A gunman killed five people and injured 16 before taking his own life during a "suicidal rampage" at Northern Illinois University on Thursday, according to the Associated Press. The shooter, 27-year old Stephen Kazmierczak was a former student of the university who had no prior arrest record.

"Cool. Calm. Chilled." Why does women's basketball coach Pat Knapp describe his team like that despite having lost 14 games in a row? Because Penn (3-17, 0-5 Ivy) is not the only Ivy League team struggling this season, and this weekend is its best chance yet for a win.

For the class of 2012, the University received the largest number of applications in the school's history, the Admissions office announced this week. But the less-than-1-percent rise in the number of total applicants to Penn is significantly less than increases reported by peer institutions.

Next time you watch Meet the Parents, the lie detector test used on Ben Stiller will be out of date - some companies are now replacing the old polygraphs with new imaging techniques. Yesterday Paul Wolpe, chief bioethicist for NASA, senior fellow of the Penn Center for Bioethics and Sociology professor, spoke to students about emerging brain imaging technology and the underlying ethical and legal implications of these innovations.

His brother-in-law may get the notoriety, but Brown coach Craig Robinson fancies himself an agent of change. It started in his own gym, where he morphed Glen Miller's run-and-gun system into the deliberate march of his alma mater. Now, he wants change at the top; no team other than Penn and Princeton has won the Ivy League in the past 20 years.

For Tyler Bernardini, Valentine's Day was heavy on the basketball and light on the roses. "Just working on my jump shot," the freshman guard said when asked if he had plans. "Just trying to 'ball." Of late, Bernardini has been prevented from doing just that.

Future residents of the Radian who plan on escaping all aspects of College House life might be disappointed. In at least one way, the Radian - a 14-story apartment building under construction at 39th and Walnut streets - shares a major resemblance to on-campus living.

The first time Bryan Wolf went out to lunch with his newest lab research assistant, then-College freshman Joshua Cook, he was struck by Cook's discourse about the plant on their table at the White Dog Cafe. "The first impression you got was that he is very driven and very excited about science," said Wolf, Medical School professor and Pathologist-in-Chief at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Cultural centers are already affordable To the Editor: Ms. Steinberg's column last week ("Catching up with culture" 2/5/08) shows that she is oblivious to the realities of student discounts to cultural institutions in the U.S. as well as our basic system of a federal government.

We've all experienced the thrill of finding that perfect class. You know, the one with the 1.38 difficulty rating that fulfills that annoying requirement? It's a great feeling. It also illustrates why the College's curriculum is fatally flawed and needs to be scrapped in favor of a core.

With its members scrambling to stay on the vanguard of financial-aid generosity, the Ivy League may do one of two things. It could keep its current model of need-based aid, or it could - theoretically - form a new one. Penn athletic director Steve Bilsky said the current model will result in a competitive imbalance.

Legal proceedings against Wharton junior Felix Qu are continuing, as a trial date has been set for this spring. Qu was arrested and charged with simple assault and reckless endangerment of another person after an argument with his girlfriend over winter break allegedly turned violent.

Last season, the Harvard women's basketball team broke away from the pack to claim the conference crown by four games. This year, with the bottom three teams a combined 1-15 in Ivy play, there was bound to be a little more congestion at the top. A month into the Ancient Eight season, the defending champs find themselves in a three-way tie for first with Cornell and Dartmouth.

A haven for wordsmiths, the Kelly Writers House last night shared its spotlight with music lovers as well. A crowd of 40 gathered in Penn's Kelly Writers House last night to hear a presentation by Ben Ratliff, a New York Times jazz critic. Ratliff signed copies of his new book, Coltrane: The Story of a Sound.

"We're not like those anti-rape guys on campus. We want to be the pro-women guys." So declared College freshman and Phi Kappa Sigma member Matt Amalfitano. He is an active member of One in Four, a national organization that aims to reduce sexual assault by empowering both men and women.

Five percent. That's the current intra-conference road winning percentage of Ivy League teams not named "Cornell." Brown is 0-1. Yale is 0-1. Penn is 0-2. Princeton is 0-3. Dartmouth is 0-5. Harvard is 0-5. Columbia is a real road warrior by comparison, with its relatively sparkling 1-3 record away from Levien Gymnasium.

Grand Text Auto is a blog, but it's also at the forefront of a new method of editing print publications. University of California at San Diego communications professor Noah Wardrip-Fruin is publishing his in-progress manuscript on the blog - which he helps run - in addition to submitting it through the traditional peer review system at MIT Press.