Why am I so anxious to see “The Great Tennessee Monkey Trial” coming to Annenberg tonight? Not because it’s one of my last chances to get student rush prices. Not because it stars “Q” from Star Trek and Deep Throat from
The X-Files. Perhaps it’s because the show is based on original court transcripts, unlike its cousin Inherit the Wind running in New York?

Most likely, it’s that I’m intrigued that
intelligent design (loosely related to creationism) is not only a controversy of the modern academy, but had also stirred educators and lawyers in the dark ages of the 1920s. The play is based off of the 1925 Tennessee v. John Scopes trial, contesting the legality of teaching evolution in public schools.

The Scopes case was held before scientists discovered DNA’s function, before the electron microscope was created, and before carbon dating was developed. 82 years later, with precise technology and blitzing scientific advances, are we still fighting the same battle?

College has taught me to pursue facts in the most rigorous way, and to freely interpret them independent of larger pedagogy. I can see why most scientists believe in evolution, the evidence certainly has merit. And even though there are flaws in macroevolution theory, I still think evolution should be taught in school. And I’d take the class, if I thought I could pass. After all, the battle of intelligent designers isn’t for the science classroom, it’s for a comprehensive representation of evolution that includes its limitations.

It’s about following the playground rules we learned in grammar school, in between cursive lessons: No name calling — the Scopes’ defense was infamous for publicly mocking the creationists of his day. Tell the truth — every theory has areas of uncertainty. Play fair — with scientific challenges to evolution, scholars should address it scientifically rather than invoking the role of theology in science. Perhaps Scopes would be proud if by the 100th anniversary of trial, the two sides had made progress. Learning more about the trial’s history may be the way to begin.

Virginia Tech’s rural campus may feel a world away but really only 500 miles, and two interstates separate our schools. (Julie Siegel/DP)

This is the piece I didn’t want to write. I was all geared up for my second to last entry –controversial, lyrical, and lighthearted. But my heart is anything but light today. I was going to write about the culture of promiscuity — but now even sex seems trite.

Instead, I’d like to take this opportunity to share with you reflections from a student deeply touched by the tragedy. I want this campus to feel, to stop, to be shocked like so many others are. And not to forget. I want this campus to wake up — this is not 24 or Halo, this is real-life, real-time, and real-person horror. I come from under 300 miles from VA Tech — these were my friends. The aviation buff from my neighborhood, now a senior there, is fine, but I can only imagine the beginning of his nightmare.

Shootings on an urban campus will never amount to the mass carnage that occurred on Monday. Many debates will surely follow about Virginia Tech’s preparedness, but for now, we sympathize with those who could not have predicted the country’s worst massacre occurring on their campus.

We must take the time to identify with these kids-and not to let their heartbreak, their life-changing Monday fall into our backdrop. 33 dreams snuffed out, 33 families receiving a phone call, 33 more reasons why we ask the tough questions of life. How could something like this have happened on a pristine college campus? Are we immune to it? What made the shooter break? Why couldn’t they stop the second rampage? Why does suffering of this magnitude happen to innocent people? We just celebrated Easter and Passover, but where is God in all of this? What is important in life if things like this can happen?

More than the bitter weather, more than our pet issues we fight, and more than even our graduation woes, we must impress these questions in our hearts. And say a little something for those who won’t ever see their last week of classes. Penn stands behind the Virginia Tech victims, as this is our highest and most noble incarnation of our shared humanity.

I suffer from a bit of an inferiority complex.

No, not because I still haul around CDs for my tunes or because I hail from Maryland, the 9th smallest state. Its just that I feel like a rogue Biology major among my peers — a taboo amidst the sea Penn pre-meds. I’ll admit it — all the talk of the MCATs, mock interviews, and favored Kaplan instructors still intimidates me.

Last Saturday I had the fortune of kicking back at home, marveling at April snow, and watching hours of Law & Order while my fellow bio majors braved hours of a much less entertaining sort — they took the MCAT. The “holy grail” of the pre-med life, this was the test pre-meds had heard about years in advance, studied for months in advance, and panicked from days in advance. But alas, the path to becoming a Grey or McSteamy certainly isn’t the only one available to science types.

Medical school reigns in the hearts and dreams of a good chunk of Penn undergraduates–
29 percent of all graduate school-bound seniors attend medical school, tying only with law school in popularity. This 2006 Career Services Exit Survey also revealed that only 10 percent of graduates who pursued advanced degrees enrolled in natural science, math, and computer science programs, while 5 percent attended alternative medical/health programs.

Data from Career Services’ pre-medical survey shows that Biology majors comprised the largest proportion of budding doctors. 78 Biology majors applied to medical school in 2006. Across all majors in the College, 272 applied and 184 were admitted.

