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Men with prostate cancer who are treated with radiation therapy experience significant side effects such as fatigue, sleep problems, anxiety and depressive symptoms. But listening to mindfulness audio recordings significantly eased those symptoms, a new Northwestern Medicine study has found. 

While reclining and receiving their daily 5-to-15-minute radiation treatment, men in the study listened to short (3 to 6 minutes) audio-based mindfulness recordings that asked them to focus on their breath, posture, sounds and environment.

Mindfulness audio: Awareness of sounds & thoughts

Chirp. It’s the sound of a stellar event that happened more than a billion years ago. Two black holes collided in space, creating a new black hole that is 30 times the mass of the sun. On September 14th, 2015, LIGO (Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory) detectors recorded evidence of gravitational waves for the first time in history. Gravitational waves are ripples in spacetime, caused by things like star explosions or black hole collisions. On December 26th, 2015, LIGO detectors picked up a second ripple from gravitational waves, caused by a separate event.

Communication From Beyond a Cosmic Grave

Julie Anne Friend, director of Northwestern’s Office of Global Safety and Security, discusses the rise in terror attacks abroad and why terror still isn’t her biggest concern for study abroad students’ safety.

Terror's influence on study abroad

First-year students flooded the Northwestern University campus Sep. 12 for move-in day 2016. Three freshmen, a sophomore and a junior peer advisor weighed in on the hectic but thrilling experience. 

Soundoff: Freshmen Move-in 2016

A spark of love leads to the spark of new life. Teresa Woodruff and Tom O’Halloran's morning walks on the beach launched an idea that could forever change our understanding of conception.

Music courtesy of Incompetech.com

Couples podcast: Spark of love

David and Debra Tolchinsky met in film school, and they love to talk about their projects, but there’s one thing they don’t allow each other to say after the sun goes down.

Music courtesy of Incompetech.com

Couples podcast: Creative collaboration

Doug Meffley and Maureen Palchak’s offices are mere feet apart in the athletics department, so they’ve taken up one unusual behavior at office meetings in order to keep their work-turned-personal relationship professional.

Couples podcast: A team on and off the sidelines

Medill junior discusses experience interning for Chicago Cubs during World Series

Music courtesy of Incompetech.com

Front row seat to baseball history

Their first conversation revolved around quantum physics, but it’s not the first time they met. Brian and Teri Odom found proof of a near-meeting that almost happened at a childhood summer camp.

Music courtesy of Incompetech.com

Couples Podcast: Second-chance encounter

Author, researcher, reformer: Senior Lecturer Leigh Bienen opens up about her winding, impactful career.

Conversation: Leigh Bienen, Pritzker School of Law Senior Lecturer

Jide and Uzoamaka Nzelibe both have roots in Nigeria and careers in international law, but it’s a mirrored path that led them both to Northwestern University’s Pritzker School of Law.

Couples podcast: Parallel but opposite

John Musker, 1975 Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences graduate and Disney animation legend, discusses his work on Disney's latest movie, "Moana."

Disney's man behind the magic

Astrophysicists Fred Rasio and Vicky Kalogera actively avoid collaborating on research. That decision once came into play in the announcement of one of the biggest discoveries in modern science.

Couples podcast: Written in the stars

This couple believes science and globalization exist in a symbiotic world, each theme enhancing the other’s success. International relations expert Devora Grynspan and scientist Sam Stupp  leverage each other’s connections to enhance the University’s brand at home and abroad.

Couples podcast: Synergy of science and globalization

A novel suite of 13 speedy mini-apps called IntelliCare significantly lessened depression and anxiety for people who used them on their smartphones. Dr. David Mohr, director of Northwestern's Center for Behavioral Intervention Technologies, designed the apps and explains how they promote what he calls a "third revolution" in mental health treatment.

Depression relief now as quick as finding good sushi

BBC Radio's adaptation of "Agamemnon" makes its world-premiere staging at the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts.

Wirtz Center production raises questions of political agency, justice and morality

Fraser Stoddart, 2016 Nobel laureate in chemistry and creator of the groundbreaking mechanical bond, which he stresses has everything to do with the human bonding that takes place inside and outside the lab, will leave an impact for  generations to come

Fraser Stoddart's bonds transform science

It's a breakthrough in the realm of HIV treatment — a simple, yet impactful therapy that could drastically reduce the spread of HIV on a national level and improve life expectancy for patients. Feinberg School of Medicine researcher Judith Moskowitz explains the physical benefits of positive thinking.

