"The American experience on [keeping church and religion separate] is relevant to the rest of the world in a remarkable way. Americans confronted that centuries before the rest of the world."

-- Lamin Sanneh, the D. Willis James Professor of World Christianity, "Evangelical Christianity Shifting Outside West," The Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 20, 2006.

§

"Once you take apart any system in the cell, you find it's incredibly complex. But that complexity is falling to experiment."

-- Joel Rosenbaum, professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology, "Unlocking Cell Secrets Bolsters Evolutionists," Chicago Tribune, Feb. 13, 2006.

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"World's fairs were not collected this way back when they started, in 1851, '76, or '93. But it is my sense now that with their combined text and visual styles, the fairs are one area of interest at the intersection of both high and low culture."

-- George Miles, curator of Western Americana at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, on a recent auction at Christie's in which the library was among many successful bidders on materials related to world fairs, "Christie's, New York City; Yale's Beinecke Library Buys Half of Heller World's Fair Cache," Maine Antique Digest, Feb. 13, 2006.

§

"I've spoken with African Americans who have tried four or five different genetic genealogy companies because they weren't satisfied with the results. They received different results each time and kept going until they got a result they were happy with."

-- Alondra Nelson, assistant professor of sociology and of African American studies, on the conflicting information about genealogy that can result from DNA testing, "New Roots: Wealthy African Americans Are Using DNA Kits to Trace Their Roots -- All the Way Back to Africa. But, Says Gary Younge, the Results May Tell Them Things They Don't Want to Hear," The Guardian (UK), Feb. 17, 2006.

§

"[People with the high-functioning autism known as Asperger's Syndrome] may be able to tell you every currency in the world, but they cannot go into McDonald's, order a hamburger and count the correct change. ... These are people who know about the world, but don't know how to function in the world."

-- Ami Klin, the Harris Associate Professor of Child Psychiatry, "At 21, The Help Ends; State Services Sorely Lacking For Adults with Autism," Hartford Courant, Feb. 16, 2006.

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'''When in Rome' is not a justifiable term for doing business."

-- Jeffrey A. Sonnenfeld, the Lester Crown Professor in the Practice of Management, on U.S. companies trying to justify working with the Chinese government to suppress free speech, "Enough Shame To Go Around On China," The New York Times, Feb. 18, 2006.

§

"Many people describe Americanism as a civil religion, or merely a type of patriotism. But the millions of desperate people all over the world who have said, devoutly, 'I believe in America' -- especially in the last 100 years or so -- weren't referring to an American civil religion or American patriotism. When they said 'I believe in America,' they weren't speaking of a nation either. They were expressing belief in a religious idea of enormous, transporting power."

-- David Gelernter, professor of computer science, in his article "A Religious Idea Called 'America'; How Puritanism Created It, What It Means, Why It Matters," American Enterprise Institute (Washington, D.C.), Feb. 14, 2006.

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"One practically has to be a renaissance man (woman) to achieve good work in economics, and contemporary life does not give us enough time to do that."

-- Robert J. Shiller, the Stanley B. Resor Professor of Economics, "Lunch with the FT: The Man and the Bubble," Financial Times, Feb. 17, 2006.

§

"During the summer that Nixon resigned, I was visiting Seoul. Someone tried to assassinate Korea's president and he declared martial law. I called my father and marveled that Korea had never enjoyed a peaceful transition of government. Meanwhile, the world's most powerful government had just changed hands without anyone firing a shot. He said, 'Now you see the difference: In a democracy, if you are president, then the troops obey you. In a dictatorship, if the troops obey you, then you are president.'"

-- Harold Hongju Koh, the Gerard C. and Bernice Latrobe Smith Professor of International Law and dean of the Law School, in his commentary, "The Bright Lights of Freedom; I Believe That Freedom is Contagious," "Morning Edition," National Public Radio, Feb. 13, 2006.

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"We're really working with the social factor. People consider it inconvenient or disadvantageous to have to plug in [to access the Internet]. In the School of Management, in the late 90s, we went into all the seminar rooms, lounges and meeting rooms, and put [Ethernet] jacks everywhere. But the minute we put wireless in, they stopped using the wired network even if they got better performance with the cables."

-- Joseph Paolillo, director of ITS Network Services, on how wireless systems are both easier to install and more popular that wiring campus buildings for Internet access, "Case Study: Yale University," Unstrung (NY), Feb. 16, 2006.

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"Northern white writers sometimes see black people as another species. I think the white writer sometimes says, 'No, no, that's a hornet's nest.' Maybe even thinking it's cultural piracy. Whereas the white Southern writer says, 'I know blacks. I grew up with blacks. We were friends.'"

-- Richard Price, lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences college seminars, on being one of the few white novelists who write about black life (even though he himself is a Northerner), "'The American Flu,'" Times Union (N.Y.), Feb. 16, 2006.

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"Civil rights must rise to a new, more inclusive register. That ascent begins with the recognition that the mainstream is a myth. With respect to any particular identity, the word 'mainstream' makes sense, as in the statement that straight people are more mainstream than gay people. Used generically, however, the word lacks meaning. Because people hold many identities, the mainstream is a shifting coalition, and none of us is entirely within it. As queer theorists have recognized, it is not normal to be completely normal. All of us struggle for self-expression; we all have covered selves."

-- Kenji Yoshino, professor of law, in his article "The Myth of the Mainstream," Chronicle of Higher Education, Feb. 17, 2006.

§

"[T]he likelihood that a nuclear weapon could be used has probably gone up since the Cold War ended. But I think that likelihood resides with the possibility of a terrorist or a rogue state getting hold of one or two nuclear weapons and using them in that way. The likelihood of a nuclear exchange involving some six or seven thousand nuclear weapons, which is what could have happened in the Cold War, simply is not going to happen in the post-Cold War era."

-- John Lewis Gaddis, the Robert A. Lovett Professor of Military & Naval History, "A New History of the Cold War," "Talk of the Nation," National Public Radio, Feb. 8, 2006.

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

Noted critic and artist Robert Storr named next dean of School of Art

Two faculty receive prestigious prizes

• Joseph Roach wins Mellon Award for studies on world performance
  
  
• Joseph Schlessinger gets David Prize for work on cancer treatment
  

Brothers' gift to renovate site of their former athletic glory

Yale licenses ovarian cancer test technology to LabCorp

Gallery acquires rare painting by Yale-educated artist

Yale donates important set of books to the British Parliament

ENDOWED PROFESSORSHIPS

• Richard Casten is named D. Allan Bromley Professor
  
  
• Peter Swenson is new Charlotte Marion Saden Professor
  

William Clyde DeVane Medals are awarded to two scientists

Ignorance of world news could imperil the nation, says journalist

Event explored 'Youth and the Future of U.S.-Islamic Relations'

Doll exhibition marks Japanese celebration of 'Girls Day'

Museum hosting talk on Connecticut day trips, annual 'Fiesta Latina'

Chinese Christian art is featured in Institute of Sacred Music exhibit

Study suggests people may learn best on an empty stomach

VaxInnate officials to speak in next event of seminar serie

Volunteers sought for Ob/Gyn's Kronos Early Estrogen Prevention Study

Competition aims to educate campuses nationwide about recycling

Yale Books in Brief

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