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Are zombie courses creating mindless, debt-ridden students in higher education?
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From English to Anthropology, professors are producing revenue for departments with fun pop culture courses that may not pay off for students. - photo by Eric Schulzke
With college costs rapidly escalating, student debt growing, and the real-world applications of some college degrees increasingly questioned, NPR is raising questions about zombies in the classroom.

Metaphorically speaking, the concern seems to be that charging students exorbitant tuition to fill their minds with pop culture might produce a generation of mental zombies with poor job prospects.

NPR visited Amherst College in western Massachusetts, which, like many colleges, in the 1960s replaced its core curriculum with an open proliferation of choices with few if any requirements.

You don't have to study science at Amherst, not even in general education.

"It's all good stuff as long as it's taught in a rigorous way," Catherine Epstein, history professor and dean of faculty at Amherst, told NPR as she defended several seemingly obscure courses.

NPR also spoke with a more skeptical Michael Polikoff, president of the American Council of Trustees and Alumni, who listed off a series of dubious courses from around the country, such as "Video Games and the Boundaries of Narrative," "Disney for Grownups," and "Knowing Television."

And then there are zombies. You can, in fact, study zombies at many prominent institutions of higher learning.

At Ohio State University, you can take an anthropology class on zombies from Professor Jeffrey Cohen, who notes that the mythology of zombies has deep roots in many cultures.

"Looking at past societies, we note how the zombie has developed," Cohen writes. "We also explore the parallels and connections that link cannibalism, disease and witchcraft to the undead as well as social rules and rituals. Finally, we explore the place of zombies in contemporary life."

George Mason University in Virginia also offers a zombie anthro course, which "explores how human beings across cultures have historically expressed social anxieties through references to the one particular manifestation of the undead: zombies, figures representing a state in which human beings are animate and affective in the world around them, but lack consciousness or free will."

And don't worry about this being a time waster: the syllabus helpfully notes that the course "fulfills the college requirement in non-Western culture."

At the University of Pennsylvania, you could study zombies through a medical lens if you are Health and Societies major. It is not clear from the department website if the course is offered regularly.

"Using more than a century of 'zombie culture' as a lens, this course surveys the history of western medical knowledge and practice from antiquity to the present, with a particular focus on the technologies that have been used to manage bodies," the syllabus reads, which suggests it may be trying to sneak nutrition in alongside the cotton candy.

At Marylhurst University near Portland, Oregon, you can take a Zombies in literature and film course from Professor Jesse Strommel, who argues that the current obsession with zombies and other forms of grotesque violence reflect a disconnection from our own bodies, a kind of technological living death.

"The zombie is part and parcel of this cultural obsession, but it is also the antidote," Strommel writes in his syllabus. "The zombie threatens to deconstruct us (to eat us), but in an altogether different way from the machine. Whereas machines devour our flesh, the zombie just chews, turning us into zombies, which are the epitome of flesh. Machines take our flesh away. Zombies proffer it back."
Its toxic: New study says blue light from tech devices can speed up blindness
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A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers. - photo by Herb Scribner
It turns out checking Twitter or Facebook before bed is bad for your health.

A new study from the University of Toledo found that blue light from digital devices can transform molecules in your eyes retina into cell killers.

That process can lead to age-related macular degeneration, which is a leading cause of blindness in the United States, according to the researchs extract.

Blue light is a common issue for many modern Americans. Blue light is emitted from screens, most notably at night, causing sleep loss, eye strain and a number of other issues.

Dr. Ajith Karunarathne, assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, said our constant exposure to blue light cant be blocked by the lens or cornea.

"It's no secret that blue light harms our vision by damaging the eye's retina. Our experiments explain how this happens, and we hope this leads to therapies that slow macular degeneration, such as a new kind of eye drop, he said.

Macular degeneration is an incurable eye disease that often affects those in their 50s or 60s. It occurs after the death of photoreceptor cells in the retina. Those cells need retinal to sense light and help signal the brain.

The research team found blue light exposure created poisonous chemical molecules that killed photoreceptor cells

"It's toxic. If you shine blue light on retinal, the retinal kills photoreceptor cells as the signaling molecule on the membrane dissolves," said Kasun Ratnayake, a Ph.D. student researcher working in Karunarathne's cellular photo chemistry group. "Photoreceptor cells do not regenerate in the eye. When they're dead, they're dead for good."

However, the researchers found a molecule called alpha-tocopherol, which comes from Vitamin E, can help prevent cell death, according to Futurism.

The researchers plan to review how light from TVs, cellphones and tablet screens affect the eyes as well.

"If you look at the amount of light coming out of your cellphone, it's not great but it seems tolerable," said Dr. John Payton, visiting assistant professor in the UT Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry. "Some cellphone companies are adding blue-light filters to the screens, and I think that is a good idea."

Indeed, Apple released a Night Shift mode two years ago to help quell blue lights strain on the eyes, according to The Verge. The screen will dim into a warmer, orange light that will cause less stress on the eyes.