Brown Medical School recently joined a growing number of medical and nursing schools that require students to buy and use PDAs. Faculty and students say the technology saves time and helps them provide better care, in addition to reducing medical errors. Drug references and diagnostic programs can be stored on them, giving physicians information at their fingertips. This Associated Press article, which first appeared in Rhode Island media, has since appeared in more than 70 newspapers/media Web sites, including the Washington Post, USA Today, Boston Globe, and Newsday.

A Brown Medical School study led by Dr. Pamela High, professor of pediatrics, found that 18- to 25-month-olds whose parents said they had been reading to them regularly for a year could say and understand more words than those whose parents hadn't. The study was cited, and High was quoted, in this article on the American Baby magazine’s Web site.

Professor of Neuroscience David Berson, who helped discover a new kind of light-detecting cell in the eye, is included in this article about the exploding field of light therapy.

The meaning of Patriots Day “has slipped from our memory,” Professor of History Gordon Wood writes in this op-ed. “Not just the people of Massachusetts but all Americans have a stake in the history, in the memory, of what happened in Lexington and Concord.” Wood argues for the importance of teaching history to our nation’s schoolchildren. “Americans have had to invent nationhood,” he writes. This process was unique to America. “We need to recognize how essential a thorough grounding in the history of our nation is for our citizenry,” he writes. “We need our history in order to be a nation, but we also need to know our past in order to know our future.”

Bess Marcus, professor of psychiatry and human behavior, is a source for this Sunday Globe Magazine article about the increasing number of people older than 55 who have joined health clubs. Marcus, director of Brown University's Centers for Behavioral and Preventive Medicine, helped develop the Active Living Every Day program.

Political Science Professor Darrell West says it is unlikely that Rhode Island's Republican primary will draw many voters who view Israel policy as a top issue. But, he adds, if the primary is very close, it won't take many voters to make a difference.

This spring, getting into college has been tougher than ever as top universities, including Brown University, have admitted an exceptionally low percentage of applicants in the face of a bulging population of highly qualified high school seniors.

Professor of Sociology Jonathan Logan, whose post-Katrina research about the number of blacks who were displaced from New Orleans, provides background and context for this article about the upcoming mayoral election. "The population that has returned to the city or general area is white and middle class," Logan said. "It's quite clear that if voting is higher within the state than by people out of state, that introduces a serious race and class bias to the electorate."

College career-service offices are reaching out to students earlier than ever and doing as much as possible to ensure that what's learned in the classroom translates to the real world. "Years ago these were places people visited looking to be placed in a job or internship after college," Kimberly DelGizzo, director of Brown University's Career Development Center, says. "Now we think of ourselves a bit differently, as committed to integrating career development with a student's academic experience."

John Freeman, president of the National Book Critics Circle, interviews Adjunct Professor of Literary Arts Robert Coover. “The prankster has played three-card monte with the conventions and ornaments of literary forms,” Freeman writes. “At 74, Coover has become an outspoken proponent of technology as a savior to storytelling, not its grim reaper.”