Brown in the News

Fri 27 Oct | Providence Journal

My Turn: Baylor Fox-Kemper and Stephen Porder : EPA mutes science, harming us all

Op-ed by associate professors at Brown and fellows of the Institute at Brown for Environment and Society, about scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency who were prevented from making presentations at a conference about climate change impacts on Narragansett Bay

Fri 27 Oct | Science

Medicine's future?

Medical statistician Glenn Palomaki of Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, who studies the consequences of prenatal screening and genetic testing, notes that there is no health benefit to learning about a mutation if a carrier doesn't do anything—and the cost of DNA sequencing is wasted. In contrast, if a person overreacts out of fear, they might consume too many health care services.

Fri 27 Oct | CBS News

Brown University enrolling up to 50 U. of Puerto Rico students tuition-free

It’s not the first time that Brown University has partnered with schools affected by natural disasters. Following Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the school welcomed students who had been displaced in New Orleans. The school has already enrolled 15 students from the University of Puerto Rico and 10 more are scheduled to arrive at Brown on Tuesday.

Thu 26 Oct | PBS Nova Next

Molecular fossils offer universal way to track climate change

Article on branched GDGTs used to create temperature records for temperate, arctic, and tropical environments quotes Jim Russell, a paleoclimatologist at Brown.

Thu 26 Oct | Providence Journal

Brown neuroscientists develop new brain-study technology

Developed for experiments with fruit flies, ‘trans-Tango’ technique has potential for breakthrough human applications.

Thu 26 Oct | Washington Post

Top public universities are shutting out poor students, report says

Article highlights study by Brown economist John N. Friedman that examined economic outcomes among college students based on tax and financial-aid records.

Fri 20 Oct | New York Times

Where to see — really see — the art of Maya Lin

Article highlights Brown's Maya Lin sculpture, “Under the Laurentide,” a huge piece of Chelmsford granite intricately sculpted to show a topological map of the bottom of Narragansett Bay.

Fri 20 Oct | Laser Focus World

Brown University researchers use SPPs to alter coherence of light

In a paper published in the journal Science Advances, Brown University (Providence, RI) researchers show that they can use surface plasmon polaritons (SPPs)--propagating electromagnetic waves confined at a metal-dielectric interface--to transform light from completely incoherent to almost fully coherent and vice versa.

Thu 19 Oct | U.S. News & World Report

Rescued Rosa Parks house due to return to America

Continued coverage of the the possible move of the Rosa Parks house to Rhode Island in a project being organized by a Berlin-based artist and Brown University.

Wed 18 Oct | The Seeker

Meltwater from glaciers may have flowed on ancient Mars

More coverage of newly published Brown study that found that past temperatures on Mars could have sometimes peaked just above freezing, allowing meltwater to carve out distinctive features.

Tue 17 Oct | Providence Journal

ESPN’s “Boomer” to serve as Brown captain at Fenway game

ESPN’s Chris Berman, a 1977 Brown University graduate, and Jake Tapper, a 1991 graduate of Dartmouth College, will serve as honorary captains for their school’s football game at Fenway Park on Nov. 10.

Tue 17 Oct | Inside Climate News

Hurricane Irma’s overlooked victims: Migrant farm workers living at the edge

A story on how jobs, homes and lives are at risk when extreme weather strikes the communities that grow America's food quotes Bryan Moorefield, a Ph.D. candidate at Brown who studies social impacts on migrant farmworkers.

Mon 16 Oct | The New Yorker

Welcoming our new robot overlords

A feature on how the conventional view for decades among economists has been that technological advances create as many opportunities for workers as they take away. In the past several years, however, research has begun to suggest otherwise. Article prominently features Brown computer-science professor Stefanie Tellex who studies ways to create robots that can work cooperatively with humans in Brown's Humans to Robots Laboratory.

Sat 14 Oct | Atlanta Journal Constitution

Why did baby Caliyah have to die? Community wants answers

Article mentions an analysis by the Alpert Medical School at Brown University that found that every year, approximately 500 children are killed by their parents.

Wed 11 Oct | The Atlantic

'People who boast about their IQ are losers'

Brown Professor of Cognitive, Linguistic and Psychological Sciences Joachim Krueger is quoted in a story focused on what research says about those who brag and what those findings mean for President Donald Trump.

