All News

Neuroscientist Diane Lipscombe will lead the multidisciplinary brain science center as its new director effective immediately, Brown Provost Richard Locke announced today.

Scientific concepts like the human microbiome, genetic splicing or conductive polymers sound complicated, but in the SciToons series Brown University students and faculty members make them fun and easier to understand.

From preschoolers to professors, thousands of attendees are expected on Saturday to check out robotic technologies developed in the Ocean State and beyond.

A collaboration launched over lunch has now become a two-day international conference at Brown on April 8 and 9 — the goal has been to examine ways that early life stress affects the brain with the hope of assisting those working to help refugee children, such as those displaced by five years of fighting in Syria.

New research shows why some large landslides travel greater distances across flat land than scientists would generally expect, sometimes putting towns and populations far from mountainsides at risk.

Cropland recycles less water into the atmosphere than native vegetation in Brazil’s wooded savannas, which could lead to less rain in the region as agriculture expands.

Bats need sensitive hearing to function effectively, yet live immersed in an intense clamor of sound – a new study shows that the noisy background doesn’t reduce their hearing sensitivity, which is a rare immunity in nature.

Brown professor of neuroscience is in Uruguay this week to be celebrated as a newly elected fellow of the International Society of Neuroethology.

In two new studies inspired by the clamor of bats in flight, Brown undergraduates have made key contributions and ultimately come to regard research as a trajectory in their careers.

For her studies on how distraction affects motor learning and action, National Science Foundation recognizes Assistant Professor Joo-Hyun Song with a CAREER award, which she’ll use to advance her research.

Brown’s Katherine Sharkey and a consortium of researchers will combine a mobile app with genetic screening to better understand what puts women at risk for postpartum depression.

Yuanyuan ‘Alvin’ Zhou, an engineering graduate student, has been honored with the “Chinese Government Award for Outstanding Students Abroad.”

A new fellowship program in the School of Engineering aims to draw top postdoctoral scholars and groom them to be leaders in academia.

Brown University researchers have developed a method for making super-wrinkled and super-crumpled sheets of the nanomaterial graphene. The research shows that the topography can enhance some of graphene’s already interesting properties.

At exactly noon, a record number of Alpert Medical School students learned where they will start their medical careers. Brown University's festive Match Day event, like those held at medical schools across the country, reveals where graduating MDs will serve as medical residents.

Reflecting demand in the economy, Brown’s graduate programs in biomedical engineering and biotechnology have more than quintupled their enrollment in four years.

Dr. Rami Kantor will serve an initial four-year term on a federal panel that sets recommendations for how antiretroviral medications should be used to treat and prevent HIV.

Brown University engineers have devised a way to focus terahertz radiation using an array of stacked metal plates, which may prove useful for terahertz imaging or in next-generation data networks.

With movies, hands-on demonstrations, lectures and panels, an art exhibit, and a huge research poster session a dizzying array of opportunities awaits members of the public and the Brown University community who want to learn about brain science.

So complex are patterns and variations in the vein structures of leaves that botanists struggle to take advantage of them when trying to classify a specimen within the plant kingdom. A new study shows that computer vision technology can provide automated assistance by “learning” how to use venation to assign leaves to their proper family and order.

Studies of how climate change might affect agriculture generally look only at crop yields. But climate change may also influence how much land people choose to farm and the number of crops they plant each growing season. A new study takes all of these variables into account, and suggests researchers may be underestimating the total effect of climate change on the world’s food supply.

The U.S. has reached a record-high rate of twin births, and the use of in vitro fertilization is part of the reason. But in a commentary in this month’s American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Dr. Eli Adashi argues that implemented differently, IVF could instead reduce the rate toward natural levels.

Knowing how cells move through different tissues in the body could be useful in treating conditions from cancer to autoimmune disorders. A new technique developed by Brown researchers can track cell movement in complex environments that mimic actual body tissues.

From perspectives both professional and personal, six speakers convened by the School of Public Health and the Graduate Student Council Feb. 25 discussed the societal and individual damage done by racial bias. But they also shared strategies for addressing some of the systemic challenges racism poses for health and research.

A new study finds a strong correlation between new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in Rhode Island and their use of online hookup sites. Study authors at Brown University, The Miriam Hospital, and the Rhode Island Department of Health called for operators of hookup websites and apps to work with public health officials to include more prevention messaging.

With a public lecture series, including a talk Feb. 25 and proposed curriculum enhancements for students in all four years, the Alpert Medical School plans to provide students training in mindfulness. The practice can be an effective tool to remain psychologically resilient amid the uniquely difficult experiences of medical school and professional practice.

