A pop-up pub where everybody knows your name

Could a student-run pub add a new dimension to campus social life? A group of Stanford students tested this idea with a pop-up pub last month, and the result was a resounding “yes.” The Rough Draught Pub – which was run by students and supported by staff and the Associated…

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What we know about the health effects of wildfire

As wildfires continue to rage across the Los Angeles area, their toll on lives, homes, and natural landscapes is undeniable. Less obvious are the health impacts, such as respiratory issues caused by smoke inhalation and mental health strains of evacuation and loss, that could stretch far beyond the burn zone…

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AI Playground offers a safe place to explore and experiment

As artificial intelligence continues to rapidly evolve, Stanford’s AI Playground provides a convenient environment for faculty, staff, and students to experiment with AI technology.Earlier this year, University IT began piloting the AI Playground, a Stanford-hosted environment that allows users to test out and compare a range of AI tools, including…

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AI helps identify the biology underlying Type 2 diabetes

A paper detailing the research published Dec. 23 in Nature Biomedical Engineering. McLaughlin and Snyder are co-senior authors. Ahmed Metwally, PhD, a former postdoctoral scholar at Stanford Medicine who is now a research scientist at Google, is the lead author. Delineating details of diabetes Currently, diagnosing diabetes is based solely…

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A new ultrathin conductor for nanoelectronics

​​As computer chips continue to get smaller and more complex, the ultrathin metallic wires that carry electrical signals within these chips have become a weak link. Standard metal wires get worse at conducting electricity as they get thinner, ultimately limiting the size, efficiency, and performance of nanoscale electronics.In a paper…

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Stanford art museums welcome visitors over the holidays

While the campus is closed for winter break from Dec. 23 through Jan. 3, Stanford’s art museums will remain open during regular hours, and campus visitors are welcome to explore the outdoor public art collection. The Anderson Collection’s 10th-anniversary exhibitions celebrate the museum’s roots and what it means to live with…

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New book explores poet W.H. Auden’s life between two world wars

For many contemporary readers, their first introduction to the poetry of W.H. Auden came not in a course on English literature, but from a more mainstream source: the film Four Weddings and a Funeral, in which a character recites Auden’s 1937 poem Funeral Blues during the titular funeral.“It’s incredibly touching that…

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Students help Stanford archivists preserve the past

In an office on the third floor of Green Library, senior Bradley Strauss sifts through a box of files donated to Stanford University Archives by Cathy Haas, a lecturer in the School of Humanities & Sciences."}">svg]:su-mt-3 md:[&>svg]:su--mt-2 lg:[&>svg]:su-mt-4 [&>svg]:su-w-41 [&>svg]:su-h-43 md:[&>svg]:su-w-[97px] md:[&>svg]:su-h-[102px] su-mr-8 lg:su-mr-19">nIn an office on the third floor…

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Five books to help you disagree productively in 2025

Even in a time of sharp division, people can learn how to have more open, empathetic, and constructive dialogue in disagreements.Norman W. Spaulding, the Nelson Bowman Sweitzer and Marie B. Sweitzer Professor in Law, helps people do just that through ePluribus Stanford, an initiative that seeks to cultivate constructive dialogue…

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Students take nuclear strategy ideas to the White House

Nuclear energy is poised to become the future of energy, and the global race to lead this industry is intensifying. But how can the United States compete and invigorate its nuclear energy industry, particularly amid the explosive growth of artificial intelligence? Stanford students Mandy Alevra, Nuri Capanoglu, Elena Kopstein, and…

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New knit haptic sleeve simulates realistic touch

Wearable haptic devices, which provide touch-based feedback, can provide more realistic experiences in virtual reality, assist with rehabilitation, and create new opportunities for silent communication. Currently, most of these devices rely on vibration, as pressure-based haptics have typically required users to wear stiff exoskeletons or other bulky structures.Now, researchers at…

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A national effort seeks to advance semiconductor research

Your car, your cell phone, your LED holiday lights, even your credit card – all of them contain electronic chips made of semiconductors. These materials manipulate the flow of electricity and provide the foundation for modern electronics.Over the years, American investment in this essential technology has lagged, but the federal…

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New device produces critical fertilizer ingredient from thin air

The air around us contains a powerful solution for making agriculture more sustainable. Researchers at Stanford University and King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia have developed a prototype device that can produce ammonia – a key fertilizer ingredient – using wind energy to draw air through…

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Portola Valley approves new Stanford housing

On Thursday, Dec. 5, the Portola Valley Town Council voted unanimously to approve Stanford’s Portola Terrace residential project. Portola Terrace will provide 27 single-family homes for faculty and 12 affordable housing units for members of the Portola Valley community on a portion of “the Wedge” property along Alpine Road, near Westridge…

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Who gets to cross cultural boundaries without permission?

