By Anne Levin
With a mother and two paternal aunts who died of breast cancer, the two sisters knew it was important to get tested to see if they carried the BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene. Should the test come back positive, their risk of developing breast and/or ovarian cancer would be higher than average. And preventive measures—most likely mastectomy and/or hysterectomy—could be in order. more
By Ellen Gilbert
Recent strides in the field of genetic engineering are generating tremendous excitement. Long in the works at university and company laboratories, the implications of this treatment are far-reaching.
The rapidly emerging immunotherapy approach is called adoptive cell transfer (ACT); it collects and uses patients’ own immune cells to treat their cancer. There are several types of ACT, but the star of the show right now is CAR T-cell therapy, which made medical history this last August when the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first genetic therapy for widespread use. Called Kymriah, it is being marketed by Novartis, a global healthcare company based in Switzerland. more
By William Uhl
Walking with Quentin Kelly, founder and CEO of WorldWater & Solar Technologies, Inc., you can tell he is enthusiastic about what he does. The walls of his office in Princeton are decorated with maps of third-world countries like the Philippines, with red dots for each solar-powered water pump and purifier installed. Low-rise cubicles have pictures of flowing water and green crops in Haiti, Afghanistan, Darfur, and other places. And the boardroom has a row of photos of solar-powered farms in San Diego and the San Joaquin Valley. But WorldWater didn’t come into existence to fuel agriculture. more
By Doug Wallack
On Saturday, October 21, Trenton-based nonprofit Isles will hold its first ever Fall Fest fundraiser in the new Social Profit Center at Mill One in Hamilton. The event will feature food and drink from local restaurants and vendors, along with performances and works from area musicians and artists. The Fall Fest is meant to showcase the greater Trenton community and to celebrate the renovation of Mill One — the historic mill building on the Hamilton-Trenton border that Isles purchased in 2006. more
By Donald Gilpin
Peter Baker is still trying to figure out who is Barack Obama, and what exactly will be the substance of his legacy?
Chief White House correspondent for the NYTimes since 2008, Baker told a full-house gathering of about 200 at Princeton University’s Arthur Lewis Auditorium, Robertson Hall on Monday that he wrote his new book, Obama: the Call of History (June 2017), to try and tackle those questions. more
By Donald Gilpin
By Doug Wallack
Quoted in the December 1963 Life article in which she famously coined the “Camelot” epithet for her late husband’s presidency, Jacqueline Kennedy says, “Once, the more I read of history, the more bitter I got. For a while I thought history was something that bitter old men wrote. But then I realized history made Jack what he was.” She goes on to outline a vision of a young John F. Kennedy for whom history was a great repository of heroes and role models—a catalyst for his own idealism. more
By Donald Gilpin
Every day more than 140 people in the United States die from an opioid-related overdose, and deaths from opioids continue to increase, almost quadrupling since 1999.
Responding to the report of a special commission chaired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, President Trump recently declared the opioid epidemic a state of emergency. more
By Jean Stratton
If indeed, as studies indicate, 10,000 baby boomers are turning 65 every day and will continue to do so for at least the next decade, the implications for the health care system, for seniors and spouses with health problems, and for adult children of aging parents are very challenging. more
By Taylor Smith
The Shark Research Institute (SRI) was founded in Princeton, New Jersey in 1991 as a center of scientific research. The organization maintains field offices across the world in places as far reaching as Mozambique and India. SRI is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit with the mission of studying and protecting sharks and their natural habitats. SRI and its scientific research team aim to correct misconceptions about sharks and instead teach the general population to value sharks as a vital part of the global ecosystem.
Marie Levine, executive director at SRI, oversees the day-to-day running of the various networks of scientists, field researchers, members, and donors that are involved in current SRI conservation projects. more
By Erica Cardenas
Photography by Ray Lego
This past May concluded Princeton Racing Electric’s (PRE) 2016-2017 season. PRE started four years ago and is an extracurricular activity for PU students. Serious PU students dedicate a dozen hours per week to work on the PRE car and mechanics. PRE is funded by both independent sponsors and Princeton University; however, the team is on a budget and has to “design within their limits.” more
By Ilene Dube
Photography by Jon Roemer
Princeton’s Western section, bordered by Bayard Lane, Westcott Road, Elm Road and Stockton Street, is prized for its Colonial, Tudor, Victorian and Gothic homes. Designed by such noteworthy architects as Rolf Bauhan, John Notman and Charles Steadman, some of these houses have been lived in by members of the Stockton family, Woodrow Wilson and Grover Cleveland. Stately gardens and heirloom trees envelope the streets with a sense of nature. more
6:30 to 8 p.m.: Damsel Duo, an indie-neo-folk group featuring Beth Meyers and Monica Mugan, presents a Mother’s Day concert with acoustic-based duo Helen and Molly. Molly Trueman of Helen and Molly is Mugan’s daughter; Hinds Plaza.
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.: St. Lawrence Rehabilitation Center hosts its annual Bike Safety Rodeo and Safe Kids Day. Children ages 3-12 and their families are invited to learn about safety and prevention when participating in sports and other recreational activities. Children will receive free bike helmets, have their bikes inspected, and ride a safety course. RSVP by emailing bikerodeo@slrc.org. more
By Donald Gilpin
by Anne Levin
Back in the late eighteenth century when the Rev. John Witherspoon was the sixth president of Princeton University, he was known to end his work day at Nassau Hall when he saw a light in a front window of Tusculum, his country house and tenant farm located just a mile to the north. According to a local legend, one of Witherspoon’s daughters would light a candle in that window, letting her father know it was time to close up shop and head home. more
by Donald Gilpin
All things Trump have increasingly dominated the media since the election campaign last year, and especially in the wild first months of the Trump Presidency. A casual observer from another planet might well assume that the White House and President Trump, with an occasional nod to Capitol Hill or the Supreme Court, is the true seat of power in the United States—that the lives of U.S. citizens are shaped and determined by policies and directives from Washington. more
by Wendy Plump
It turns out that surfers and philosophers have a lot in common. To be any good at what they do, they have to be hard-core realists. Good surf or bad, decent people or vile, the approach is the same: if you don’t want to be mullered, then deal effectively with conditions as you find them. As both a surfer and a philosopher, this is practically Peter Singer’s calling card. more
