Off with the lab coats and on with the show. First-year medical and dentistry students took to the stage last week for their annual variety show, called, this year, 2002 Nights and directed by Tereza Martinu and Caroline Martin. Pictured here are blues band members Catherine Khayat, Maggie Raymond, Marc Tewfik, Rob Baird and James Downar. Other numbers included singing, dancing and numerous small skits linking the acts together. The proceeds of close to $2,000 will go to Le Bon Dieu Dans la Rue. PHOTO: OWEN EGAN
The mystery of premature births
BRONWYN CHESTER

Premature birth is the leading cause of infant mortality, but doctors are stumped about why it occurs. Probing the mystery at the molecular level is McGill's Hans Zingg. His work just received a major boost thanks to the creation of a $4.4 million research chair -- one of only four chairs created across the country to support the work of top women's health researchers.
A window on the developing brain
TIM HORNYAK

McGill scientists, using new magnetic resonance imagery (MRI) techniques, have managed to track childhood brain growth for the first time. The work has major implications -- researchers may be able to use the new technique to examine how psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia take root in young minds.
How a library ought to lobby
BRONWYN CHESTER

Public libraries are having a tough go of it in these cash-starved times. Research by library and information studies professor Diane Mittermeyer will provide the institutions with advice on how to win support from their various constituencies.
Arguments and artistry: Parental conflict inspires creativity in children
HÉLÈNA KATZ

A study headed by McGill psychologist Richard Koestner points to a connection between parental conflict and a child's budding creativity. That doesn't mean that Koestner advocates open warfare on the home front -- no matter what the newspapers say.
Finding funds for farmers
SYLVAIN COMEAU

Bank debts pose far more of a danger to the country's farmers than locusts ever could. A McGill research team is looking at alternative approaches to financing farms.
Senate: Unclaimed degrees and the case for student aid
In memoriam: Heinz Lehmann
At issue
News from the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research


Don't you just hate it when somebody interrupts your workday to pour you a glass of champagne? That was authorities librarian Barbara Finlay's plight earlier this month when members of the University's Faculty and Staff Annual Fund Committee burst in on her to offer a piece of startling news -- a new student prize is being named after her.

All staff members who made a donation to McGill recently were eligible for a draw for the honour. The Barbara Finlay Prize for Exceptional Academic Merit, worth between $250 and $500, will be presented to a different student each year starting this fall. Finlay gets to choose which academic department to support with the prize. That's Finlay in the middle of the photo, surrounded by committee members James Ramsay (co-chair), Carol Marley, Elisabeth Gidengil, Wendy Corn (the coordinator of the Faculty and Staff Fund) and Robyn Wiltshire (co-chair).

PHOTO: OWEN EGAN