Living Today: Issues of modern living

COLLEGE STUDENTS ASKING FOR MORE AID

Universities across the United States are reporting a sharp increase in requests for financial aid, and at some colleges the number of students qualifying for need-based loans is up 30 percent over the past two years, TIME magazine reports.

"There is a lot of uncertainty due to the loss of value in families' assets," says Jim Molloy, associate director of financial aid at Notre Dame. Mark Evans, director of financial aid at Kent State, reports requests for additional aid because of "special circumstances" have risen 65 percent.

State schools, meanwhile, are deluged. At Kennesaw State University in Georgia, freshman applications doubled this year. "That's just stunning for us," says Joe Head, dean of enrollment services.

He attributes the increase to heightened job insecurity, layoffs, a post-Sept. 11 desire among parents to keep the kids close to home and the meltdown in stock portfolios.

STATINS MAY REDUCE ALZHEIMER'S RISK

New studies released this week strengthen evidence linking the use of statins -- drugs prescribed to lower low-density lipoprotein or LDL cholesterol -- with a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease.

The Boston University School of Medicine study finds individuals taking statins to lower cholesterol -- which reduces the risk of heart attack and stroke -- reduced their risk of developing Alzheimer's disease by 29 percent.

In addition, investigators found non-statin cholesterol-lowering medications were not significantly associated with reduced risk of Alzheimer's.

Brian Austen and colleagues at St. George's Hospital Medical School in London find using statins to reduce cellular cholesterol levels dramatically lowered production of beta-amyloid -- the protein fragment that aggregates into amyloid plaques, the hallmark of Alzheimer's.

WHAT VOTERS WANT IN CANDIDATES

A poll of 800 likely voters, conducted for the Institute for Global Ethics in Camden, Maine, finds voters want debates, an opportunity for citizens to question candidates and less mudslinging from political candidates.

Other key findings include 3 in 5 voters say questioning an opponent's patriotism or support for the president is unfair and three-quarters believe it is unfair to criticize an opponent for not having served in the military.

A candidate's voting record is fair game for criticism, as is criticizing an opponent for talking one way and voting another, accepting contributions from people with ethical problems and taking contributions from special interests, the poll finds.

Calling attention to actions by members of an opponent's family, criticizing past personal problems -- such as marital issues and alcohol or marijuana abuse -- also are considered out of bounds.

FIGHTING FISH AND HORMONES

To examine the effect of watching fights on fight outcomes, behavioral ecologist Ethan Clotfelter of Providence College in Rhode Island set up battles between pairs of male Siamese fighting fish, the Web site inScight reports.

A third fish watched the fight and then entered the tank against a similarly sized opponent that had not seen a fight. Although the two were evenly matched physically, the fish that had watched a fight triumphed 80 percent of the time.

Previous research has shown watching fish clash raises levels of hormones, such as testosterone, and other studies have shown higher levels of testosterone make fish more likely to fight.

Clotfelter says fish, like people, start to swim in hormones when they watch a fight and the results of the study might apply to humans.