge: mining the ever-expanding trove of data in a patient’s medical chart.

To choose the best medication for a certain patient, for example, a doctor might first need to know things like: How has their disease progressed over time? What interventions have already been tried? What symptoms and side effects did they have? Do they have other conditions that need to be considered?

“The challenge is, most of these variables are not found cleanly in the electronic health record,” said Agrawal, who joined the departments of computer science and biostatistics and bioinformatics this fall.

Instead, most of the data that could answer these questions is trapped in doctors’ notes. The observations doctors type into a patient’s electronic medical record during a visit, they’re often chock-full of jargon and abbreviations.

The shorthand saves time during patient visits, but it can also lead to confusion among patients and other providers. What’s more, reviewing these records to understand a patient’s healthcare history is time-intensive and costly.

Agrawal is building algorithms that could make these records easier to maintain and analyze, with help from AI.

“Language is really embedded across medicine, from notes to literature to patient communications to trials,” Agrawal said. “And it affects many stakeholders, from clinicians to researchers to patients. The goal of my new lab is to make clinical language work for everyone.”

Duke assistant professor Jessilyn Dunn leads Duke’s BIG IDEAs Lab. Credit: Brian Strickland

Jessilyn Dunn, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering and biostatistics and bioinformatics at Duke, is looking at whether data from smartwatches and other wearable devices could help detect early signs of illness or infection before people start to have symptoms and realize they’re sick.

Using AI and machine learning to analyze data from these devices, she and her team at Duke’s Big Ideas Lab say their research could help people who are at risk of developing diabetes take action to reverse it, or even detect when someone is likely to have RSV, COVID-19 or the flu before they have a chance to spread the infection.

“The benefit of wearables is that we can gather information about a person’s health over time, continuously and at a very low cost,” Dunn said. “Ultimately, the goal is to provide patient empowerment, precision therapies, just-in-time intervention and improve access to care.”

Duke associate professor David Carlson. Credit: Brian Strickland

David Carlson, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering and biostatistics and bioinformatics, is developing AI techniques that can make sense of brain wave data to better understand different emotions and behaviors.

Using machine learning to analyze the electrical activity of different brain regions in mice, he and his colleagues have been able to track how aggressive a mouse is feeling, and even block the aggression signals to make them more friendly to other mice.

“This might sound like science fiction,” Carlson said. But Carlson said the work will help researchers better understand what happens in the brains of people who struggle with social situations, such as those with autism or social anxiety disorder, and could even lead to new ways to manage and treat psychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression.

Riots and Reconciliations: Revisiting ‘The Kerner Report’

By Sarah Pusser

On October 14, 2024

In Anthropology, History, Political science

When we think of some of the most important milestones in America’s civil rights movement, rarely do people talk about “The Kerner Report.”

“U.S. Riot Commission Report. REPORT OF THE NATIONAL ADVISORY COMMISSION ON CIVIL DISORDERS” from *Center for Lost Objects*

In a conference room in the John Hope Franklin Center, I sat amidst a gathering of curious people, and at the front of the room was Rick Loessberg, the author of “Two Societies: The Rioting of 1967 and the Writing of the Kerner Report.” If you couldn’t tell from Loessberg’s contagious smile, you could certainly tell from his extensive knowledge that he was excited to be introducing us to this report, which looks at the causes of the 1967 civil rights riots.

Giving us some background history, Loessberg first acknowledged the importance of the very building we were all in. The John Hope Franklin Center, where Dr. John Hope Franklin held an office and worked until he died in 2009, was built in 2001 to create a space for everything Dr. Franklin believed in–a welcoming environment that encouraged considerate debate and discussion. Dr. Franklin was also known for writing the 5th chapter of “The Kerner Report,” which connected African American’s history in the United States and their riots in 1967. As I sat in the conference room, I couldn’t help but feel the weight and proximity of the building’s history emphasizing the importance of Loessberg’s discussion.

Loessberg then began to explain the catalyst for creating “The Kerner Report,” enumerating the tragedies of the riots in 1967. On July 23, 1967, Detroit Police raided an after-hours nightclub. The raid quickly turned violent, and the civilians in the city did not let this go unnoticed. The following five days were marked by extreme violence, with 43 people killed, over 7200 arrests, and 600 fires started. It wasn’t until 5,000 elite paratroopers came into Detroit that the riots finally stopped.

