Stanford Knowledgebase

STANFORD UNIVERSITY—In the blockbuster movie Contagion, jet-setting lifestyles help a deadly virus travel the world, unraveling society and sending researchers scrambling to develop a vaccine. During the script’s development, Nathan Wolfe, a visiting Stanford human biology professor, invited the Contagion screenwriter to a seminar where undergraduates learn to view the world from a microbe’s perspective. [...]

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STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS— The disparity between the highest-paid basketball players and their lower-paid teammates on professional teams often lead to negative headlines about large NBA salaries. But, in fact, these hierarchies can help propel professional basketball teams to victory, according to a new study from the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University [...]

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY —Technology will open up unimaginable new horizons in education – but don’t underestimate the power of people. That was a central message on Stanford’s Oct.  22 Roundtable discussion at Maples Pavilion titled “Education Nation 2.0:  Redefining Education Before It Redefines Us.” Moderated by PBS’ Charlie Rose, the panel included Reed Hastings, founder and [...]

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STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS — Typically regarded as a common virtue, generosity can also be a sign of weakness for leaders, according to a new study.  The research finds that contributing to the public good influences a person’s status on two critical dimensions: prestige and dominance.  “People with high prestige are often regarded as [...]

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STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS — California Governor Earl Warren, a relatively liberal Republican and future U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice, was facing a difficult reelection challenge in 1950, the height of the McCarthy Era. With his conservative opponent making an issue of alleged Communist influence in California, Warren proposed the Levering Act, which required [...]

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STANFORD GRADUATE SCHOOL OF BUSINESS — Who is more digitally switched on – high school students in Silicon Valley or Beijing? A new study from Stanford University provides some clues. High schoolers in Palo Alto, Calif., in the heart of Silicon Valley, spend significantly more time using digital media every day than their peers at [...]

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY —Two days after taking office as president, George W. Bush did what was widely expected: He adopted a Reagan-era policy that cut cash to all nongovernmental organizations operating abroad that provided or counseled women on abortion. But Stanford researchers have found that the move resulted in a phenomenon his administration likely did not expect: [...]

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY – Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in a bloody cycle of reciprocal retaliation for so long, it can be difficult to imagine the region without its tragic brand of perpetual motion. The warring parties often seem unable to picture a world outside the conflict, with disastrous results. Israelis may believe that Palestinians [...]

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STANFORD UNIVERSITY — Determining a person’s race is generally considered as straightforward as scanning for physical cues such as skin tone, hair color and other facial features. However, an interdisciplinary team of researchers recently found that the perception of race can be altered by signals of social status as simple as the clothes a person [...]

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Stanford researchers have gotten a glimpse into an uncertain future where increasing levels of carbon dioxide in the Earth’s atmosphere will lead to higher levels in the ocean as well, leaving the water more acidic and altering underwater ecosystems. The glimpse comes from waters near Ischia, Italy, where unusual shallow-water volcanic vents in the floor [...]

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