The Art at Watson initiative at Brown University presents DIGNITY: Tribes in Transition, photography by Dana Gluckstein on view at the Watson Institute for International and Public Affairs through Friday, Nov. 6, 2015.
Amid debate about whether flu vaccination really helps the elderly, a new study provides fresh evidence that it does. Brown University researchers found vaccines well matched to the year’s flu strain significantly reduce deaths and hospitalizations compared to when the match is poor, suggesting that vaccination indeed makes a difference. They project that well-matched vaccines saves thousands of lives every flu season.
Scientists have found traces of carbon in volcanic glass collected from the Apollo missions to the Moon. The finding may not only explain the driving force behind ancient “fire fountain” eruptions on the Moon but also suggest that some volatile elements on the Moon and Earth have a common origin.
Dehydration from diarrhea, either viral or from cholera, kills 700,000 children a year worldwide, yet clinicians still lack a method that performs significantly better than chance for diagnosing dehydration severity. In a new study, researchers report two sensitive and specific diagnostic tools derived from the cases of hundreds of young children in Bangladesh.
A cooling, drying climate over the last 40 million years turned North America from a warm and wooded place into the drier, open plains we know today. A new study shows how dogs evolved in response to those changes, demonstrating that predators are sensitive to climate change because it alters the hunting opportunities in their habitat.
Scientists have detected for the first time gamma rays emanating from a dwarf galaxy. Such a detection may be the signal of dark matter particles annihilating, a long-sought prediction of many dark matter theories. (Updated from March 2015)
Elderly patients under the stress of a trauma such as a hip fracture are highly vulnerable to delirium, heart or kidney failure, and other complications. Researchers, including Dr. Richard Besdine, have shown that when an orthopaedist and a geriatrician co-manage care, results improve. With a new grant, Besdine will lead an effort to disseminate this idea to make it a national standard of care.
Solar cells made from perovskites have great potential for high efficiency and low cost, but more research is necessary to scale them up to mass production. A new federal grant will support that effort and other perovskite improvements at Brown University, Rhode Island College and the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.
A new study finds that in Rhode Island heat-related emergency department visits and deaths increase notably among people of all ages as temperatures rise above 75 degrees. The study projects that if the population were living with the warmer temperatures forecast for the end of the century, emergency department visits and deaths would be measurably higher.
The nation’s first ever dual-degree program in medicine and population medicine got underway at the Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University the week of August 3. Sixteen students will earn M.D. and Sc.M. degrees in the context of a rapidly changing health care landscape.