These are impressive figures- 272 reasons to make this Biology major feel as out of place as Don Imus, well, darn near everywhere. What’s a non pre-med to do, besides basking in the comparative sanity of not taking 5 hour full-length practice tests? The answer, according to Penn Biology Professor Dr. Greg Guild, is limitless.

“With science, you can be a lot more creative,” he said. Guild currently advises 40 majors, and having served at Penn for 27 years, he has accumulated many insights. “I remember one advisee, who after being accepted into medical school, realized it’s not what he wanted to do. He wanted to be an architect and declined the admission.”

Certainly, it is socially acceptable to hop on the pre-med train, but Guild points to the multitude of
alternative career options that interest many other students — graduate school, law school, a combination of both, or fields that even Kaplan can’t exploit.

When I look around, the one-up-manship of pre-lecture conversations and post-exam freak-outs creates a false illusion. Not all science grads should pursue the white coat, and, indeed this Leidy Lab devotee won’t be confined by my peers’ medical plans. That is, until ER’s sweeps return in May, and then all bets are off.

Double your pleasure, double your GPA (Library of Congress)

Peppermint may be the new Red Bull. Well, without the wings.

Back home where life is simple, in the halls of suburban Maryland schools, educators are trying innovative measures to improve standardized test scores. Enter thousands of peppermint candies. The idea is not to reward the students — the “power of peppermint” has middle school teachers eager to harness its aromatic potential.

In a month (:-O ), I will graduate with a Biology degree. So yes, I am about to offer that there might be credible scientific evidence for the effect of peppermint in sharpening awareness and mental acuity. And yes, I will ask you to hold your laughter to the end.

The author who broke the
front-page Metro story in the Washington Post cites studies illustrating how the aromatic smell of peppermint can increase measures of mental efficiency. The first, from the University of Cincinnati, compared a healthy group with a group with brain damage. The study found that a peppermint aroma changed the vigilance of the injured group compared to the un-minted vigilance score of the normal.

Another study from Wheeling Jesuit University showed that peppermint’s aroma improved basketball players’ reaction times and overall energy, and lessened their feeling of physical demand. Granted, this study was funded by a company who bottled the aroma in an inhaler to market to athletes, but who’s checking?

A 2005 University of Oxford study has corroborated the power of peppermint, even suggesting the use of the aroma in cars to improve driving alertness.

Not all are convinced. Our own
Dr. Skilton-Sylvester, Lecturer and Early Education Coordinator in the Graduate School of Education, was quoted in the Post with all of the enthusiasm of an overworked Penn Previews guide. His decided distrust is understandable, but who wouldn’t be curious to see if there is power past the placebo?

Will it work? Will students merely feel more confident? Will there be a school full of good-smelling kids? We’ll see in a few weeks, but in the meanwhile, I’d like to run my own trial come finals week!

SPEC-TRUM may have added Papoose to their spring concert, but another rapper has stolen the spotlight.

Yes, that’s right, move over constructive hip-hop artists, dancing correspondents have brought back all of hip-hop’s favorite stereotypes. Last Friday, SPEC-TRUM announced that Papoose will join Juelz Santana for the annual spring concert at the Theatre of Living Arts. Props to SPEC-TRUM for affirming the talents and credibility of such alternative hip-hop artists even as their craft is perverted by those taking “two steps back” (and no, Ciara wouldn’t be proud). Hip-hop has continually faced accusations of minstrelsy, but this time, the accusation could be directed towards one external to the entire rap industry.

During last week’s satire-filled Radio and Television Correspondents’ Association dinner, Karl Rove and the boys of “Who’s Line Is It Anyway?” took to the stage. In a good-natured rap, “MC Rove” danced around painfully, miming the coolest rap gesture he could muster — whipping out his Blackberry. Check it out:

But through all of my cringing, I saw off the corner of the screen-a man dancing cheerfully, not a part of the Who’s Line team. He laughed and danced through the whole song, looking admirably at MC Rove like Diddy admiring his beloved Danity Kane.

So who was the lucky journalist who had a shot at dancing infamy?

None other than Kenneth Strickland, White House correspondent and producer for NBC News. Yes, a man with a proud and extensive journalistic history. Yes, a man with all of the dignity and self-respect of a White House correspondent. And yes, an African-American man who shook it with Rockin’ Rove on stage.

Hip-hop artists are making moves- rappers like Santana and Papoose are making positive changes to the image and reputation of hip-hop. I applaud SPEC-TRUM’s choice, perhaps all the more in light of Rove’s and Strickland’s regressive actions. But I guess there’s a silver lining to every painfully bad attempt to rap:, at least I’ll have some new “MC Rove” moves to show off come April 20th!

