Mar - Apr 2009 Issue

Alberto Ruggierl 

On a recent afternoon, it was standing-room only in a lecture hall. The occasion was what members of the biology department had labeled "Noorfest," a celebration of their colleague Mohamed Noor.

Courtesy James Girand

  Fifty years ago, when he had been all but banned from the New York club scene, jazz great Thelonious Monk booked a concert at the city's venerable Town Hall auditorium.

Charles Rutherford Bagley '14, A.M. '15

Keval Khalsa. Credit: Les Todd

Despite, or perhaps because of, tough economic times, Duke has received another record-breaking number of applications for admission to the Class of 2013. In a 17 percent increase from last year's numbers, the 23,750 applications mark the largest jump in school history.

Forward thinking: Alex Li demonstrates the

Results from the first genome-wide study assessing common genetic variations in schizophrenia show that the disease is caused, at least in part, by large, rare structural changes in DNA called "copy number variants"—not the tiny, single letter alterations known as "snips" that scientists have pursued for years.

A protein that was first identified for playing a key role in regulating normal heart rhythms also appears to be significant in helping muscle cells survive the forces of muscle contraction. Findings that link the protein ankyrin-B (ankB) to the possible prevention of muscular dystrophy were published in the journal Cell.

Take control: Banish bad behavior. Matt Cardy

Their honors: Griffiths in eponymous board room. Shena Sanchez

View the names of those pictured here.

 

N. Katherine Hayles.

You say you want a revolution: Actor playing

 

 Working for The New York Times since 1980, Wilson has photographed people left homeless by natural disasters (California wildfires, Hurricane Katrina) and politicians caught in unguarded moments (President Jimmy Carter with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, presidential candidate Gary Hart napping on his campaign plane).

 He could be the emblematic Duke freshman: self-assured, well-spoken, goal-oriented. Early in the spring semester, Andrew shows up at one of the numerous campus cafés that peddle an enticing array of caffeinated concoctions. He's there to talk about a different stimulant—a so-called "study aid" drug.

It's hopeless. Try as he might, the eager young suitor with the brick-red eyes simply cannot inspire the beautiful female's affections. He stands beside her, waving one iridescent wing over her as if making a blessing and producing what sounds like the drumming of a very small grouse. But she couldn't care less. His song and dance are not her style. And, he smells funny. He's literally not her type. In fact, he's another species entirely. She informs him of this with a little ditty of her own, call it the "buzz-off song," that sounds like a raspberry blown on a tiny kazoo.

A rabbi runs for Congress. It sounds like the perfect setup for a joke, and, as far as Adam Chodikoff is concerned, it is. Or it will be soon, when he takes this particular gem of comedic potential and hands it over to the writing staff of Comedy Central's satirical news program The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Let's face it. Reading may engage the mind in ways that television doesn't, but it's still a sedentary activity. It can't help you lose weight. Or can it? Maybe that depends on what you read. In a study at Duke Children's Hospital, researchers led by Alexandra C. Russell '05, a fourth-year medical student, asked obese females ages nine to thirteen to read a young-adult novel, Lake Rescue.

Screen time: preparing for night images at Le Fresnoy. William Noland

The Harrowing of Hell, Netherlandish, c. 1600. Oil on panel.

Last spring the university launched a project to renovate Few Quadrangle on West Campus. Just seven months later, the dormitory opened on time for students to move in for the spring semester.

A new Duke study suggests that evolution can behave as differently as dogs and cats. While dogs depend on an energy-efficient style of four-footed running over long distances to catch their prey, cats seem to have evolved a profoundly inefficient gait, tailor made to creep up on a mouse or bird in slow motion.

 

Hamilton: considering the future of journalism. Megan Morr

Srinivas Aravamudan, professor of English and director of the Franklin Institute, has been appointed dean of humanities in Arts & Sciences, replacing N. Gregson Davis, Andrew W. Mellon Distinguished Professor of the Humanities in Classical Studies.

Something old, something new: Prius Zipcar in chapel's shadow. Bryan Rothow.

Their honors: Booker addressing Sanford crowd. Jared Lazarus

Courtesy Kendall Rileigh

Idea illuminators: clockwise from top left: Sheppard, Willia

Corbis

Welcome to the jungle: Shen Wei, in red shirt with back to camera shares Angkor Wat photos with dancersPhotos by Michael Zirkle

A Persistent Peace: One Man's Struggle for a Nonviolent World By John Dear '81. Loyola Press, 2008.

Reunited: Maria Laura Valdes, left, and Sydney Paige Thomas, with multili

Dale Volberg Reed '63, right, and John Shelton Reed. Credit: Paul Dagy

True blue: Schwartz and Rose share deep personal and professional ties to Duke.