The health effects of hurricanes.
More than 200 people have died as a direct result of Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton may claim additional lives as it makes landfall this week in Florida. And that’s likely not the end of it: New Stanford research has found that hurricanes and tropical storms in the United States cause surges of deaths in the areas they hit for nearly 15 years. Solomon Hsiang, a professor of environmental social sciences and the study’s senior author, said such storms result in displaced households, broken social networks, and consequential financial burdens, which cascade and can have sobering consequences for public health. “In any given month, people are dying earlier than they would have if the storm hadn’t hit their community,” he told Stanford Report. According to the study, an average U.S. tropical cyclone indirectly causes up to 11,000 excess deaths. Hsiang and lead author Rachel Young, a visiting postdoctoral scholar at Stanford, estimate that U.S. tropical depressions between 1930 and 2015 contributed to as many as 5.2 million deaths in the years that followed. That’s more than the sum of U.S. deaths from car accidents, infectious disease, and war battle during the same period.
The ripple effects are profound. In one example, the researchers show that 25 percent of infant deaths are related to tropical cyclones—including babies born years after the actual storm. “This points to a longer-term economic and maternal health story, where mothers might not have as many resources even years after a disaster than they would have in a world where they never experienced a tropical cyclone,” Young said. The study could inform the way governments plan for climate resistance and improve disaster management, as well as how they communicate with people in the years following a hurricane. Individuals who use retirement savings to repair their homes, for example, might benefit down the road from advice on increasing their savings for future health-care needs.
New year, new robe.
Photo: Ian Bates
On a very sunny, very warm recent Friday afternoon that kicked off a heat wave, Jonathan Levin, ’94, was inaugurated as Stanford’s 13th president, including the donning of a new, red presidential robe. For Levin’s sake, the Loop hopes that one traps less heat than the standard-issue black. If you weren’t there, no FOMO necessary: You can catch up on President Levin’s remarks, and get a feel for the event and after-party from somewhere that hasn’t been an oven for the past 12 days.
California law on legacy admissions.
Last week, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 1780, which aims to stop private colleges and universities in California from giving extra consideration in the admission process to applicants who are related to alumni or donors. Schools that receive state funding will be required to report annually on their compliance with or violation of the law. Stanford is reviewing the issues raised by AB 1780 and has not announced any change to admissions policies at this time. The legislation does not take effect until September 2025.
Who we’re obsessed with right now:
Juan Felipe Herrera, MA ’80. The former U.S. poet laureate (the first Latino to hold the post), as well as the author of 30 volumes of poetry, YA novels, and children’s books, has been named a 2024 MacArthur Fellow. His 2008 children’s book, Half the World in Light: New and Selected Poems, won the National Book Critics Circle Award and the International Latino Book Award. You can get to know him in a video about his work (we told you we were obsessed): “Let’s live in a world of poetry,” he said. “Billions of words, all yours. So grab some, sprinkle them on a paper, throw some colors in there, and welcome poetry to your life.”
Election day is coming.
Nearly every state has changed their voting laws since 2020, and nearly a third of election officials across the nation are novices, according to Stanford law professor and election law expert Nate Persily, JD ’98. “We really need to get behind the army of election officials who are administering this election, because they need a lot of love and support right now,” he told the podcast Stanford Legal. From what could go wrong (“I would group a lot of my concerns about this election under the heading of ‘voter confusion’”) to how to handle election night (“We need to build up our resilience in not thinking that there’s a problem if we don’t know whether all 160 million ballots have been fully counted by election night”), Persily lays out what to expect in the coming month.
Enrollment data.
Stanford has released preliminary enrollment data for the Class of 2028, the first admitted since the Supreme Court ruling on race-conscious admissions in higher education. Using federal reporting methodology for race and ethnicity, the percentage of Black first-year students dropped from 9 percent to 5 percent, and the percentage of Hispanic or Latino students dropped from 17 percent to 15 percent, compared with the Class of 2027. “We followed the law in admitting this year’s class, and it is an amazingly accomplished and inspiring class,” said Provost Jenny Martinez. “It also is very difficult to observe the declines in representation among some of our communities.”
What’s so funny?
Stanford’s humor magazine, the Chaparral, is 125 years old. Its first joke was its name. Chaparral describes the scrubs and shrubs that carpet California’s arid hillsides—so, basically, the opposite of a stately redwood. More than a century later, the self-deprecation still fits. “Stanford is the Tree. We’re this,” Jim Suhre, ’88, a former Chaparral head editor, told Stanford magazine. “It’s almost impossible to kill, becomes a tumbleweed, and always looks scruffy.” It can also, he might have mentioned, rub people the wrong way.
But wait, there’s more.
Some 71 percent of Americans said they approve of labor unions—but 58 percent say they wouldn’t join one. Robb Willer, a professor of sociology, says most Americans underestimate the benefits of unionizing, but publicizing accurate data about the benefits of unions might change that.
Ever wished you could somersault your way to a new eye color or—just spitballing here—shapelier calves? Turns out bacteria can “flip” sections of their DNA to activate or deactivate genes.
Aadith Moorthy, MS ’20, is on the 2024 TIME100 Next list, which recognizes rising leaders. He’s the founder of Boomitra, which aims to ramp up global carbon sequestration by using revenue from carbon-offset credits.
In a School’s In podcast episode, Steve Adelsheim, a clinical professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, discusses the benefits of community mental health care and how to destigmatize adolescent mental health needs.
Junior Lisa Ing shares, in graphic-novel form, how she made the CS major her own and learned to swim in the Stanford pond.
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