“Burning Buildings in Detroit after Riots” from *Getty Images*

In response to this, Lyndon B. Johnson created a commission of 11 members, which examined FBI reports, studied the attitudes of 13,000 people who had been arrested, and looked at U.S. Census data to discover why the riots were happening. The Census concluded that the rioting was not the fault of what the majority of Americans believed–the rioters were “losers,” “communists,” you get the point–but instead, the riots were a reaction to the years of discrimination and racism that Black people had been facing throughout their lives (which though not surprising to many today, was an incredibly progressive conclusion for the 1960s).

“Chair of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders, Otto Kerner with President Lyndon Johnson” from *LBJ Presidential Library*

Additionally, “The Kerner Report” found that most of the people rioting had gone to school, had jobs, and did not have arrest records–findings that went against the stereotypes white people assigned to the rioters. The bravery of these successful people willing to risk everything in order to riot against what they knew was wrong stood out to me (however, not to say that violence should ever be encouraged). I also found it quite surprising how successful “The Kerner Report” was, given the lack of knowledge on it today, with over 1 million copies being sold in the first week.

Here are five key points “The Kerner Report” can teach us if implemented in today’s time, Loessberg said:

Be courteous: During the creation of “The Kerner Report,” the commission always made sure to have appropriate discussions, never name-calling or blaming, similar to what we see in politics today.
Focus on what everyone has in common: The commission worked hard to make sure that everyone’s voice was heard. They addressed everyone’s concerns, and even if they couldn’t explicitly “fix” their concern, by holding a space where people could voice their upset, the commission was more successful at creating a report most approved of.
Know how to read the room and when to temporarily regroup: The commission was very aware of when they would get stuck in arguments rather than discussions, and because of this, they were able to acknowledge that they needed to regroup and try to tackle the issue again.
You don’t have to win every argument: Being successful alone doesn’t make a group or society successful. The Kerner Commission knew this and always kept this in mind when researching and writing the report. Because of that, not one person was in charge of the narrative, allowing for the narrative to be a collection of ideas.
“The Kerner Report” can apply to all work settings and relationships: By observing how to tackle systemic issues and address the country about such things, we can learn about how to approach this issue today, both at large and in smaller settings. Every relationship needs respect and a facilitation of conversation to be successful.

Moving forward, Loessberg said that we must have proper education about the impacts of systemic racism on the Black community. Additionally, and something I found quite interesting because I have never heard before, Loessberg said that there is a need for a wider variety of terms that mean racist–arguing that the fact that KKK members in white sheets are called racists just as the white cashier who has inherently racist actions is racist does not allow for a deeper understanding of systematic racism.

As I looked around during the final Q&A, I saw people from all different backgrounds facilitating respectful discourse–something I can’t say I see often. When I asked if Loessberg believed this text should be taught in schools if allowed, he answered, agreeing that (absolutely) “The Kerner Report” should be in schools today, but unfortunately “…it would be accepted as critical race theory,” meaning it would not be allowed in schools today. As others asked questions, I began to put into words what I had been observing throughout this entire presentation and discussion; even when opposing opinions were shared, everyone could eventually come together to agree on one thing–How the United States is today is in need of fixing, and “The Kerner Report” can provide insightful and guiding information if implemented correctly.

When He’s Not in Class, Here’s Where You Can Find New Blogger Nico Zepeda

By Nicolás Zepeda

On October 11, 2024

In Students

When I visited college campuses last year, there were two must-see destinations at each: the libraries and the forests (gardens would suffice at those unfortunate institutions which, by the whims of geography, lacked a sylvan space). Those two places also happen to be where I am most liable to be found when classes and tasks allow. An intriguing volume, a maze of shelves, a mossy glen, or a stand of oak or pine, and I am in my element.

Homeschooled from kindergarten onwards, I was just about never more than a few feet from a book. I believe some significant portion of the public library’s collections was usually in one corner of the living room, my parents’ books lined the walls, a burgeoning collection began to fill – then overfill – my bedroom shelf, all of which impelled me to grow up on books like bacterial colonies on agarose. I learned from books, recreated with books, and began to gain an appreciation for learning for its own sake.

