Page break.
Summer vacations may be on the horizon, but you don’t need a plane ticket or a full tank of gas to set off on an adventure. Escape into the pages of the books on Stanford magazine’s Summer Reading List, selected by faculty members, Stegner fellows, and alumni authors. For a poignant novel that will make you laugh and think, bestselling novelist Brit Bennett, ’12, recommends Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. For those who don’t mind salivating while reading, culinary historian Adrian Miller, ’91, suggests Black Food: Stories, Art & Recipes Across the African Diaspora, edited by Bryant Terry. Our 14 picks cover many genres, but if there’s still room in your bag, it wouldn’t be criminal to head over to the Law School’s Summer Reading List. They’ve got 17 picks from Law School faculty, including books on democratic justice, slavery, and existentialism, but attorneys also know a good beach read when they see one.
Taking on water.
What if preventing waterborne diseases was as easy as making Kool-Aid? Researchers at Stanford and SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory have invented a nontoxic metallic powder that, when added to water and exposed to sunlight, can annihilate 1 million E. coli bacteria from a 6.8-ounce beaker of water in just 60 seconds. The powder is composed of nanosized flakes of aluminum oxide, molybdenum sulfide, copper, and iron oxide, which react with water to create highly destructive hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radicals. The chemical by-products then rapidly break down into water and oxygen, making the water safe to drink almost immediately.
Pick your jaws up off the ground, readers, because it gets better: The powder is reusable. Because the flakes are made of metal, they can be extracted from the water with an ordinary magnet. (Researchers used the same scoop of powder 30 times during the study.) This could potentially help not only hikers but also water treatment plants, where disinfection methods involve slow-acting UV lights and chemicals that produce toxic by-products. But the big win could be for the 2 billion people worldwide whose drinking water is contaminated. “Waterborne diseases are responsible for 2 million deaths annually, the majority in children under the age of 5,” said study co-lead author and former postdoctoral scholar Tong Wu. “We believe that our novel technology will facilitate revolutionary changes in water disinfection.”
A sweet spring for sports.
Stanford has won the NACDA Learfield Directors' Cup for the first time since 2019 (after a pandemic hiatus and two wins by the University of Texas). The Cardinal has claimed the Division I cup, which is awarded to the program with the greatest success in collegiate athletics, 26 of the 29 times it has been awarded, placing second thrice.
In addition to spring NCAA title wins by men’s gymnastics and women’s water polo mentioned in previous Loops, women’s sailing glided to title victory in the ICSA Women’s Fleet Race and the ICSA Open Fleet Race, marking the first and second times in program history, respectively, that the team has won those championships, as well as the team’s first open title since 1997. Women’s softball ended its 47–15 season in an elimination round at the Women’s College World Series. Individual titles are popping up all over the place, as well. Among them is first place in the NCAA men’s 200, secured by sophomore track and field runner Udodi Onwuzurike. It’s the first time Stanford has won that event since 1939. And if there’s a record for records, we’re betting on Rose Zhang. Last month, the sophomore became the first women’s golfer ever to win two individual NCAA championships. A hot second later, she went pro, and became the first golfer in 72 years to win an LPGA tournament in her professional debut.
Be careful what you wish for.
Photo: Allysa Wesierskii, ’25
D is for magnolia, where Potter residents celebrated their neighborhood’s new name. This spring, the university’s eight residential neighborhoods—initially called S, T, A, N, F, O, R, and D, got arboreal monikers. There was just one little unforeseen consequence. Half of the neighborhoods have tree names that begin with their original letter—but the other half don’t. So the neighborhoods no longer spell Stanford, and . . . let’s just say students left no anagram unturned.
TikTok’s big sister is here to help.
If you’re stressing over that guy who won’t text you back, put down the phone and pick up The Shift: Change Your Perspective, Not Yourself, a guide to dating and more by TikTok celebrity Christina Najjar, ’13. Known on social media as Tinx, Najjar has 1.5 million followers on TikTok, a podcast (It’s Me, Tinx), and even her own salad dressing (a collaboration with Tabasco). The New Yorker calls her what ‘Dear Abby’ would be if Abby knew her angles and had been president of her sorority.”
Unlike The Rules, the dating bible of the ’90s that focused on landing a husband, The Shift is meant to help young women rethink dating as means to an end and focus instead on increasing their happiness and sense of self-worth. “It’s dating-heavy, but, really, it’s a guide book for self-esteem,” Najjar told the New Yorker. Her rise to social media success came partly from following her own advice to have a meaningful life outside of a relationship. “The goal should be to be happy, not to be in a relationship,” she said. “I can’t wait until I find my person, but what am I going to do in the meantime, light myself on fire? I have a lot to be grateful for.”
Student life gets a boost.
University leadership has announced new efforts meant to enhance student life, including streamlined processes for student events, more choice for undergraduates in the housing assignment process, and updates to the student judicial system geared to focus on educational remedies for lower-level conduct violations. “We’ve listened to student feedback and are taking these additional steps to bolster student life on campus,” Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne said. “We’re committed to working with students to foster a campus life that is supportive, enriching, and fun, and I can’t wait to see what the next year holds.”
But wait, there’s more.
Stanford president Marc Tessier-Lavigne has appointed members to the Jewish Advisory Committee, a panel of students, faculty, staff, and alumni tasked with helping enhance Jewish life at Stanford. In the wake of recent vandalism, which the Department of Public Safety is investigating as hate crimes, the university will use the new committee to identify additional ways to support Stanford’s Jewish community.
The 2023 President’s Award for the Advancement of the Common Good goes to Dianne Calvi, ’84, and Rey Saldaña, ’09, MA ’10, for their commitment to public service. Calvi, the president and CEO of Village Enterprise, is working to end extreme poverty in rural Africa through entrepreneurship, innovation, and collective action. Saldaña is CEO of Communities in Schools, which provides support to address issues like food insecurity and unstable housing in more than 3,000 Title I schools in 26 states.
Stanford University’s Environmental Change and Human Outcomes Lab analyzed air quality measurements last week and recorded all-time high pollution from wildfires in Canada. June 7, 2023, displaced September 13, 2020, as the worst wildfire smoke day in recent U.S. history.
Doug Burgum, MBA ’80, governor of North Dakota and former software executive, announced on Wednesday that he will enter the Republican presidential primary.
If you weren’t sure how to casually suggest to your SO that you spend the weekend watching a Netflix docuseries about professional mermaids, here’s your segue: Cynthia Wade, MA ’96, is its director and executive producer. MerPeople explores the $500 million industry built on athleticism and danger, artistry and inclusivity.
Juneteenth celebrations began at Stanford last week and include an upcoming online panel discussion and a livestreamed cooking demo.
A hollow pill may change the way we look at gut microbiota, which influences brain activity and many systems in the human body. In a new study, researchers provided evidence that an ingestible collection device can capture the diversity of microorganisms, viruses, proteins, and bile in the intestinal tract and be, um, retrieved later for analysis. Traditional stool sample test results, it turns out, stink in comparison.
All hail TidyBot, a robot that can perform housekeeping tasks like sorting laundry into lights and darks, throw away trash, and put toys in a drawer. This potential dream come true (video here—prepare to cry tears of joy) is brought to you by Stanford, Princeton, and Google researchers.
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