AMHERST, Mass. - Topics ranging from stress to sex will be discussed at the inaugural symposium celebrating the creation of the Center for Neuroendocrine Studies (CNS) at the University of Massachusetts. The event is scheduled for Oct. 9 in the Campus Center. More than 140 scientists from throughout the Northeast are expected to attend. Neuroendocrinology focuses on how the body chemicals called hormones work together with the brain to govern various body systems and functions. The symposium will include a series of discussions by high-profile experts in neuroendocrinology. The talks are as follows:

AMHERST, Mass. - University of Massachusetts biologists have led a team that has determined how some stingrays, despite having skeletons made of cartilage, are able to crush hard-shelled prey such as mollusks and snails. This is the first time that scientists have found, within the cartilage skeleton of a modern animal, rigid support structures made of minerals; such structures had previously been found only in fossils of ancient sharks. Details will be published in the Oct. 1 issue of the journal Nature. UMass graduate student Adam Summers is the main author, along with assistant professor Elizabeth Brainerd, and Thomas Koob of Shriners Hospital for Children in Tampa, Fla.

AMHERST, Mass. - The University of Massachusetts and the Northampton-based Electro-Optical Division (EOD) of Kollmorgen Corp., have forged a new partnership that links academic research to real-world applications. The alliance helps augment the company''s operations and research and development activities, and provides new opportunities for UMass student and faculty research in computer science, engineering, and management.

AMHERST, Mass. - On Sept. 23, representatives from the University of Massachusetts will participate in a ground-breaking ceremony in Puebla, Mexico, to initiate construction of the world’s largest radio telescope operating at millimeter wavelengths - the Large Millimeter Telescope (LMT).