Despite this apparent bibliophilia, it is love and awe for the natural world that have primarily driven my interests since at least age five, when I turned my innocent quest for encyclopedic knowledge from dinosaurs to extant animals (giving my mom a much-needed break from being Mrs. Protoceratops). I obsessively read about cassowaries or tardigrades with my best friend and began to amass the collection of exotic stuffed animals that would later form a self-governing republic and conduct mass experiments in electoral systems. Now, I explore the outdoors whenever possible, whether by foot, bicycle, kayak, or cross-country ski, yearning for the freedom of a snow-covered woodland or a bog ablaze with fall color.

Recently, I’ve begun to see commonalities between Nico the bookworm and Nico of the forest frolic. I would like to think that I can attribute those connections to exposure to the realm of research. Since beginning work in a botany lab the summer before 11^th grade, I have seen those all-important forests with new eyes, trying my best to understand the mechanisms that drive their function, no hike too minor an occasion to be infused with the spirit of inquiry. What is the taxonomy of this striking fern? What evolutionary processes transformed lycophytes from pillars of the Carboniferous swamp-forests to humble, fuzzy Christmas-tree lookalikes crawling along the boreal forest floor? With the tools of modern science, the contents of ecosystems can be read almost like those of libraries, their eDNA forming a catalog, community ecology supplying the collection structure, and each organism’s biology holding a wealth of information.

Books, conversely, come alive under the investigative eye. Through classes focused on the methods of historical scholarship, I’ve learned how texts must be examined through their context; each author, work, or moment in time is deeply interconnected with many others. The flow of ideas through societal systems may not be too dissimilar from the flow of energy through natural ones. Most of all, libraries and forests share a sense of timelessness, that moment when the vastness of evolutionary deep-time catches you in a pensive mood, or when you begin to wonder, after spending too long browsing labyrinthine stacks or inscrutable pages, whether Borges may not have been right, after all, that the universe is composed of a library infinite in space and time, of which the center is undefined and the perimeter inaccessible.

I am Nico Zepeda, a freshman from Madison, Wisconsin. I plan to major in biology, with a whole host of other fields like history, philosophy, environmental science, and architecture that I hope to explore in parallel. I am thrilled to be in an environment like Duke, where fascinating, interdisciplinary research is around every corner, and I am even more excited to interact directly with Duke’s dynamic researchers and share their work through the Research Blog!

New Blogger Monona Zhou: Turning the Old into Anew

By Monona Zhou

On October 7, 2024

In Students

Every day is a surprise. As a freshman, I never imagined taking a class where I would be reading physical copies of books that have existed centuries before us. I hold in my hands a 1522 edition of “Vitruvii De architectura libri decem“ by Vitruvius Pollio. Five hundred and two years of history since the book was published, with thousands more found within its very pages. I trace my fingertips across the book, barely larger than my palm, and its aged pages that are stained with dirt, oil, and dust.

Title page of “Virtuvii De Architectura libri decem,” currently in the Rubenstein Library

Despite being in a language incomprehensible to my modern-English mind, the book seems to whisper stories and secrets that are embedded within its pages. Parallel to the research we conduct on these literatures, we also learn how the greats have done so for centuries before us. Leonardo da Vinci once studied this same book (albeit a different literal copy of the book) and applied Vitruvius’ theories of proportion to studying the human body. His meticulous investigations led him to produce “The Vitruvian Man,” blending both art and science to investigate the natural world.

So, just like how Leonardo studied the world before and around him, we find ourselves in modern day doing the same. We study history, of the curiosity, thinking, and discoveries that make up the pinnacles of human pursuit, and we explore life, of the emotions, nature, technology, and behaviors that guide and shift our every day.

As part of the team at the Duke Research Blog, I wish to share ongoing research that is relevant and connected to you, the reader. I ask myself what information can I share to make the reader better informed about the choices, actions, people, and objects that surround their lives. From the community initiatives to the groundbreaking research to the hidden stories waiting to be uncovered, there’s always something new to learn and share. I want to shine a light on these unique stories and bring awareness to the causes and impacts that define our community.

