No Halloween plans yet? Have no fear (or have a little bit of fear), because on Friday and Saturday nights the Somerville Theatre, Brattle Theatre and Loews Harvard Square have events for the young, the old and the undead.
College students generally revel in the prospect of missing class without repercussions, rejoicing over snow days and surprise class cancellations. But for students in the California State University (CSU) system, in which statewide budget cuts have led to a marked decrease in the number of classes being held, the joy is becoming increasingly bittersweet.
Piano-rock trio Jukebox the Ghost, having first gained the attention of many Tufts students as the opening act for Ben Folds at a Tufts-exclusive Somerville Theatre show last semester, played a set of mostly new material to an enthusiastic and receptive audience at the Middle East Downstairs on Saturday.
Approximately 16 percent of women living in the United States are reported to have been victims of rape, based on data from the Department of Justice. However, since rape victims often keep quiet about their experience out of fear and embarrassment, it's possible that this statistic is actually much higher. Recognizing how difficult it can be for rape survivors to speak out, Prevention, Awareness and Consent at Tufts (P.A.C.T) will hold its second Sexual Violence Community Forum tonight.
Prepaid college tuition plans traditionally provide families with a low-risk way to pay for a child's higher education. But recently, costs associated with this type of plan have significantly increased to keep pace with the tumultuous economy, and companies are reneging on their pledges to provide families with a fixed tuition rate. Families already feeling the pains of the downturn are bearing the burden of thousands of dollars in unanticipated costs.
Researchers at Tufts' Feinstein International Center (FIC) played a leading role in Ethiopia's successful eradication of a viral disease that kills cattle and destabilized a large group of people dependent on the livestock for survival. The Ethiopian government, along with a team from FIC and the Tufts School of Medicine, in July celebrated the official eradication of the rinderpest virus from the country, once a hotspot for the disease commonly known as cattle plague. Research Associate Professor Jeffrey Mariner from the medical school was integral in finding the vaccine, which he began working on nearly two decades ago. The first vaccine for the rinderpest disease, created in the 1960s, was heat-sensitive and could not be transported without refrigeration, severely limiting its effectiveness. Mariner discovered a freeze-drying process in the early 1990s that would allow for a heat-stable version of the vaccine. This process greatly enhanced the versatility of this vaccine, said Andrew Catley, a research director at the FIC. He said that the new vaccine had the same ingredients as the first version, but the freeze-drying process altered its form, allowing it to be delivered to areas where refrigeration is not an option. Tufts' researchers helped distribute the vaccine in Ethiopia through the Global Rinderpest Eradication Program. The program has set a deadline to completely eradicate the disease by 2010. If successful, rinderpest will be the second disease eradicated in history, after smallpox, according to the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations. Associate Professor of History Jeanne Penvenne, who studies African issues, explained that rinderpest has devastated a number of African communities throughout history. When it has "struck at critical times," the disease has been blamed for preventing the growth of the African human population, she said, as Africans are largely dependent on cattle for food and economic survival. Penvenne indicated that rinderpest has serious consequences for people in Africa because cattle are a vital source of both individual and collective wealth. "People [not only] depend on their herds for livelihood but for increasing wealth for the whole community," Penvenne said. The late 19th century saw a near extinction of cattle in Ethiopia when rinderpest infected 90 percent of the bovine population. This resulted in a food shortage that led to the deaths of approximately a third of the human population. Veterinarians from the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine, who collaborated on the project, faced significant obstacles while distributing the new vaccine. The four-wheeled vehicles used to deliver vaccines limited veterinarians' access to certain regions, according to Catley. To overcome this, veterinarians from Tufts and the Ethiopian government collaborated to teach community-based animal health care workers to use the vaccine. Catley explained that the short-term training, which lasted a few days, occurred in different rural areas and had to be conducted through hands-on activities, as many animal health-care workers were not literate. Dean of the Cummings School Deborah Kochevar was pleased with the results of the researchers' efforts. "The eradication of diseases that affect animals as well as humans is a core strength of the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine," she said in an e-mail. "We are proud to have been part of the team that worked with the Ethiopian government to stop the spread of rinderpest among cattle there and join with them in this celebration." Catley is currently working with the governments of various countries to legalize the animal health care delivery system in order to ensure that community-based animal health care workers are considered legal workers. This would allow the workers to receive greater benefits for their contributions to the eradication effort.
Turn off that TV, stash the remote and bury your nose in a book — or better yet, book it to Copley Square this weekend for a festival sure to make any bookworm squirm.
Last week, I thought the mood of the house had forever changed. My closest girl friend in the house had a breakdown. I could usually depend on her to brighten up my day with her seemingly endless enthusiasm for life. But she had been stressed about classes, work and everything else that routinely comes up this time of year. She broke down in tears, threatened to drop her classes and her senior thesis and told me she thought she was dying. I was legitimately frightened.
Looking back (October 17) | USC Trojans vs. Notre Dame Fighting Irish
A group of twelve university administrators, faculty members and education officials from around the world visited Tufts yesterday to learn about American college life as part of a
America's waistline isn't the only thing increasing these days. Currently, the level of CO2 in the atmosphere is 384 parts per million (ppm) and rising. NASA's leading climatologist James Hansen says that "to preserve a planet similar to that on which civilization developed and to which life on Earth is adapted," CO2 must be reduced to 350 ppm.
"Less talk, more rock!" says radio host Shilo McDonald as he dials up the volume in the studio. The sound of Boston pop rock band The Fatal Flaw leaks through the speakers while it performs live a few rooms over. The band is playing a spin on a famous Journey song — an energetic track off their album called "Don't Start Believing."
Artem Efremkin's age doesn't usually come up until the second or third meeting with potential clients and investors for his business.
JumboCash can now be added to student accounts online with credit or debit cards, as part of a feature that debuted in early September on a new Web site, www.jumbocash.net.
As Tufts students and staff dealt with the campus' power outage on Friday, the university's Emergency Alert System had a largely successful run. Despite first-hand accounts of students not receiving alerts, the system reported a 98 percent success rate.
Megan McCooey and Julia Browne, Women's Tennis - Returning to the women's tennis Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Small College National Championships in Mobile, Ala. this season, the Tufts doubles team of senior tri-captain Meghan McCooey and junior tri-captain Julia Browne is beginning to start a tradition at the annual tournament — winning first place.
Activists from across New England converged on Copley Square on Saturday to protest U.S. involvement in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, with the demonstration culminating in an organized march through downtown Boston.
