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The Future of Curiosity

Next for Mars rover: Mountain mapping

The steep road ahead: Curiosity’s cameras show Mount Sharp in the distance. The rover will begin climbing the mountain in coming months, following Martian geological history as it climbs higher and examining as much as 4.5 billion years of planetary material.
All of planet Earth seemed to follow the rover Curiosity’s harrowing descent to the surface of Mars. Curiosity’s early discoveries showed that liquid water once flowed on the Martian surface, but the big discoveries still lie ahead, including Mount Sharp, three miles high. Ralph Milliken, a participating scientist on the Curiosity mission, has returned to Brown and talked with Kevin Stacey about what lies ahead for Curiosity. (Distributed December 6, 2012)

Mammalian brain knows where it’s at

A place for everything: Door open left rear; table left; glass fish on first shelf: In rats, the postrhinal cortex keeps track of places and objects and sends other parts of the brain vital positioning information. “The POR,” Rebecca Burwell says, “is not just a relay station for spatial information.”
A new study in the journal Neuron suggests that the brain uses a different region than neuroscientists had thought to associate objects and locations in the space around an individual. Knowing where this fundamental process occurs could help treat disease and brain injury as well as inform basic understanding of how the brain supports memory and guides behavior. (Distributed December 5, 2012)

Brown to host West-Eastern Divan Orchestra

Music enables conversation: The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, an organization of young Arab and Israeli musicians, will be in residence at Brown Jan. 22-29, 2013. The orchestra will perform two concerts of Beethoven symphonies at Veterans Memorial Auditorium.
World-renowned conductor and pianist Daniel Barenboim and the young musicians of the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra — an ensemble of young Arab and Israeli musicians that he co-founded in 1999 with the late Palestinian-born literary scholar Edward Said — will visit Brown University from Tuesday, Jan. 22, through Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013, for a residency that will include concerts of Beethoven symphonies and a campus conversation. The campus conversation will be streamed live on Thursday, Jan. 24, at 6 p.m. (Distributed December 5, 2012)
Commentary: Fiery Cushman

Morality of the NY Post subway photo 

A freelance photographer happened to be on the scene in New York when one man pushed another onto the subway tracks. The New York Post ultimately ran a photo on its front page, sparking widespread outrage. Based on his research, Brown University psychologist Fiery Cushman suggests that what makes people uncomfortable about the photo may be the idea of profiting from tragedy. (Distributed December 5, 2012)

First measurements made of key brain links

An essential thalamocortical partnership: It’s not just the contact between the thalamus and prefrontal cortex that’s important; it’s the nature of those contacts at different layers of the cortex that allows the thalamus a measure of control. Scott Cruikshank and colleagues used optogenetic techniques to make their findings.
Until now, brain scientists have been almost completely in the dark about how most of the nonspecific thalamus interacts with the prefrontal cortex, a relationship believed to be key in such fundamental functions as maintaining consciousness and mental arousal. Brown University researchers performed a set of experiments, described in the Journal of Neuroscience, to explore and measure those circuits for the first time. (Distributed December 4, 2012)

Delivered meals keep seniors in their homes

Much more than a good meal: Many older adults need only a little support to stay in their homes. States that have invested in community-based service networks like Meals-on-Wheels can reduce the rate “low-care” seniors in expensive nursing homes.
Many older adults need only a little support to stay in their homes, but when that isn’t available they can end up in an expensive nursing home where they don’t need most of the available services. According to a new study, states that invest more in delivering meals to seniors’ homes have lower rates of such “low-care” seniors in nursing homes, after adjusting for several other factors. (Distributed December 4, 2012)
Passages

Ray L. Heffner, 13th president of Brown

Ray Lorenzo Heffner: Thirteenth president of Brown University (1966–69) Sayles Hall portrait painted in 1969 by Philip Pearlstein.
Ray Lorenzo Heffner, the 13th president of Brown University (1966–69), died Nov. 28, 2012, at Lantern Park Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Coralville, Iowa. He was 87. (Distributed November 30, 2012)
Commentary: James W. Head III

Water, organic molecules on Mercury

Mercury, where surface temperatures can reach 800 degrees Fahrenheit, would not be a likely spot to find water ice. James W. Head III, professor of geological sciences, calls Thursday’s news from NASA a “stunning announcement.” (Distributed November 30, 2012)

Locke to lead Brown's Watson Institute

Richard M. Locke: The Howard R. Swearer Director Thomas J. Watson Jr. Institute for International Studies
Richard Locke has been appointed director of the Watson Institute for International Studies at Brown University. Currently deputy dean of the Sloan School of Management and head of the political science department at MIT, Locke will begin his new duties at the Watson Institute in July 2013. (Distributed November 30, 2012)

Four at Brown named AAAS fellows

Provost Mark Schlissel, Professors Julie Kauer and Roberto Tamassia, and Writer-in-Residence Cornelia Dean have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest scientific society and one of its most prestigious. (Distributed November 29, 2012)

Students learn health care teamwork

The power of multiple perspectives: Medical student Ella Damiano, right, and URI pharmacy Iheanyi Ahukanna, second from left, work with a social work student and a nursing student to diagnose a patient and understand the potential of interprofessional health care teams.
A case of pneumonia can raise a number of questions about insurance, adverse drug interactions and, of course, medical treatment. Students of nursing, medicine, social work, and pharmacy from around the state convened at the Alpert Medical School Nov. 28 to learn how to work together while they are still in school. (Distributed November 29, 2012)

Women 16–49 at risk of multiple pollutants

In a new analysis of thousands of U.S. women of childbearing age, Brown University researchers found that most exceeded the median blood level for two or more of three environmental pollutants that could harm brain development of fetuses and babies: lead, mercury, and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). (Distributed November 28, 2012)
Media Advisory

Brown faculty, students, staff to shop local

Brown will host "Brown Shops Local!" on Thursday, Dec. 6, 2012, offering free shuttle service for Brown faculty, students, and staff between campus and three major shopping areas in Providence. The event will run from 4 to 8 p.m. (Distributed November 28, 2012)
Commentary: Ian Straughn

Is Egypt’s revolution in doubt? 

Egypt’s new democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi recently made world headlines on two accounts. The first was for his central role in brokering a cease-fire in Gaza between Israeli forces and Hamas. The second, which followed almost immediately after the deal was confirmed, was a highly controversial presidential decree that would temporarily insulate his legislative and executive decisions from any judicial oversight. Ian Straughn, visiting assistant professor of anthropology and Joukowsky Family Librarian for Middle East Studies, analyzes the return of protesters to Cairo’s Tahrir Square and the future of the Arab Spring in Egypt. (Distributed November 27, 2012)
Media Advisory

Workshop to teach patient care teamwork

Around Providence: Nursing, pharmacy, medical, and social work students from URI, RIC, and Brown will meet at Alpert Medical School for a workshop on interprofessional team approaches to health care.
Nursing, pharmacy, and social work students from the University of Rhode Island and Rhode Island College will join medical students at the Alpert Medical School Nov. 28 for workshops in which they will learn and practice how to work as a comprehensive team of caregivers. (Distributed November 26, 2012)