My favorite piece from the VMFA is “Landscape with Wing” by Anselm Kiefer.

To begin this journey, I want to first share my story. I come from Richmond, Virginia, where I lived for 16 years. My perfect day would consist of spending time at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and my local 2nd & Charles bookstore. While I am keeping my options open for my major, I am orienting my interests toward pursuing health and bioethics policy. Specifically, I hope to improve how we understand and define “sickness”—whether of the body or the mind. I believe that the current medical system fails to treat patients for their best wellness, often promoting treatments that produce more harm than good.

Just as I aim to help patients understand their options in healthcare, I wish to help people better understand the research that impacts their lives. Through my work, I hope to share beneficial and informative insights about the up-and-coming research happening around us. I can’t wait to see what the future holds, and I look forward to what we uncover together!

Understanding the Shifting and Complex Views of Muslim American Voters

By Noor Nazir

On October 7, 2024

In Policy, Political science

“We are techies in Silicon Valley, but we are also laborers in rural areas.”

That’s how the head of one of the nation’s largest Muslim voter-mobilization groups described the diverse socio-economic backgrounds of Muslim voters during a Sept. 30 talk held as part of the Provost’s Initiative on the Middle East.

Wa’el Alzayat is a first-generation Arab and Muslim American who serves as the CEO of Emgage, an organization that educates and mobilizes Muslim American voters in support of policies that enable our communities to thrive and democracy to flourish.

At his talk at the Sanford School of Public Policy, he showed the predominantly South Asian and Arab audience the political trajectory Muslims are undertaking this election; highlighting important turning points for the community – specifically, the events of October 7, 2023, and September 11, 2001.

Who Are Muslim American Voters?

“They are the most diverse religious group in America, consisting of Black Muslims, South Asians, Arabs, Hispanics, and others,” said Alzayat. This diversity meant that when we talk about Muslim voters, we’re not looking at a homogenous group but rather one with a wide range of perspectives, backgrounds, and priorities.

This is a community not confined to one particular industry or region but spread across the economic and social spectrum, contributing to the U.S. in a wide variety of ways.

But, just because Muslims make up 1-2% of the electorate doesn’t mean their vote doesn’t matter.

After all, in the 2000 presidential election, the deciding factor was the state of Florida, where Bush won by just 537 votes after a contentious recount process. This is 0.0034% of the population, so it’s fair to assume that the Muslim American voting bloc — more than three and a half million people — matters.

Post 9/11 and the War on Terror

Before 9/11, many Muslims supported the Republican Party. George W. Bush and Dick Cheney earned significant support from the Muslim community due to their positions on Palestine and their alignment with conservative values, including opposition to same-sex marriage.

However, the post-9/11 landscape changed everything. Alzayat shared data showing how Muslim Americans, once allied with the GOP, shifted toward the Democratic Party in response to policies like the Patriot Act, increased Islamophobia, and the Iraq War. These events alienated many Muslims, who felt targeted by the government. Since then, the Democratic Party has made strides in embracing Muslim Americans, especially during Obama’s presidency, when over 92% of Muslims supported him.

Post-October 7: The War in Gaza

Alzayat also addressed the current moment, particularly in light of the events in Gaza that began on October 7. He noted that foreign policy has always been central to Muslim voting behavior, especially regarding Palestine, Syria, Kashmir, and other Muslim-majority regions. The Gaza conflict has reignited these foreign policy concerns, driving more political engagement but also creating new divisions within the community.

Post 9/11, Muslims shifted to the Democrats. In the wake of October 7, Muslims are once again, conflicted. Since, according to Alzayat, most of the people in the community are issue voters – the Gaza war serves as one of the most colossal issues.

But neither party, Republican or Democrats, seem to side with defunding the Israeli military.

To no one’s surprise, Alzayat’s data shows a growing number of Muslims leaning toward third-party candidates, a significant shift from the 75% who voted for Biden in 2020.

Other Issues and Where Muslims Stand

As the research from Emgage illustrates, the Muslim community is not monolithic in its political beliefs. While some support progressive causes, such as gay marriage, others align more closely with traditional conservative values. This generational divide is becoming more pronounced, with younger Muslims more open to progressive social policies while older generations hold onto more conservative positions.

