This fall, Tufts University will look beyond SAT scores to admit students. The university will ask applicants to show original thinking and imagine, for example, an alternative version of history. The application questions will be designed and evaluated based on psychological research. Tufts officials hope to better identify future leaders and predict college grades. Such methods could also boost diversity among those accepted , because research indicates that the assessment erases much of the gap between racial and socioeconomic groups seen on traditional standardized tests.

For the first time, engineers led by Associate Professor of Engineering Thomas Webster have created surfaces for orthopaedic implants that reduce the presence of bacteria. The research may lead to a new class of artificial joints. That is a big market: More than 750,000 Americans undergo knee, hip or shoulder replacement surgery each year. This press release appeared on the Nanotechwire.com Web site.

Thom Jones, clinical associate professor of theater, speech and dance, and a dialect coach at Trinity Repertory Company, taught the lead actors of the Showtime series “Brotherhood” how to tawwwk like Praahvidence natives.

Rachel Herz, visiting assistant professor of psychology, comments on businesses’ increasing use of scent as part of their marketing strategy.

A review of “Power of Sail,” the new play by Brown graduate Paul Grellong that launches the second season of the Brown/Trinity Playwrights Repertory Theater in Leeds Theater. Many in the cast are recent graduates of or current students in the Brown/Trinity Consortium.

Tracy Breton, visiting professor of English, is among the 10 recipients of Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. A reporter for the Providence Journal, Breton will use her fellowship to examine the abuse, neglect, and exploitation of elderly people with mental health issues in Rhode Island, particularly in how the state is meeting the needs of its elderly residents as compared to other states and countries.

Martin A. Weinstock, chairman of the American Cancer Society’s skin-cancer advisory group and professor of dermatology at Brown University, discusses triggers of squamous cell cancer and evidence for the use of sunscreen to protect against skin cancer.

Findings from Brown University sleep research are quoted in this article about sleep deprivation affects one’s life.

David MacLean, adjunct associate professor of medicine, was the lead author of a peer-reviewed study of the effects of Hoodia, a plant touted on the Internet as a weight-loss aid. In this article that examines the claims of Hoodia sellers, MacLean said that although he favors understanding botanical products, so much Hoodia is being sold on the Internet that he doubts whether all the offerings could be real.

The college landscape is changing. Women now make up 58 percent of those enrolled in two- and four-year colleges and are, over all, the majority in graduate schools and professional schools. Most institutions of higher learning, except engineering schools, now have a female edge, with many small liberal arts colleges and huge public universities alike hovering near the 60-40 ratio. At Brown, men made up not quite 40 percent of this year's applicants, but 47 percent of those admitted.