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Aside from the summer blockbusters like Bridesmaids, Hangover Pt 2, and Transformers, a few smaller scale films have been making the rounds, stirring up chatter in cinema lobbies and on the Internet. Visiting Associate Professor of Religious Studies S. Brent Plate has commented and been quoted on a couple of these films on CNN.com and other online outlets.

The formation of a synapse, the junction between nerve cells, is one of the most the most important and critical stages of nervous system development, and in many cases improper synapse formation is the underlying cause of neurological disease.  The Lehman Lab has discovered a new gene that appears to encode an enzyme that is expressed as synapses develop in invertebrate and vertebrate nervous systems. This summer four students are working to synthesize four different enzymes to explore the function of this novel gene product.

A National Post (Toronto) article about a Canadian’s rescue of an abandoned and ill Pakistani porter on a Himalayan mountain included the comments of Maurice Isserman, the James L. Ferguson Professor of History. The co-author of Fallen Giants: A History of Himalayan Mountaineering from the Age of Empire to the Age of Extremes, Isserman discussed the shift in attitudes among some mountain climbers

In advance of the Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s appearance before the House Financial Services Committee today, Henry Platt Bristol Professor of Economics Ann Owen discussed the state of the economy, the European debt crisis and public expectations related to his testimony with American Public Media’s Marketplace reporter David Gura. The segment, titled “Bernanke heads to Capitol Hill,” was broadcast on July 13 on Marketplace Morning Report.

Associate Professor of Economics Stephen Wu presented a paper and was a discussant of another paper at the Western Economic Association Annual Meeting, held in San Diego from June 30-July 2.  His paper titled "Are Pregnant Women Happier? Racial Differences in the Relationship Between Pregnancy and Life Satisfaction was part of a panel titled "The Economics of Happiness."

A law degree can lead can lead to countless career paths, but regardless of a student’s goals, a district attorney’s office offers an exciting environment in which to learn about the legal field. Ephraim McDowell ’12, a sociology major with a minor in communication, is spending his summer with the Norfolk County District Attorney’s Office in Canton, Mass., working with one of the assistant district attorneys.

Sarah Fobes’12 presented a poster at the International Conference on Luminescence, held in Ann Arbor, Mich., June 26- July 1. Her poster was titled “Post-annealing immersion study of sol-gel silicate glasses containing rare earth dopants.”

For organic chemists, improvements in methods of synthesizing molecules can make big differences in the time and material that go into the molecule’s synthesis. This summer, Talia Steiman ’12 and Robert Woodworth ’12 are working with Associate Professor of Chemistry Ian Rosenstein on a chemical synthesis that utilizes a unique method to simplify the process and cut down on waste.

Associate Professor of Art Ella Gant was named a 2011 Fellow in digital/electronic arts by the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA). NYFA awarded $728,000 in unrestricted cash grants of $7,000 to 105 artists throughout New York State. Fellows were selected from a pool of 3,692 applicants in the categories of crafts/sculpture; digital/electronic work; non-fiction literature; printmaking/drawing/book arts, and poetry.

“This is the first time we have the data that we can analyze statistically that shows there’s a downward trend [in monarch butterfly populations],” said Professor of Biology Ernest H. Williams in a July 11 New York Times article titled “In Midwest, Flutters May Be Far Fewer.” Williams is the co-author of “Decline of monarch butterflies overwintering in Mexico: is the migratory phenomenon at risk?” recently published in the journal Insect Conservation and Diversity.