Issues like abortion are far from settled within the community, with different sects interpreting Islamic law differently. Alzayat pointed out that this diversity of opinion adds another layer of complexity to understanding Muslim American political behavior.

The Road to 2024: Green Party, Trump or Harris?

Alzayat went on to explain how there is no third party alternative, it’s just Trump or Harris, and Emgage has decided to endorse Harris. While he didn’t delve into this deeply, it’s reasonable to assume his stance is rooted in the historical impact of third-party votes. In key battleground states like Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania, Jill Stein’s votes in the 2016 election arguably swung the result. Clinton lost these states by less than a percentage point and merely half of Stein’s votes could have reversed her losses.

Alzayat explained why he endorsed Harris, and not Trump.

According to him, there is no black-or-white answer and his organization could be wrong. It could be business as usual when Harris is elected, but with Trump the “could” will be a “will.”

With Trump’s presidency comes a threat of white supremacy, “We believe there is a dual threat of white supremacy and anti-Palestinians should Trump win based on what he said he will do. Jared Kushner wants to build condos in Gaza and he has been given 100 millions by funders who want to annex the West Bank,” he said.

“That fight has an option to continue if Trump isn’t an option,” he said.

Can You Spot the Species in These Lemur Lookalikes?

By Robin Smith

On October 7, 2024

In Animals, Genetics/Genomics, Lemurs

In some parts of the world, animals are going extinct before scientists can even name them.

Such may be the case for mouse lemurs, the saucer-eyed, teacup-sized primates native to the African island of Madagascar.

Various species of mouse lemurs found in Madagascar. Photos by Sam Hyde Roberts

There, deforestation has prompted the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) to classify some of these tree-dwelling cousins as “endangered” even before they are formally described.

Duke professor Anne Yoder has been trying to take stock of how many mouse lemur species are alive today before they blink out of existence.

It’s not an easy task. Mouse lemurs are shy, they only come out at night, and they live in hard-to-reach places in remote forests. To add to the difficulty, many species of mouse lemurs are essentially lookalikes. It’s impossible to tell them apart just by peering at them through binoculars.

When Yoder first started studying mouse lemurs some 25 years ago, there were only three distinct species recognized by scientists. Over time and with advances in DNA sequencing, researchers began to wonder if what looked like three species might actually be upwards of two dozen.

In a new study, Yoder and dozens of colleagues from Europe, Madagascar and North America compiled and analyzed 50 years of hard-won data on the physical, behavioral and genetic differences among mouse lemurs to try to pin down the true number.

While many mouse lemur species look alike, they have different diets, and males use different calls to find and woo their mates, the researchers explain.

By pinning down their number and location, researchers hope to make more informed decisions about how best to help keep these species from the brink.

The study was published Sept. 27 in the journal Nature Ecology & Evolution.

Braxton Craven Distinguished Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Anne Yoder was director of the Duke Lemur Center from 2006 to 2018.

Crystal Han Is a New Local of Durham

By Crystal Han

On October 7, 2024

In Students

When battling lack of quality sleep and what may or may not be black mold-induced sickness, I know I rely on my Writing 101 class to be the highlight of my day. (Current freshmen, take Neuroscience & Society next semester and thank me later.) Unrelated to all the intriguing questions and research we look at in there, it was also because of this class that I would find a new way to approach identity upon viewing Taiye Selasi’s TED Talk, “Don’t Ask Me Where I’m From, Ask Me Where I’m a Local.”

So with this philosophy in mind, I’ll introduce myself.

I’m a local of my hometown, Ocala, a town in central Florida mainly known for having an extreme number of horse farms and trademarking itself as the Horse Capital of the World (sorry, Lexington). Though I didn’t grow up on any sort of farm, our family’s habit of going to the small animal auction “for fun” in my elementary school years soon led us to become the caretakers of many chickens, other miscellaneous birds, and a couple of rabbits. We no longer have these, but we do live within walking distance of many small family farms. Sometimes, I’ll greet the miniature horses while my one remaining companion, Roxie, watches them suspiciously from a distance.

