Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe, whose novel “Things Fall Apart” is one of the most-read books by an African author, was buried today in his hometown of Ogidi in the country’s southeast. Achebe, who died in Boston on March 21 at the age of 82, was lowered into his grave with tens of thousands in attendance, including Nigeria President Goodluck Jonathan and Ghana’s President John Mahama.

In today's Science 360 featured video. Rebecca Haumann, from Erika Edwards' Plant Diversity course at Brown University, describes how different plants cope with drying out.

Members of the Brown Divest Coal Campaign, which is pushing for the school to divest from coal companies, said they have been invited to speak Thursday during the first day of the Corporation’s annual two-day May meeting. 

Stephen Houston, professor of anthropology, comments on how the Internet is helping researchers write the history of Mayan civilization. "The Web log gets ideas out quickly, which is very appealing,” said Houston. “You don’t have to wait two years for publication. You want to lay claim to a new idea and get it noticed by colleagues.”

RI NPR is wrapping up its year-long "Future Docs" segment with an hour-long documentary about the crucible of medical school, set against the backdrop of some of the most dramatic changes in health care in a generation. Listen to the full hour or individual segments at the link. 

Stephen McGarvey, professor of epidemiology, is studying the feeding patterns of Samoan babies and the effect it has as the child grows.McGarvey says a previous study showed children who put on the most weight for their body length, had been fed with formula milk as infants, and cautions that if this pattern continues, the children will become overweight as they enter kindergarten age.

An article on the health patterns of both Hispanic immigrants and American-born Hispanics cites 2001 research from Andrew Fenelon that found that half of the three-year life expectancy advantage that Hispanic immigrants had over American-born Hispanics was because they smoked less. 

Chad Jenkins, associate professor of computer science, has been selected as one of this year’s National Geographic Emerging Explorers. The program recognizes and supports uniquely gifted and inspiring young adventurers, scientists, photographers, and storytellers—explorers who are already making a difference early in their careers. To help the Emerging Explorers realize their potential, National Geographic awards each of them $10,000 for research and exploration.

Seven years after Brown University became the first college in the state to equip its campus police with guns, Russell Carey, executive vice president for planning and policy, says it’s unlikely the school will reverse that policy anytime soon, given it has allowed its police to catch more perpetrators.

Evidence that Europe’s austerity policies are not working was in ample supply this morning. To understand why this is happening, Mark Blyth, professor of international political economy, says it is necessary to forget everything you think you know about the euro zone crisis, and understand that it is merely a sequel to the U.S. financial meltdown that started, like its American counterpart, with dangerously-indebted risk-taking on the part of a super-sized banking sector.

As RI NPR celebrates the conclusion of our school-year-long series "Future Docs," guest blogger Dr. Stanley M. Aronson, founding dean of the Warren Alpert Medical School, reflects on how far medical education has come since he entered the field 70 years ago.

Azavy, a business plan led by Brown senior Tyler Benster, won the student track in last night's RI Business Plan Competition Finals, earning the team $15,000 in cash and services valued at $24,000. Azavy is an online store that connects people and organizations that own 3D printers with consumers who want to buy products designed and printed on them. 

Richard Arenberg, adjunct lecturer in public policy, responds to critics who blame the recent defeat of the gun ownership background-check amendment in the Senate on the filibuster, pointing out that "The bipartisan bill is not dead, however. Broad public support can still convince the Congress to reverse itself. Historically, filibusters rarely can withstand strong and sustained public support for particular legislation."

Allen Dennison, clinical assistant professor of medicine, comments on the effects of dementia on memory, the medications that he has found to slow, but not stop, memory loss, and the positive effect music can have on a patient with memory empairment.