I’m no Whartonite, like fellow blogger and resident stock-man Simeon McMillan. Still, I can understand the tendencies of corruption, workaholism, and greed which pervade Huntsman, and really, every discipline at Penn.

Last Saturday, the Wharton Venture Capital Association and the Wharton Christian Group sponsored a talk by Bob Doll, the former President of Merrill Lynch. Doll discussed his methods of countering greed–concentrating on the power of faith, rather than the power of the dollar. Faith has played a role even in the high-paced world of I-banking and corporate mergers.

Bob Doll, dressed impeccably in a gray suit and sharp tie, looked more like a financially savvy John Edwards than a modest family man-turned portfolio manager. And Doll’s story was almost as impressive as the motivating factors behind it. After getting his MBA (W’80), he skyrocketed Oppenheim Funds to the “Top 25 Funds” list in 1988. From there, he moved on to serve as President and Chief Investment Officer at Merrill Lynch Investment Managers. In 2006, on the cusp of declining fortunes, he moved to rechristen the company Princeton Portfolio Research & Management in an effort to improve credibility and revenues (improving creditability by naming a company Princeton? Wharton sure taught him to think outside of the box.) The day before he announced the name change, Doll received a call that his BlackRock of New York was staging a Hostile Takeover of his company.

Tensions ran deep and egos flared as executives jostled for top positions in the new supercompany. When Doll wrestled with his future he chose to seek “perspective”. “I asked myself-in 100 years, will this really matter? No.” BlackRock successfully merged with Merrill Lynch, and Bob Doll and his team currently manage $400 billion in equity assets.

Doll added that his sense of worth is rooted outside of his career, joking that “I drive a ‘94 Volvo that’s missing a hubcap”. His desire for balance, service, and integrity on the job stand in stark contrast to the values of his profession. Doll underscores that faith and the workplace are not mutually exclusive. And thankfully, I don’t need a Finance concentration to appreciate that.

Penn Previews is upon us. Hill residents are frantically cleaning their rooms — hoards of “specs” (and their skillfully discerning parents) will descend on our campus this weekend and into next week., April 1st marks the official date for college admissions decisions. Students have one month to make their final choice. All applicants have one benchmark and one final question to answer, making up one more class of students united by the hyper-competitive college admissions process.

But Penn’s seniors are different than the high school specs in many respects — more experience, less disposable cash, and more spare time (which may or may not be just procrastination). But the differences go deeper– Penn seniors can enjoy their last weeks together in a culture relatively free from competition. Whereas high school seniors are competing over the same universities, Penn seniors pursue post-college plans at wildly different times and along widely different paths.

Sure, senior life is not free from stress– there are elite schools, elite companies, elite fellowships, and even elite cities for new grads. But it’s not like picking an undergraduate school. Comparatively, graduate schools are defined by individual departments, not by a ranking or the likelihood their basketball team makes it to the Big Dance.

As some of the high school students that roll through here in the next few weeks cram onto College Green for Convocation next fall, Penn’s seniors will begin fanning out across the country, and across the world. I’m excited that these too-close-for-comfort seminars, grueling upper-level courses, and professors who never quit pushing have developed my unique, specialized career interest. This culture of diverse pursuits affords an egalitarian sprint to the finish, where our own personal finish lines have little impact on friends running next to us.

“Fat” has become the new weather.

As if!

Instead of the latest temperature drop being the social lubricant of small-talk conversations, there’s a new small-talk champion in town (at least for women.) Body weight. A new study came out mid-March describing the contagious phenomenon of “fat talk”.

“Fat talk” was originally described in middle school girls, but is now seen in college women. The study, co-authored by Dr. Martz from Appalachian State University, tested both male and female expectations to how a woman will react in a conversation. Given a scenario of a female stranger entering a group already discussing their weight, 40 percent of men and 51 percent of women participants predicted they would join in with the body-bashing. Dr. Martz, in an interview with LiveScience online, concluded “Because women feel pressured to follow the fat talk norm, they are more likely to engage in fat talk with other females”.

This group-critique coupled with communal affirmation is a short-term solution that is both damaging and self-reinforcing. The
Office of Health Education website puts it sternly, “No one is perfect! When you find yourself being self critical immediately stop and pay yourself a compliment!”

While this response can seem obvious to the problem of self-criticism, the study describes the benefit women derive from this strategy. Dr. Martz argues that because our society disdains egotism, we gain kudos for so-called “modesty” — i.e., trashing our bodies. We can subversively gain the approval of friends while disparaging what makes us unique.

