stanford

Get the best fitness and
health tips in your inbox

Help us customize your newsletter by selecting your interests (optional):

Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Address Video
Steve Jobs

"Find What You Love": Steve Jobs' Commencement Address

Following today's sad news that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs has passed away at the age of 56, take a moment to watch his moving 2005 commencement address to Stanford University graduates.
by

Following today's sad news that Apple cofounder Steve Jobs has passed away at the age of 56, take a moment to watch his moving 2005 commencement address to Stanford University graduates. He reflected on his own life and career, before imparting inspirational advice:

"You've got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do."

How Do I Get Into Stanford Business School
career

So You Want to Go to Business School?

If you want to get your MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business is the crème de la crème.
by

If you want to get your MBA, Stanford Graduate School of Business is the crème de la crème. The ranks of illustrious alumni go on to become billionaires, founders or heads of multinational companies of which includes Yahoo!, Time Warner, BP, Gap, Nike, and more. Lizabeth Cutler, Stanford's Assistant Director of MBA Admissions, shed some helpful insight about the famous school. Her tips can definitely apply to other business schools as well!

SavvySugar: What are some of the misconceptions people have about business school? 

Lizabeth Cutler: You tell us! Seriously, this is hard to answer without knowing what other people think. Probably the biggest misconception we run into from applicants is that they need to have a separate “business” and “personal” persona. While this may be true at some schools, Stanford asks you to bring your whole self into the classroom, your GSB experience, and the application process. Our classes deal not only with finance, IT, and operations, but also about interpersonal dynamics, giving and receiving feedback, and leadership skills. You can’t manage an organization if you can’t manage people, and our curriculum and culture help you build the self-awareness and interpersonal skills to be an effective leader of people.

To hear more about the gender gap at the school and what kind of candidates stand out, read on.

Stanford's Mobile Phone Orchestra Uses The iPhone to Make Music
News

First Mobile Phone Orchestra Shows Us How It's Done

You can already check your email, play games, and find a new restaurant on your iPhone, but now you can also use it as a musical instrument and join an orchestra.
by

You can already check your email, play games, and find a new restaurant on your iPhone, but now you can also use it as a musical instrument and join an orchestra. No way, right? Leave it to the uber geeks at Stanford to figure out a way to harness the vibrations from the iPhone and turn it into music.

Ge Wang, the founder of Stanford's Mobile Phone Orchestra (or MoPho), shows us how he and his mates make beautiful music in the video above. Also in the video is an awesome app you can download at home to make your own sweet tunes. To find out what it is, just read more

Scientists Spot Gene That Makes Dog Fur Black!
Dogs

Scientists Spot Gene That Makes Dog Fur Black!

Stanford University researchers have identified the gene that makes dogs' fur black, and may also shed light on differences in people's body size and ability to cope with stress!
by

Stanford University researchers have identified the gene that makes dogs' fur black, and may also shed light on differences in people's body size and ability to cope with stress! The work narrowed the genome region to a gene that makes a beta-defensin protein – one version of this beta-defensin gene produces yellow pups, and another produces black. In fact, all dog coat colors are modifications of black and yellow! A Dalmatian, for example, may appear spotted but, based on genetics, it's considered black.

This project started a couple years ago with Boxers and Great Danes of different colors. Once the genome that differed between them was identified, scientists moved on to 36 other dog breeds, gathering hundreds of cheek swab samples. A human can have between 40 and 50 different defensin genes; dogs can have up to 46. This one is part of the melanocortin pathway – shared by canines and humans – that determines skin and hair color along with weight and stress adaptation.

Source

Deep Abs and Running: Gotta Get to Your Core
Running

Deep Abs and Running: Gotta Get to Your Core

We all want to be efficient, right?
by

We all want to be efficient, right? Especially when we exercise. Well, according to Michael Fredericson, Ph.D., a running bio-mechanics expert at Stanford University, 90 percent of runners waste energy with stride errors and faulty gait. That basically just means running "funny" - length of steps being too short or long and/or pelvis swinging too much from side to side. Fredericson concluded that these stride issues were caused by weak abs. Runners were not using their deeps abs - the transversus abdominis (TVA) as well as the internal obliques.

The deep abs stabilize the pelvis by keeping it in a neutral position, not tilted too far forward, so that the back of the legs can push your entire body forward. If the pelvis tilts too far forward some of the power is simply wasted stretching the low, deep abs. Here's an analogy that might help you:

Imagine you're trying to push a heavy trunk forward on a tile floor. The trouble is that you're standing on a small rug that starts to slide backward every time you try to push the trunk forward. Removing the rug allows your feet to get a more stable grip on the floor, so that more of your muscle energy is transferred to the trunk....the slipping rug is like deep abs that are not properly activated. Removing the rug is like tightening your deep abs so that your pelvis is stable, allowing more of your muscle work to translate into forward movement.

Many folks have weak deep abs because we sit all day and inevitably slouch, which deactivates those muscles and they become weak. So try to find your TVA right now.

  • Sit up straight (since I just said we all slouch too much you had to know that one was coming). Put your hands on your low ribs and inhale, feeling them expand (flare out to the sides). Don't raise your shoulders though (it might take a few times for you to get the hang of this).
  • Try to keep your low ribs wide as you exhale by pulling your navel to your spine (don't move your spine though). Think of pushing the air out of your lungs with the action of pulling the deeps abs toward the spine. Repeat for a while until it starts to feel "normal."
  • Keep practicing this action and not only will you start to strengthen your deep abs, you will increase your ability to breathe deeply by opening up the space between your side and back ribs.

Now every time you do any abdominal exercise you want to focus on the deep abs being active. So warm up your abs before you run, jog, walk, or use the Stair Stepper or Elliptical. Exercise mindfully and focus on your pelvic stability and keep checking in with your form. Bonus: Stabilizing the pelvis during running and running like activities will help you stay injury free.