Latest Stanford University Stories

March of Dimes and Stanford University School of Medicine Launch Research Center to Understand and Prevent Prematurity STANFORD, Calif., March 30, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The March of Dimes and Stanford University School of Medicine today launched the nation's first transdisciplinary research center dedicated to identifying the causes of premature birth. Prematurity is the number one reason for newborn death in the United States today, yet in nearly half of the cases of premature...

Scientists have found the strongest evidence yet that a puzzling gap in the electronic structures of some high-temperature superconductors could indicate a new phase of matter. Understanding this "pseudogap" has been a 20-year quest for researchers who are trying to control and improve these breakthrough materials, with the ultimate goal of finding superconductors that operate at room temperature."Our findings point to management and control of this other phase as the correct path...

WASHINGTON, March 23, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, the Comeback America Initiative (CAI), a non-partisan organization dedicated to fostering a national discussion around fiscal challenges and solutions, in partnership with Master's students from Stanford University's Public Policy and International Studies Programs, announced the findings of its Sovereign Fiscal Responsibility Index (SFRI), a new fiscal indicator that incorporates a wide range of fiscal, economic and political factors into...

Young adults who were born extremely premature may be at higher risk for asthma, according to a study published Monday in the journal Pediatrics.The scientists followed more than 600,000 Swedish adults 25 to 35 years old to determine whether asthma medications were prescribed in 2005"“2007.   They found that those born between the 23rd and 27th weeks of pregnancy were 2.4 times as likely to have asthma as those born full-term.However, no increased risk was seen among those born after...

WALTHAM, Mass., March 21, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Interleukin Genetics, Inc. (OTCQB: ILIU) today issued financial and operational results for its fiscal fourth quarter and full fiscal year ended December 31, 2010. "We made good progress towards establishing our business in 2010. In collaboration with Stanford University, data from a clinical study was presented in March 2010 showing the important role applied genetics has in improving weight loss. Our Inherent Health Weight Management...

Xtreme Compute Technologies (XCT) today announces Stanford University's selection of XCT "a-BriX" NVIDIA Tesla based solutions in partnership with Scalable Informatics as part of a new 50 node (100 Tesla C2050 GPU's) heterogeneous cluster to be dubbed "numbercruncher". Stanford's "numbercruncher" will support wide range of research initiatives including computational biology, molecular dynamics, structural biology and chemical biology simulation, amongst others. Richmond, VA (PRWEB)...

Cells at the tip of the slime mold's fruiting body organize into an epithelial layer and secrete proteins as do some animals cellsThe so-called cellular slime mold, a unicellular organism that may transition into a multicellular organism under stress, has just been found to have a tissue structure that was previously thought to exist only in more sophisticated animals. What's more, two proteins that are needed by the slime mold to form this structure are similar to those that perform the same...

Researchers are exploring ways to make rescue robots less "creepy" and more user-friendly, incorporating lessons learned from studies of how humans interact with technologyEveryone knows machines don't have feelings. But try telling that to your brain."We have one social brain, and it's the same whether we're dealing with a person or a machine," said Clifford I. Nass, the Thomas M. Storke Professor at Stanford University, who studies the social aspects of technology....

Study uses NSF-supported technology to identify neuronal circuitryA new study sheds light--both literally and figuratively--on the intricate brain cell connections responsible for anxiety.Scientists at Stanford University recently used light to activate mouse neurons and precisely identify neural circuits that increase or decrease anxiety-related behaviors. Pinpointing the origin of anxiety brings psychiatric professionals closer to understanding anxiety disorders, the most common class of...

By Ellen Ferrante, NSFWriting exercises that reflect upon personal values lead to improvement in minority middle school students' grades and long-term academic performanceCan writing about one's personal values enhance academic performance? How does such an exercise create a sense of belonging within the classroom and what impact does this have on students' grades and test scores?Geoffrey Cohen of Stanford University, Valerie Purdie-Vaughns of Columbia University and their collaborators,...