But really, any student who’s taken a class in the College should be able to talk about fat more intelligently. Biology majors could chew over how women naturally
distribute fat differentlyand may
fatigue less during aerobic exercise than men. Anthropology buffs might chat up their friends about the “Fat and Society” course, which offers a sociological analysis of the issue. Sure, body image may not be the most enticing topics to discuss, but an open, accepting conversation is clearly and immediately superior to the “fat talk” plaguing our circles of friends.

“Fat talk” is a self-gratifying but vicious cycle that must be exposed for what it is. Let’s make public self-criticism taboo, one dining hall conversation at a time.

(DP)

Editor’s Note: This post may look familiar. Camille’s piece was first posted on March 13 — it has since disappeared (probably the fault of yours truly). Anyway, here it is again. Enjoy!



The smell of excitement overtook the remnants of the sunscreen aroma — the first Monday back was abuzz with long-lost hugs and repeated utterances of “How was your break?” Cancun, Miami, the Dominican. No time for details in the quick chat and run,, but I’m sure most of my classmates’ breaks included some moments fit for MTV’s Spring Break. And, I’m willing to bet, most of these moments included some kind of unnaturally colored cocktail, umbrella optional.

But the unquestioned tradition of binging is not universal at Penn. The Vision, Penn’s black-interest newsletter, published a provocative column by Jaryn Fields last fall entitled “I Thought Drinking Was Their Problem” discussing the differences between the drinking culture among black students from that of white students. The statistics he cites are provocative — 23% of black students reported binge drinking in a two week period compared to 44% of white college students in a study performed by the Department of Health and Human Services . These national statistics hold true at Penn as well. According to Dr. Stephanie Ives, Penn Director of
Alcohol Policy Initiatives , black Penn students tend to “fall somewhere between the lower and moderate risk groups”. Across all measures of binge drinking, black students in particular tend to be making a habit out of healthy drinking.

More categorical answers for this phenomenon surface : The bar and keg scenes aren’t culturally popular among black students, the gender imbalance leans towards women who drink less overall, or the deep religiosity of black culture. Generalizations, sure. But potentially accurate reasons for the behavioral differences that distinguish a good chunk of the black student population from the general American collegiate population? Sure again.

Black students tend to have more responsible drinking habits largely because of cultural factors, but there is a larger story here. All over campus, students are choosing to space out their drinks, watch themselves, and
look out for their friends across all ethnicities. Really, there’s a gamut of ways to live out the quintessential college experience. Who knows, maybe in the future our expectations when we ask that friend about break will change as well!

Eve Herold of the Genetics Policy Institute discusses whether the U.S. should fund embryonic stem cell research.(Jeff Hammond/DP)

“The Great Stem Cell Debate” — an event that could make Biology majors salivate and campus politicos drop their books. Last Tuesday, almost eighty people came to hear a debate over funding for embryonic stem cells. These are the most controversial of the larger class of “progenitor” cells which can mature in to every other type of cell in the body. But the debate isn’t just about embryonic stem cell research, even though the discussion usually gets caught on the thorny political and ethical issues surrounding it.

Fortunately, scientific advancements may soon make the debate over embryonic stem cells obsolete. And we need look no further than the cutting-edge research occurring next door at the Penn Medical School.

Last June, Assistant Professor Dr. George Xu announced that his group had isolated a new form of progenitor cell, adding to the list of “adult” stem cells that can be procured without embryonic destruction. Adult stem cells are cells that can only create a specific family of cells in the body. Bone marrow, for instance, acts through stem cell differentiation to give rise to all blood cells. Dr Xu’s study in the American Journal of Pathology demonstrated that by using conditions typically used to grow embryonic stem cells, cells from hair follicles could become “multi-potent” – ie, turn into several types of cells in the body. By changing the molecular environment, the hair cells differentiated into nerve cells, smooth muscle cells, and skin pigmentation cells.

According to an e-mail interview with Dr. Xu, adult stem cells have unique features that are beneficial and distinguish them from embryonic stem cells. “Adult stem cells have not been shown, as embryonic stem cells have, to produce unwanted tumors”. Further, stem cells can be derived from the same patient, eliminating the “need for immunosuppressive therapy” to combat physiologic rejection. Adult stem cells have already seen clinical success through bone marrow transplants, which have “saved many lives already”. Through his work, Dr. Xu argues that adult stem cells are “a productive alternative to embryonic stem cells.”

The promise of adult stem cells relies on the ability to determine the ideal conditions for growing the specific types of cells demanded. Researchers are continuing to investigate these conditions, with work such as Dr. Xu’s adding to the legitimacy of this line of study. As Dr. Xu asserts, “Funding for adult stem cells is equally as important as for embryonic stem cells.” And as more research universities are funding adult stem cell trials, Penn will continue to compete in this promising area of investigation.