Archive for November, 2008

Dartmouth psychology professor Megan Steven spoke about a neurological phenomenon known as synesthesia at a neuroscience lecture last Wednesday. Synesthesia is an involuntary mixing of the senses that can cross visual, auditory, pain, and even taste boundaries.

Martha Pollack ’79, a professor at the University of Michigan, spoke at Dartmouth last Tuesday about computer science developments in assistive technology - a field dedicated to helping elderly people and patients with cognitive deficiencies with their daily lives.

Renowned mathematician Srinivasa Ramanujan led a life of sheer, mysterious genius and catapulted the mathematical world into a new realm with his works whose far-reaching significance is still being uncovered, said University of Wisconsin professor Ken Ono on Tuesday.

Dartmouth alumna Louisa Gilder ’00 gave a public lecture on her new book, The Age of Entanglement: When Quantum Physics Was Reborn. The talk touched on many of the topics discussed in her book, including a historical account of the development of quantum physics and the concept of quantum entanglement.

Karim Nader of the psychology department at McGill University explained his research on the mechanisms of memory re-consolidation in Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder patients.

The Dartmouth Undergraduate Journal of Science hosted its first interdisciplinary “paper party” this Wednesday in Occom Commons. The event attracted a diverse group of faculty and students that gathered to informally discuss their research.

Because factors during childhood have such a large impact on tumors and thus the degree of risk, extensive molecular testing is needed for prognosis, said Joan Durbin of the Ohio State University College of Medicine at Tuesday’s microbiology-immunology seminar

Researchers led by William Kelley recently discovered that individual differences in memory ability may be predicted by medial temporal lobe (MTL) blood-oxygen-level-dependent (BOLD) activity at rest.

Over the years, laboratories at Dartmouth, with support from undergraduates, have borne lab bench discoveries with immense clinical relevance.
The academic research environment at Dartmouth and elsewhere provides scientists with the intellectual liberty to pursue new ideas and the resources needed to define them.  Laboratory directors are not beholden to profit margins or the marketability of [...]

Engineering
Nanoparticle-induced hyperthermia studied as cancer treatment option
Magnetic nanoparticles may represent a viable cancer treatment alternative, Dartmouth Medical School and Thayer School of Engineering professor Jack Hoopes reported with colleagues external to Dartmouth in the Journal of Physics D: Applied Physics. The nanoparticles can be implanted in a tumor site and exposed to an alternating [...]