Two potential ways of stamping out serious disease by manipulating the genomes of human embryos are under intense public debate: mitochondrial replacement therapy and germline genome editing. The UK has already approved the former. Its process could guide the U.S. as it considers allowing either or both of the techniques.

A group of Brown students and faculty members traveled recently to Argentina to study the region's geology and to learn about the global tectonic processes that push and pull the continents around the globe.

Stefanie Tellex, assistant professor of computer science, was one of 126 new fellows for 2016, announced today by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Brown University researchers investigating how mindfulness may affect cardiovascular health have measured a significant association between a high degree of ‘everyday’ mindfulness and a higher likelihood of having normal, healthy glucose levels. Their analysis showed that a lower risk of obesity and greater sense of control among more mindful people may play mediating roles.

Brown University researchers may have discovered what’s responsible for discrepant findings between dozens of fundamental studies of the biology of aging. A drug commonly used in research with C. elegans worms, they report, has had unanticipated effects on lifespan.

Brown University botanist Erika Edwards has earned a Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering. She’s invited to the White House this spring to accept the honor.

A large clinical trial for which Brown University neurology Chair Dr. Karen Furie served as principal neurologist, found that a drug that controls insulin resistance was helpful in preventing heart attacks and second strokes in patients.

Sydney Levin and Michael Villaseñor of the New York Times came to campus on Monday, Feb. 15 to discuss the paper's new foray into virtual reality.

A technique called plasmonic interferometry has the potential to enable compact, ultra-sensitive biosensors for a variety of applications. A fundamental advance made by Brown University engineers could help make such devices more practical.

With bright futures of their own, dozens of Alpert Medical School students every fall mentor local teens from disadvantaged high schools to help them plan their paths. Each January, mentees present the health and medical research guided by their mentors, who introduce them to health care careers and encourage them to thrive in other ways, too.

Alan Usas, formerly the CIO at the Yale School of Management and assistant vice president for Computing and Information Services at Brown, will oversee Brown's Executive Master in Cybersecurity.

Students from all over the country and around the world gathered this weekend for Hack@Brown, a marathon of computer coding and app building. Student organizers aim for an event that's open and inviting to students from all backgrounds and skill levels.

The Zika virus, best known for its strongly suspected link to fetal birth defects, has become a major health crisis in Central and South America. On Weds. Feb. 10 at 12:30, Brown University experts will gather to “separate fact from fiction” concerning the emergency.

Cells reach a state called senescence when they stop dividing in response to DNA damage. This change can matter greatly to health, but scientists do not yet have a clear picture of how this change impacts the genome. A new Brown University study shows that a cell’s chromosomes become physically reconfigured at senescence, leading to significant differences in what genes are expressed.

Earthquakes that happen deep beneath the earth's surface have long been enigmatic to geologists. Now researchers from Brown University have shown strong evidence that water squeezed out of a mineral called lawsonite could trigger these mysterious quakes.

Brown University epidemiologist Joseph Braun has shown that prenatal exposure to PFAS chemicals is associated with greater adiposity in children. With a new $2-million grant from the National Institutes of Health, he will examine how the chemicals may have that effect and when exposure is most crucial.

A completely made-over undergraduate teaching laboratory asks the question, “Will open-ended research and high-tech collaboration make biology more exciting and engaging for students?”

A newly published review article finds that use of infertility treatments in the United States, ranging from medicines to in vitro fertilization, is likely hindered by widespread gaps in insurance coverage of reproductive services and technology.

The creators of Bootstrap, a program developed by faculty at Brown University and Worcester Polytechnic Institute, will support a new White House initiative to enhance access to computer science education. They will train 300 additional educators to teach computer science.

Aaron Held’s research merges and draws on the expertise of two of the labs in Brown’s broad effort to combat ALS. That role has given him several opportunities to learn novel skills and new science during graduate school.

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis — ALS — can arise from aberrant genes. A group of five Brown University professors proposes that a cure may also come from aberrant genes — genetic mutations that suppress ALS. A new research grant supports their comprehensive investigation of ALS in flies, worms, mice and human cells.

For their accomplishments in biotechnology, professors Jeffrey Morgan and Anubhav Tripathi have been elected fellows of the American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering.

The idea of legalizing physician assistance in the planned death of terminally ill patients is rapidly gaining political traction across the United States, write Eli Adashi and Ryan Clodfelter in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Machine learning software designed by a Brown computer scientist is helping the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization monitor the globe for evidence of nuclear tests.