Elvis Presley may have been the king of rock ’n’ roll, but he didn’t invent it. His influences included country music and pop crooners as well as Black artists like Arthur Crudup, B.B. King, Fats Domino, and Little Richard, and the gospel music he loved as a kid in rural…

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New Center for Poetics ‘supports and encourages the vitality of the field’

A longstanding poetics workshop credited with fostering the academic success of many of its past and current members has given rise to a new center dedicated to poetry scholarship.The Stanford Center for Poetics was launched this quarter under the leadership of faculty director Marisa Galvez, professor of French and Italian.…

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AI could help reduce injury risk in pianists

Professional piano players spend countless hours at the keys, perfecting their craft. For people with smaller hands, this dedication can take a physical toll. Repeated stretching to reach distant keys in a chord can strain muscles and joints and may lead to tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other injuries.Researchers at…

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New tool enhances control of cellular activity

A basic function of cells is that they act in response to their environments. It makes sense, then, that a goal of scientists is to control that process, making cells respond how they want to what they want.One avenue for this ambition is cell receptors, which function like ignition slots…

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Decoding the mysteries of the universe

How fast is the universe expanding? What is dark matter? Where did we come from?These questions of life, the universe, and everything are just some of the big topics that motivate the new Center for Decoding the Universe at Stanford.Launched in October, the center is an interdisciplinary partnership between Stanford Data…

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For major U.S. cities, the ‘donut effect’ persists

What is the shelf life of a freshly baked donut? Two days, tops.But when it comes to an entirely different kind of donut – one that Stanford economist Nicholas Bloom described early in the pandemic when he measured the exodus of people from city centers to city suburbs – there…

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What to know about hearing loss

Around 1.5 billion people globally experience some level of hearing loss – that’s nearly 20% of the world’s population. Losing the ability to hear can be devastating, and navigating the potential treatments isn’t always straightforward.What actually causes it? Are there new treatments that can restore hearing? Can it be reversed?…

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AI tool reads biopsy images

A working model After the researchers integrated their new cancer biopsies as well as other datasets, including transcriptomic data and images from thousands of healthy cells, the AI program – which they named SEQUOIA (slide-based expression quantification using linearized attention) – was able to predict the expression patterns of more…

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Trustees’ committee declines to take action on divestment request

Dear Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine, Thank you for sharing your divestment petition on May 6th. We are empathetic to your deep concern for the tragic events of the past year in Gaza and Israel. They have been painful to observe and particularly distressing for those with loved ones…

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Stanford conference explores education technology in the age of AI

“We want students to thrive throughout their whole life, and we want them to have the educational experiences that lead to that thriving,” said Professor Susanna Loeb in the opening panel of the 2024 Accelerate Edtech Impact summit at Stanford. “We want that for all students. We don’t just want…

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Faculty Senate upholds 2020 Scott Atlas censure, discusses school initiatives

The Faculty Senate voted against rescinding its 2020 censure of Scott Atlas, a Hoover Institution fellow who advised President Donald Trump on COVID-19 matters, following a lengthy discussion on Thursday.Deans from the Graduate School of Business, School of Engineering, School of Humanities and Sciences, and School of Law also shared…

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Seeing is believing—or is it? How online images fuel gender bias

From TikTok and YouTube to Google Images and AI-driven art generators, visual content is dominating the digital world. More than 3.2 billion images and 720,000 hours of video were posted on the internet every day in 2023, and that figure is rapidly growing. “The production and circulation of images is…

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Vintage Big Game fashion makes a comeback

Stanford student traditions have helped define campus life since the university’s founding. But, as senior Sydney Kaminski learned this quarter, not all have had staying power.“There are a lot of Stanford traditions that have been lost to time,” she said.For months, the art history student has been investigating a Big…

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The cognitive research behind AI’s rise

When federal agencies issue a research grant, they never know if their investment will reap rewards for society. This was almost certainly true in the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the National Science Foundation and the Office of Naval Research funded projects by James “Jay” McClelland, David Rumelhart, and…

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Groundwater pumping drives rapid sinking in California

In briefli]:su-m-0">Overpumping groundwater has caused land in parts of the San Joaquin Valley to sink by over one foot per year in many years since 2006.Rapid and uneven sinking has forced multimillion-dollar infrastructure repairs and exacerbated water supply issues for one of the world’s most agriculturally productive regions. California has…

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Cell therapy fights lethal childhood brain cancer in Stanford Medicine trial

An immune-cell therapy shrank children’s brain tumors, restored neurologic function and – for one participant in a Stanford Medicine clinical trial – erased all detectable traces of a brain cancer typically considered incurable.The trial, among the first successes against solid tumors for engineered immune cells known as CAR-T cells, offers…

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Can AI improve plant-based meats?

Cutting back on animal protein in our diets can save on resources and greenhouse gas emissions. But convincing meat-loving consumers to switch up their menu is a challenge. Looking at this problem from a mechanical engineering angle, Stanford engineers are pioneering a new approach to food texture testing that could…

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More accessible yet less personal: The two sides of digital banking

As a PhD student studying finance at Columbia University, Naz Koont learned how the personal relationships bankers develop with their clients build trust and help sell products. At the same time, walking around her Morningside Heights neighborhood and throughout Manhattan, she noticed most of the bank branches she passed were…

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New center unites Stanford’s robotics expertise under one roof

The basement beneath the Packard Electrical Engineering Building, once a hallway with researchers working behind closed doors, is now a bustling hub for collaboration. After many years of planning, fundraising, and development, the all-new Stanford Robotics Center officially opened its doors with a reception Nov. 1.The new facility is a…

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USA borrowing binge about to burst?

In early 2019, Olivier Blanchard, the former head of the International Monetary Fund, suggested that there was no fiscal cost to the United States from running ever-bigger budget deficits. The federal government could essentially grow its way out of overspending, and investors could be confident in the continued safety of…

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What if IV medicines could be taken in pill form?

For many people with cancer, IV infusions of chemotherapy are their best chance at a cure. But these infusions can be inconvenient or inaccessible to patients, and some complications arise not from the active drug itself, but the infusion. Turning these drugs into pills could be transformative. In a study…

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