This article reports on Justin F. Murray and Sarah M. Kinsella, the founders of a Harvard University student group called True Love Revolution that promotes the practical benefits of sexual abstinence until marriage and how Murray and Kinsella look forward to living the message after graduation. These "true love" revolutionaries cast…

The annual incidence of meningococcal disease among 15- to 25-year olds has doubled since 1991, to over 600 cases, and recent studies indicate outbreaks may be increasing on college campuses. Six of the 83 cases appearing at academic institutions have been fatal. The trend has fueled the debate over whether a vaccine should be administered…

Scientists doing research on primates are increasingly being subjected to threats and acts of violence from animal rights groups. The intimidation has resulted in many laboratories taking extensive security measures. Some scientists claim, however, that there is no surrogate for animal research in understanding human diseases. There are fears that…

This article describes The Onion Router (TOR). It is a freely available, open-source program developed by the U.S. Navy about a decade ago. A browser plug-in, it thwarts online traffic analysis and related forms of Internet surveillance by sending your data packets through different routers around the world. As each packet moves from one router to…

In this article, the authors discuss obesity and the differences in the eating behaviors between Americans and French people. In the last decade or so, a number of psychologists, nutritionists, and physiologists have come to the conclusion that, in the developed world, increasing obesity can be attributed primarily to the environment in which…

The decoding of the human genome was supposed to have been the dawn of the age of personalized medicine. It turned out, though, that health is affected by a lot more than genes. As scientists were already aware, the environment and life experiences also have a huge impact on disease. Researchers, such as Jeremy K. Nicholson, have worked to make…

The author advocates for less, rather than more, research on alternative medicine. From a historical perspective, there is little newsworthy about public infatuation with what Bausell terms pseudomedicine. What is new is the role of institutions such as the National Institutes of Health, who now awards both research and educational grants in…

Aside from the appeal to administrators as a tool to reduce costs by combining less robust departments with heftier relations, interdisciplinarity is a powerful idea because it implies that different branches of knowledge can benefit from talking to one another: a grand, unified theory of knowledge in which each discipline contributes building…

When Dr. Skorton was tapped as Iowa's president, in 2003, his appointment was widely favored by faculty and staff members. Unlike most academics who give up their day jobs when they become college presidents, Dr. David J. Skorton 55, kept his when he took the reins at Iowa two years ago. A cardiologist by training, he still sees patients with…

Parents of children on the autism spectrum often talk about a number of comorbid conditions that can accompany the disorder--immunological dysfunctions, frequent ear infections, intractable strep, gastrointestinal disorders, rampant yeast, inexplicable regressions, allergies. The author did not guess that her son would have all of those as well as…

Reports of swine flu have led some colleges to pull students and faculty members out of Mexico, the epicenter of the outbreak, and to cancel study-abroad programs there. But even as the number of new cases appears to be falling, the health scare offers some lasting lessons for colleges, says Gary Rhodes, director of the Center for Global Education…

A spirited campaign to promote "hand hygiene" is under way at the University of Central Florida Orlando campus, and the urinal toter, known as UCF 5th Guy, is its front line. Like their counterparts at many other institutions, health officials at Central Florida want students to think about the germs that lurk on their hands. And then…

This article reports on the expansion of global-health programs in the U.S. as universities respond to rising donations and student interest. New York University, which started its program last year, is one of a growing number of universities that are responding to a surge in student demand for courses and programs in world health. NYU's students,…

This article illustrates the importance of preparation for professors who take students overseas. A University of Washington study-abroad program in Ghana that was cut short last summer after the medical evacuation of half of its participants highlights the potential hazards associated with programs led by individual faculty members who may lack…

Administrators of various education schools have vowed to ready their institutions for the next major disaster of flu pandemic. While a few colleges with expertise or interest in the area are trying to determine how their campuses should react to a flu pandemic, most seem to be struggling with how to fit all the unknowns of such a crisis into…