Brent Stockwell, a Columbia biology and chemistry professor, has identified a potentially revolutionary new method to selectively kill cancer cells in humans. Stockwell worked with Columbia postdoctoral researcher Wan Seok Yang.

College research is pushing ahead new discoveries to reduce the risk of neurodegenerative diseases, save NASCAR lives and examine the decline of bees. It’s all part of this week’s research roundup.

New research suggests that you may be able to sleep yourself skinny — at least during infancy.
Infants who get fewer than 12 hours of sleep a night are more likely to be overweight, according to a recent study by researchers at Harvard Medical School.

The University of Michigan researcher said the findings were interesting because students at the school are relatively affluent. He added tha the study suggests that students negotiate exchanges “not out of necessity, but because they can.”

The SAFER barrier, which debuted last year at the start of the NASCAR season, turns every crash into two separate collisions. This lessens the severity of each wreck by extending the time of impact.

A series of tests conducted by Jeremy Bailenson, an assistant professor of communication at Stanford University, suggests that images seen in a computerized environment can have a lasting impact on the viewer.