James Campbell, associate professor of Africana studies and chair of the Steering Committee on Slavery and Justice, comments on the committee’s recently issued report. "This country is founded on deeply conflicting moral views that crystallized in the 18th century," Campbell said. "A legacy of liberty and a legacy of racism - the opposing ideas that freedom is humanity's natural state, except for black people - have dominated our history since." (Text available through Office of Media Relations.)

Philip Lieberman, a professor of cognitive and linguistic sciences whose research has explored the speech capabilities of Neanderthals, offers comments in the wake of a recent announcement about the sequencing of Neanderthal DNA. Lieberman suggests that future investigations can look at whether Neanderthals had a human-like version of FoxP2, a gene linked to language and cognition.
www.the-scientist.com/news/home/36437/

A review of the David Winton Bell Gallery exhibition of Amy Cutler's highly detailed paintings terms them cryptic, comical and captivating.
www.boston.com/ae/theater_arts/articles/2006/11/16/a_palette_of_new_images/
See news release: www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-042.html

Although it is still unclear whether drug-coated stents are safe to use over the long term, Professor of Medicine David Williams suggests that their use is a reasonable thing to do at this point. ... I'd rather err on the side of protecting the patient than having them unprotected."
www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=a_m4HiIp7Bv8

A group of students rallied on campus to protest the University’s recent failure to accurately report sexual-assault statistics. The University attributed the inaccuracy to an administrative error.
Free registration: www.projo.com/education/content/brown16_11-16-06_SV2SV2D.3f855da.html

Professor of Political Science Darrell West comments about the selection of a new House majority leader. Democrats John Murtha and Steny Hoyer each seek the position.
www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/16022676.htm

During sleep, new memories move from the hippocampus, part of the “old” brain, to the neocortex, or “new” brain, for long-term storage. This has been the reigning theory for decades. New research led by Mayank Mehta, assistant professor of neuroscience, provides the strongest proof yet of this interaction between the old and new brains and offers surprising evidence that challenges critical details of this theory of learning and memory.
www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-054.html
See news release: www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-054.html

Economist Karen Davis, president of The Commonwealth Fund, will discuss “Why We’re Not Number One: A Look At High Performance Health Systems Across the Globe” on Nov. 28 at Brown.
www.brown.edu/Administration/News_Bureau/2006-07/06-053.html