Professor studies what cars can learn from drivers’ words

Years ago, Stanford communication and sociology researcher Clifford Nass wondered why some people treated their computers as humans, instead of machines, a question that led him down a path of interesting research. Now he wonders about drivers willing to have personal conversations with the artificial voice in their cars—and what will become of the secrets the humans share with their four-wheeled friends.

• Stanford's Nass simulates crashes, sees the car as a media center

Sir Salman Rushdie tells stories of oppression, freedom and the fatwa

Some speculated Sir Salman Rushdie wouldn't mention his notorious fatwa at all—he had, after all, expressed a wish to leave behind a life he likened to being "stuck in a bad novel." The shoemaker might stick to his last, discussing, perhaps, the fate of the novel, rather than delving into his own life-in-hiding following the Ayatollah Khomeini's 1989 bounty for his murder.

• At Stanford, writer Salman Rushie outlines the cultural squeeze by both the right and left

Service with a smile

On May 1 and 2, about 350 students staff, faculty and alumni volunteered off-campus at many local nonprofit organizations as part of the university’s biennial Community Partnership Program.

• Stanford reaches out to help surrounding communities

Researchers synthesize plant compound to flush out HIV

Any hunter will tell you that when your quarry goes into hiding, you have to flush it out to get a good shot at it. Such is the case with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

• Stanford's Paul Wender is in the hunt to flush out HIV

Faculty and staff take advantage of Wellness Fair

Julie Muir, recycling manager for Peninsula Sanitary Service, Inc., and Karin Moriarty, a media specialist for Land and Buildings Operations, chat at the Wellness Fair for faculty and staff, held on May 1 in the Arrillaga Center for Sports and Recreation.

Tech giants work together to enable software to power parallel computing

Stanford and many of the biggest companies in computing announced on Friday, May 2, a joint effort to address a major missed opportunity in information technology: the dearth of software that can harness the parallelism of the multiple processors that are being built into virtually every new computer.