The recruitment process took a turn this past weekend for Penn's potential new sorority sisters as they moved from conversations to crafts. Current sorority members and potential recruits got to know each other at increasingly more intimate events over the Martin Luther King holiday.

Patients almost always assume that their doctors are prescribing medicine proven to treat their ailments. However, that's not always the case. Almost half of doctors surveyed in a study admitted to having used placebos in their clinical practice, according to a recent study by Penn alum and University of Chicago medical student Rachel Sherman and John Hickner, a professor at Chicago.

When Roberts Proton Therapy Center opens in fall 2009, it will bring to Penn a type of facility that has attracted attention for both its effectiveness and high price. And while critics have spoken out against its costliness, researchers see proton therapy as an important and effective treatment option for some patients, and Penn expects the center to be in demand.

After counseling teenagers in Belize and promoting HIV/AIDS awareness in Malawi, Peace Corps volunteers are getting a little help themselves. Returning Peace Corps volunteers are recruited by universities and colleges participating in the Peace Corps Fellows/USA partner schools program, a national consortium of over 40 universities which offers returnees the opportunity to study in their programs at reduced tuition.

A pen is no longer the mightiest way to capture the public's attention. Over the past year, the number of Internet users who have visited a video-sharing Web site increased by 45 percent, according to a recent survey conducted by the Pew Internet Project.

Earlier this week College sophomores Melissa Gunderson and Kristen Lange stood in the Penn Bookstore with a bad case of sticker shock. The price tag of their new Chemistry 101 book: nearly $300. "It's highway robbery," Lange said. And though alternative electronic textbooks - high-tech substitutes to pricey print versions - have been available for more than a decade, they have not yet taken root at Penn.

From White Castle mini burgers to Pat's cheesesteaks, this year's fraternity rush open houses have it all. In fact, the frats have so much free food this week that many students have decided there's no need to spend their own money on dinner. Why pay for a meal when every fraternity on campus is filled with tables loaded with the very finest fast food Philly has to offer, free of charge? That seems to be the question for many boys this January.

At small liberal arts schools vying for the attention of top students, announcements of sweeping financial aid reform at Harvard, Penn and other schools mean trouble. Like most colleges and universities, academically-renowned liberal arts schools do not have billion-dollar budgets.

The University announced yesterday that Eric Furda, the vice president for alumni relations at Columbia University, will take over as the new dean of admissions at Penn on July 1.

The girlfriend of Felix Qu, the Wharton junior who was arrested for simple assault over winter break, has contacted police expressing interest in retracting some parts of her statement.

New spring activities fair this Sunday The Social Planning and Events Committee will hold the first-ever spring activities fair this Sunday. The event, which will feature 240 different student clubs from around Penn, will be from 1 to 5 p.m. in Houston Hall.

Sharing is caring - and it's good for the environment, too. Yesterday Penn launched a new partnership with Philly Car Share to further promote sustainability efforts. As a kick off, green balloons decorated Locust Walk, Houston Hall and the Penn bookstore.

When deciding where to eat a dinner out, most students head east into Center City. Now there are a few reasons to head west instead. Several new establishments have opened between 47th and 50th Streets on Baltimore Avenue in the last few months, a movement that has brought new life and positive attention to the area.

For most, a conversation with Penn President Amy Gutmann or Republican presidential candidate John McCain doesn't happen very often. But posting your own ideas next to theirs can be done online with a Web site launched last week. BigThink.com is a multimedia site that features interviews with prominent public leaders, including authors, politicians, educators and businessmen.

The Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania is currently facing two major medical malpractice cases - but if statistics are any indication, HUP might not have much to worry about. In 2006, almost 85 percent of medical malpractice cases in Pennsylvania that reached a jury trial were settled in favor of the defense, Judicial Branch records show.

Celebrate the long weekend by acknowledging why we have one in the first place: Martin Luther King, Jr. Head to the Franklin Institute Science Museum to honor the life and legacy of Dr. King on the anniversary of his 79th birthday. The museum's three-day celebration kicks off Saturday at 5 p.

For the 40 percent of Penn students currently receiving financial aid, recent improvements to the program may have cracked open a few more doors.