*This picture is misleading. I spend a lot of time with a kayak and with Roxie but they should not be mixed together.*

My core childhood memories are embedded in the summer, because that’s when my mom made a point out of keeping us out of the house by sending us to every camp that existed in the area. Many were based in nature education, where younger Crystal first developed curiosity and appreciation of the natural world by building stick forts in the woods and crawling through caves. Later, I’d volunteer for paddling camps and then work as a residential camp counselor in the Ocala National Forest, where I learned not just how to deal with chaos, but also become comfortable in it. Through both these camps and my conscious effort, I’ve become a local of our nearby waterways. My Sunday mornings were often spent at Silver River, either pulling invasive weeds with the other volunteers I’d drag along with me, or trying to keep up with my dad on kayak runs and accumulating photos of manatees.

At the Camp Kiwanis archery station this past summer

The occasional summer was spent in the Xinyi District, my home base when visiting my mom’s relatives. The city of Taipei is just the opposite of Ocala, so large and fascinating that I felt like–and was–a tourist most of the time. But Xinyi is familiar to me, and my family is very local there. My grandmother’s apartment sits in an older section that existed before its development, situated around the corner from all that’s shiny and modern in the capital’s finance and shopping district. When I step outside, I can see Taipei 101 and know it’s a ten minute walk to the iconic skyscraper, or ten minutes by car to the Elephant Mountain trail if I feel like climbing stairs for a better view of the city. Our daily rituals here revolved around food and walking–I used to think I disliked cities, but I had just never met a walkable city with night markets.

The view from Elephant Mountain

Taiwan is my favorite place on Earth, and my favorite piece of writing I ever wrote was about our breakfast runs there. In my next few years, I hope to get enough traveling and writing under my belt that those two things might change.

In writing for the Duke Research Blog, I aim to accomplish a couple of things. A) Indulge my inner child that aspired to be a scientific journalist. B) Take a sneak peek into various fields. While I (regrettably) can’t major in five different areas at once, I’ll cheerfully settle for running around campus and interviewing pioneers of all disciplines about their work. C) Highlight research related to issues of real world relevance and importance. I originally wrote for my high school paper because I felt there was a need for environmental awareness in my area. In the same vein, the gap between what we learn from research and what occurs in the real world is largely why many of our society’s issues persist today; academia isn’t accessible to the general public. And yet, at Duke, we’re surrounded by more progress and discussion than we could ever hope to be aware of. That’s where I come into play, looking for what might get skipped over and bringing bite-sized pieces of news to you–all while becoming a local here in Durham, North Carolina.

By Crystal Han, Class of 2028

Art in the Anthropocene: A New Lens on Life

By Sarah Pusser

On October 2, 2024

In Anthropology, Art, Climate/Global Change, Environment/Sustainability, History

In a world shaped by our destructive actions, art emerges as a voice, warning us of the consequences that lie ahead.

We live in a constantly evolving world. Looking at the geologic time scale, we can see the Earth’s changes that have marked new eras all the way from the Archean epoch, 2.5 billion years ago, to today, the Holocene epoch. But how do we know when we are transitioning into a new epoch? And what kinds of changes in our world would lead to this geologic time-scale transition? The exhibition Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University offers us answers to these questions with its four thematic sections, “Reconfiguring Nature,” “Toxic Sublime,” “Inhumane Geographies,” and “Envisioning Tomorrow.’

As we begin the exhibition tour, our well-spoken gallery guide, Ruth Caccavale, asks if any of us has ever heard the word “Anthropocene” before. After a short silence, she tells us the literal translation for Anthropocene is “the human epoch,” an appropriate word to describe the geological era we are in right now. Ruth continues to explain that, though not agreed upon when the Anthropocene epoch began (the main arguments being since the Industrial Revolution and since nuclear warfare), people believe the Earth is in a new era, one established by the fact that human impact is the greatest factor in determining the way the world is.

When the Anthropocene epoch was brought to the attention of the geological society, and after more than a decade of debate, they eventually declared that we were not in a new age, keeping us in the Holocene epoch. However, many still accept the term “Anthropocene” and explore what it means to be living in it. Among those exploring the implications of the Anthropocene epoch are the forty-five artists from around the world featured in Second Nature, who, through their photography-based art, expose the complex relationship of beauty and horror in our evolving world and show us how our world is truly controlled by our human impact.