Wed 11 Oct | American Medical Association

Students use design thinking to fix broken care processes

A joint Warren Alpert Medical School / RISD program called “Design + Health” is featured in a story on how educational collaboration among medical and design students can help to tackle health care challenges.

Wed 11 Oct | The Atlantic

When scientists are sexually harassed in the field

Environmental studies faculty member Meredith Hastings, who is part of a national project to prevent sexual harassment in Earth sciences fields, offers comment on how victims are often questioned after raising allegations. The comment comes in the context of sexual harassment allegations against David Marchant, a prominent Antarctic geologist and Boston University professor.

Wed 11 Oct | Scientific American

Where's the proof that mindfulness meditation works?

The ubiquitous technique for relieving stress and pain has remarkably little scientific evidence backing it, a group of scientists contend. Brown Mindfulness Center Director Eric Loucks weighs in on the challenge of developing an evidence framework for such a personal, spiritual concept.

Tue 10 Oct | HealthDay News

Be 'mindful' of the hype

A new study by Willoughby Britton, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavior at the Warren Alpert Medical School, and other researchers finds that dependable scientific evidence has lagged worrisomely behind the rapid and widespread adoption of mindfulness and meditation for pursuing mental and physical wellness goals.

Sun 8 Oct | The Providence Journal

Brown, Tomaquag Museum celebrate Indigenous Peoples

A photo essay depicts a Sunday afternoon event hosted on campus by Native Americans at Brown to celebrate Indigenous People’s Day.

Sat 7 Oct | CBC Radio

NRA lobbying has suppressed gun violence research

In the aftermath of last week’s shooting in Las Vegas, CBC interviewed Associate Professor of Medicine Megan Ranney on the U.S. government’s role in research into firearms violence and how such research could help to save lives.

Sat 7 Oct | Chemistry World

Chemists reinvent the wheel

Professor Lai-Sheng Wang and his research team at Brown University have made a new molecular wheel by striking a gold and niobium solid target with an intense laser beam.

Fri 6 Oct | WRVO

The dangers of meningitis: one woman's story

Dr. Allan Tunkel, associate dean for medical education at Brown University's Warren Alpert Medical School, joined WRVO's Take Care series to comment on the case of a young woman who died from meningitis and described worrisome signs to look out for.

Fri 6 Oct | Providence Business News

Brazil named new director of Brown, Trinity Rep MFA program

Angela Brazil has been named the new director of the Brown University and Trinity Repertory Co. master’s degree program in acting and directing, according to a late September announcement from the theater company.

Thu 5 Oct | Financial Times

How experts can regain our trust

Steven Sloman, cognitive scientist at Brown University, comments on why experts will always be needed to inform on issues ranging from the inner-workings of a fridge to complicated topics involving the economy or climate change. His comments are part of a feature that offers ways that politicians can regain peoples' trust.

Thu 5 Oct | The Washington Post

. . .Why democracy is better than technocracy

In examining the 'impossible task' British Prime Minister Theresa May has ahead of her, Matthias Matthijs cites a paper co-authored by Brown Professor Mark Blyth that explains two reasons why bad political ideas gain support.

Thu 5 Oct | Science

Waves that drive global weather patterns finally explained

The ocean waves that help drive climate cycles like El Niño may arise from the same math that governs topological insulators, according to a new study led by Brown physicist Brad Marston.

Thu 5 Oct | ABC7

House clears first hurdle in GOP's race for tax reform

Richard Arenberg, an adjunct lecturer at the Watson Institute, commented on the House Republicans' approach to passing their ambitious tax reform plan. “The Republicans are opting to go for a one-party, ‘leave the Democrats out,’ approach on the tax bill, just as they did on the health bill,” Arenberg said. “This will likely have a similar effect, solidifying Democratic opposition. Abandoning a bipartisan approach on the front end could turn out to be a fatal error on the tax bill as it was on fixing Obamacare.”

Thu 5 Oct | The Providence Journal

Puerto Rican doctors say relief efforts fall short

Dr. Janice Santos Cortes, a professor of urology at Brown, joined another physician at the Warren Alpert Medical School to raise public awareness of the imminent health risks Puerto Rico faces if recovery efforts aren’t heightened. Cortes has family members and medical colleagues in Puerto Rico that have conveyed a desperate situation.