A new Center for Compassion and Altruism Research and Education has been launched at the School of Medicine, with the aim of doing scientific research on the neural underpinnings of these thoughts and feelings. The Dalai Lama provided $150,000 in seed money for the center—the largest sum he has ever given for a scientific venture—and has agreed to return to Stanford for a future visit.

Tagged: altruism, compassion, neuroscience, Human Health, Medicine

VIDEO: Graduate student Viviana Gradinaru is combining neuroscience and bioengineering to study the human body's circuits. Binyamin Blum, a student in history and law, is studying the transplantation of English common law into the Middle East between World Wars I & II. This work has potential to inform current policy debates about introducing the rule of law abroad.

Tagged: fellowships, Interdisciplinary Graduate Fellowships, International Initiative, neuroscience, rule of law, Human Health, International Issues, Engineering, Humanities & Sciences, Law, Medicine

Who knew cat urine could be sexy? With a dab here and a dab there, you can have male rats swooning over you. For a long time, scientists have been trying to understand the underlying biology of this odd behavior without any luck. By probing the parasite's DNA, one Stanford researcher may have stumbled across the answer and added to our understanding of evolution.

 

 

Tagged: evolution, genetics, neuroscience, Human Health, Humanities & Sciences