Brown planetary geologists have located a gully system that appears to have been carved by melt water that originated in nearby snow and ice deposits. The gullies, which the team determined to be about 1.25 million years old, may represent the most recent period when water flowed on the planet. The findings appear on the cover of the March issue of Geology.
(Distributed March 2, 2009)
Brain Science
Brown University’s David Badre, an assistant professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences and psychology, and colleagues at the University of California–Berkeley mapped parts of the brain that control abstract or concrete decision making by studying stroke patients.
Their findings are published March 1 in the journal
Nature Neuroscience.
The Economic Crisis: February 24, 2009
Budget cuts originally planned for fiscal year 2010 will need to be significantly increased. This will require reductions in the University’s workforce. Executive Vice President Elizabeth Huidekoper’s message to University staff follows here.
(Distributed February 24, 2009)
Watson Institute for International Studies
High school students in six states will bring their opinions on global issues from the classroom to the State House. These discussions with elected officials and civic leaders are part of the 11th annual Capitol Forum on America’s Future, an initiative of the Choices Program at Brown University’s Watson Institute for International Studies.
(Distributed February 23, 2009)
Meeting of the Corporation
The Corporation of Brown University has approved a consolidated operating budget of $758.7 million for the 2010 fiscal year, an increase of less than 1 percent over the fiscal 2009 budget. The total charge for undergraduate tuition and fees will rise 2.9 percent to $49,128 for the 2009-10 academic year, the lowest annual percentage increase since the early 1960s. The Corporation also authorized construction or architect selection for several projects and officially accepted a number of gifts to the University. (Also see President Simmons’
letter to the community.)
Taubman Center for Public Policy
The $787-billion economic stimulus bill, set to be signed into law today by President Barack Obama, is favored by most Rhode Island voters, but most are concerned with the speed of its impact on the economy, according to a new Brown University survey of registered Rhode Island voters. The poll was conducted Feb. 7-10, 2009.
(Distributed February 17, 2009)
Southside: The Fall and Rise of an Inner-City Neighborhood, a feature-length documentary by Brown sociologist Hilary Silver, explores the transformation of the South Providence neighborhood. It airs for the first time Saturday, Feb. 14, 2009, at 7 p.m. on Channel 36.
(Distributed February 11, 2009)
Joan Teno, M.D., professor of community health and medicine at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University, has co-written a guide to help doctors place their patients in the best possible hospice care. Details on the guide will be published in the Feb. 11, 2009, edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.
(Distributed February 11, 2009)
Romano Prodi, former prime minister of Italy, has been appointed professor-at-large at Brown University.
(Distributed February 6, 2009)
autism
A Brown research team led by neuroscience professor Justin Fallon has discovered a structure in the brain called the Fragile X granule, which offers a potential target for treating certain kinds of autism and mental retardation. Details were published Feb. 4, 2009, in the
Journal of Neuroscience.
Brown University biomedical engineers, using a 3-D Petri dish they invented, have successfully built complex-shaped microtissues by assembling small building blocks of living cell clusters.
The finding, to be published in the March 1 edition of
Biotechnology and Bioengineering, helps advance the field of tissue engineering and could reduce the need for some animal research.
President Ruth J. Simmons
In a message e-mailed to the University community this evening, Brown University President Ruth J. Simmons described the effects of the global financial crisis on the University and outlined measures Brown will take and may consider. The text of the president’s message follows here. (See also President Simmons’
Message of November 4, 2008)
Expert Commentary
Brown University health care experts are available to comment on President Barack Obama’s ongoing health care reform agenda.
(Distributed January 23, 2009)
Brown University researchers Stephen Helfand, Nicola Neretti, and others, have identified a cellular mechanism in mutated “Indy” fruit flies that appears to reduce significantly the production of free radicals, which are blamed for contributing to the aging process. The research builds on Helfand’s earlier work.
(Distributed January 22, 2009)
Faces and Race
Researchers from Brown University and University of Victoria have determined that racial bias can be reduced by teaching people to differentiate facial features better in individuals of a different race. The findings are part of a new study published Jan. 21, 2009, in PLoS ONE, the online, peer-reviewed journal from the Public Library of Science.
(Distributed January 21, 2009)