Walking into the exhibit, I first notice the dismal yet meditative music playing quietly overhead. Ruth guides us through the galleries and stops us a considerable distance away from a black-and-white print. “What do you see when you look at this photograph?” she asks. “I see a mountain,” says someone in the crowd. “It looks overwhelming,” I add, noticing the heaviness of the mountain juxtaposed with the brittle buildings in front of it.

*Travelers among Mountains and Streams* from afar

Ruth then asks us to come closer to the photograph, and we all quickly notice that the mountain is not a mountain but instead a structure composed of skyscrapers and architecture.

*Travelers among Mountains and Streams* up close

Based on Fan Kuan’s famous painting from the Song Dynasty, Yang Yongliang, an alumnus of the China Academy of Art, created Travelers Among Mountains and Streams as a warning of what our world could look like if our need to urbanize and develop continued without governing. Yongliang is known for his dystopian recreations of traditional Chinese art, leaving his audience feeling both eerie and in awe. For me, the symbolism of having to step closer to the art to see the true meaning spoke to how it’s easier for people in power to overlook the environmental dangers of development, whereas once we stepped closer and could see each building in detail, we were put in the shoes of those living in urban areas who suffer the most from pollution and overcrowding.

We then made our way through the second section, “Toxic Sublime,” a collection of pieces that show how sometimes the most hazardous areas in the world can be the most beautiful. On the wall is a photo of the remains of a Russian church, buildings next to a nuclear testing site, and a crater from nuclear bomb testing made green to show residual radioactivity.

Danila Tkachenko’s *Radioactive City*, *Contaminated Church*, and *Crater Formed after Nuclear Bomb Test*

Next to it, is the photo of colorful ponds near a lithium mine in Chile. While the composition and colors scream “toxic,” I can’t help but admire the lure of it as well–an invitation to debate the ethics of turning tragedy into something tasteful.

Edward Burtynsky’s *Lithium Mines #1, Salt Flats, Atacama Desert, Chile*

Upon entering the third section, “Inhumane Geographies” (the theme I personally found most captivating), we are greeted by a somewhat overstimulating gallery of an orange and red island scene, with a singular purple and blue photo plastered in front of them. Sanne De Wilde’s Island of the Colorblind, told the story of a Micronesian community, who in the 18th century were devastated by a typhoon, leaving only 20 people alive. Among those left was the King, who began repopulating the Pingelap community. The King, however, carried the gene for color blindness, causing more than 10% of the Pingelap population today to be colorblind. Island of the Colorblind not only shows me how our environment and climate can truly change who we are, but it also gives voice to the Pingelap’s unique perspective on how color for them means something truly different–thus why Wilde chose to edit the photo in a way where chlorophyll (what makes trees green) creates a pink color in the photo.

As Ruth brings us to the final section, “Envisioning Tomorrow,” I am immediately drawn in by Aïda Muluneh’s collection of four photographs depicting women dressed in lavish blue and red clothing against the arid landscape behind them. As part of Afrofuturism, a form of science fiction art that explores the history and future of Africa and its people, Muluneh’s pieces challenge the stereotypes surrounding women gathering water in Africa. The pieces bring attention to the implications of women’s role in getting water, as it requires an immense amount of time and makes them vulnerable to sexual violence. Ruth also informs us that the artist grew up in Ethiopia and uses her art to emphasize the issue of water scarcity there. As my peers and I look at Muluneh’s colorfully piercing and empowering art, we can’t help but be speechless.

Regardless of whether or not the geological society accepts the Anthropocene as an epoch, we as humans need to open our eyes and understand that our actions have consequences, even if they may not affect us personally. We are changing the world… a lot. But if we can break it apart, we can also build it back up. Leaving the exhibit, I feel heartbroken for the ways we have torn apart our world, unsettled in the ways our destruction can still be beautiful, curious in how my environment has shaped me, and yet hopeful that we as humans can come together, acknowledge the wrong we have done, and begin to undo the damage. For those who may not understand how dire our situation is, studying the work of the 45 artists featured in Second Nature might be a good start.

By Sarah Pusser, Class of 2028

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