Physical benefits of positive thinking in HIV treatment

In Northwestern University's annual Conversations with the President, President Morton Schapiro discussed what has happened in the previous year at the university and what he hopes to accomplish going forward. In 2017, President Schapiro declared that Northwestern University is financially strong and well positioned to succeed in its academic and research missions, despite cuts in federal research funding and threats to global mobility for scholars.Members of the panel accompanying him on stage were Provost Daniel Linzer, Vice President for Student Affairs Patricia Telles-Irvin, Executive Vice President Nim Chinniah, and Vice President and General Counsel Philip Harris. April 12, 2017, Chicago Campus.

Conversations With the President 2017 (Chicago campus)

Two members of the Dover Quartet - one of the most celebrated quartets in the country - discuss the rehearsal techniques that lead to their unusual tone. They also discuss the changing landscape of classical music and reveal the unexpected teacher who has influenced their sound evolution over the course of their two year residency at Northwestern University's Bienen School of Music.

Dover Quartet drives evolution of classical music

The discovery that gravitational waves exist proves part of Einstein's theory of relativity and opens a whole new field of astronomy. But why should you care? Northwestern astrophysicists Vicky Kalogera and Shane Larson and engineer Selim Shahriar explain how this fundamental science could impact your daily life.

Gravitational waves drive new field of astronomy

Tennis icon and LGBTQIA advocate Billie Jean King delivers the Commencement address to the Class of 2017.

2017 Commencement address by Billie Jean King

From Brexit to Russia’s self-destructive response to U.S. sanctions, economists’ predictions have missed the mark recently on several important fronts. So what can be done to make economic models more accurate and more reflective of actual human behavior?

In their new book, “Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities,” Northwestern University president and economics professor Morton Schapiro and Slavic languages and literatures professor Gary Saul Morson discuss how the field of economics would benefit from collaboration with scholars of literature and the humanities.

Purchase a hardcopy or e-book edition of "Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities" through Princeton University Press.

Cents and Sensibility: What Economics Can Learn from the Humanities

Robert S. Langer, the prolific inventor and MIT professor known as the "Edison of Medicine," shares how a children's toy propelled him toward a career that earned him the 2017 Kabiller Prize in Nanoscience and Nanomedicine, established by Northwestern's International Institute for Nanotechnology.

Liangfang Zhang, professor of nanoengineering at the University of California, San Diego, and recipient of the 2017 Kabiller Young Investigator Award, also discusses his work, including a strong connection to the research of Dr. Langer.

'Edison of Medicine" honored with 2017 Kabiller Prize

On August 17, 2017, the universe sent a message that, for the first time, humans were able to decode. Two neutron stars collided in space, sending both gravitational waves and electromagnetic waves barreling toward Earth. The combination of signals from those two sets of waves provided the key to unlocking a secret trapped in the cosmos for billions of years. Northwestern University's CIERA astronomy research center already played a key role in solving one cosmic mystery, and they are likely to solve many more as this new field of multi-messenger astronomy develops.

Message from space unlocks secrets of the cosmos

Nearly one year after the election of President Donald Trump, three Medill alumnae - all Washington, D.C. bureau chiefs for major media outlets - returned to Northwestern to discuss how political journalism has changed under the new administration.

The panel features Elisabeth Bumiller of The New York Times, Susan Page of USA Today and CBS, and Julie Pace of The Associated Press and CNN.

The Insiders: Covering Washington Since Trump's Election

In Northwestern University's annual Conversations with the President, President Morton Schapiro discussed what has happened in the previous year at the university and what he hopes to accomplish going forward. On April 4 in Chicago, Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro reaffirmed the University’s leadership role in critical research in science, medicine and the humanities, noting that federal research dollars coming to Northwestern increased by 53 percent in recent years.

Conversations with the president 2018 (Chicago campus)

In Northwestern University's annual Conversations with the President, President Morton Schapiro discussed what has happened in the previous year at the university and what he hopes to accomplish going forward. On April 12 in Evanston, Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro reaffirmed the University’s leadership role in critical research in science, medicine and the humanities, noting that federal research dollars coming to Northwestern increased by 53 percent in recent years.

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