Seen and heard this week

Despite a slight reduction in population density in Singapore for the first time in over a decade, citizens might not feel that the city is any less crowded, The Straits Times reported on 16 January. NUS Sociology Provost Chair Professor Jean Yeung; NUS Geography Associate Professor Pow Choon-Piew; Senior Research Fellow at Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) at NUS’ Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Dr Leong Chan-Hoong; and Mr Tay Kheng Soon, Adjunct Professor at NUS Architecture, shared their expert opinions on why the island still feels crowded and what the government could consider to ease the condition.

Elaborating on their study that discovered that Singapore residents are more likely to mix with people of other races and age groups than those of a different social standing, NUS Sociology Associate Professor Tan Ern Ser and Associate Professor Vincent Chua, and Dr Gillian Koh, Deputy Director (Research) and Senior Research Fellow at IPS, discussed the reasons for this emerging social class divide and how to approach it in a Today Online commentary on 11 January.

On 10 January, The Straits Times reported the discovery of a novel, more efficient way to predict and prevent stomach cancer by National University Health System and Duke-NUS Medical School (Duke-NUS) researchers, co-led by NUS Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine Dean Associate Professor Yeoh Khay Guan and Duke-NUS Professor Patrick Tan. The study found that DNA sequencing was more effective in detecting the Helicobactor pylori bacteria, a key trigger for stomach cancer.

Read more about the NUS community in the news.