Reading in the news - Weds 11 Mar

The truth behind the Mary Celeste: Dr Richard Blakemore (History) helped solve a maritime mystery for Channel 5 documentary Mary Celeste: Solving the Mystery. 

Why you shouldn’t wash raw chicken: Dr Andreas Karatzas (Food and Nutritional Sciences) spoke to BBC News (republished by BBC News Afrique, Brasil and Arabic) about the dangers of washing chicken.

Health and wellbeing:

• Dr Mark Dallas (Pharmacy) was quoted by Ce se Intampla in response to a study on links between pollution and Alzheimer's.
• BBC Radio Berkshire trailed an upcoming interview with a University professor about decision-making.

Food and farming:

• Professor Gunter Kuhnle (Food and Nutritional Sciences) wrote a letter to The Lancet (published on his blog) about ultra-processed food research.

#PlanetPartners: working with global partners to protect the environment

• StarLink Greece mentioned Reading research into the accuracy of weather predicting apps.
• Huffington Post (republished by Canada News and MyPressToday) featured quotes from Dr Rob Thompson (Meteorology) on how UK snowfall often turns to rain.
• Further comments from Dr Akshay Deoras (Meteorology) on acid rain in Iran were featured by BBC News, Reuters, Democratic Underground, Cyprus Mail, Impakter, Der Standard and various outlets (republished by MSN, Yahoo News, Your News and AOL).
• Professor Emily Black (Meteorology) was quoted by Byteseu about global crop droughts.
• A study into how melting polar ice impacts Himalayan winter storms, involving Reading scientists, was featured by Nature.

Business and society:

• Professor Niaz Asadullah (Economics) was listed by The Khaborwala as a speaker at a recent event reviewing Bangladesh’s economy.
• Hardware Busters quoted Dr Yoshikatsu Hayashi (Biomedical Engineering) on a neuron-powered computer chip learning to play videogames.

Heritage and culture:

• BBC Radio Newcastle reported on the University-produced play Glitch, mentioning Dr Elizabeth Conaghan (Law).
• Professor Anne Lawrence-Mathers (History) was mentioned by Greatest Hits Radio on an exhibition showing The Reading Rota, a medieval music manuscript.
• Iefimerida (republished by MSN and Newsgr) quoted Professor Steve Mithen (Archaeology) on his research into the language of prehistoric humans.
• IHBC NewsBlog reported on a new Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) centenary exhibition at The Museum of English Rural Life.

Other coverage:

• The Reading Chronicle, The Mirror and The Sun provided further coverage on the inquest of international relations student Fintan Feltham, who died in Oxford in 2024.
• Research into making interior spaces feel more open was mentioned by Tile Mountain.
• Professor Suzanne Graham (Education) was listed by Social Science Space as a new fellow of the Academy of Social Sciences. 

Alumni:

• Fractal featured three poems by Law graduate Pavlos Andreou.