Interstellar space, scientists now know with certainty, is dense with particles, and the place is literally hissing: “It’s almost a pure tone—like middle C, but slightly varying, like your piano is not quite tuned right,” says UI physicist Donald Gurnett.

On Thursday, scientists declared that Voyager I had become the first probe to exit the solar system, a breathtaking achievement that NASA could only fantasize about back when it was launched in 1977.

The University of Iowa Department of Public Safety will test the Hawk Alert emergency notification system at 10 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 18 as required by federal law.

The Academic Technologies Advisory Council will be accepting proposals for the Innovations in Teaching with Technology Awards Sept. 18 through Oct. 17.

The University of Iowa School of Music will present War and Patriotic Songs, a performance by Professor Katherine Eberle and students from her studio, at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, in the University Capitol Centre Recital Hall. The concert, which will feature Jason Sifford on piano, is free and open to the public.

Six-year-old Stella Turnbull has spinal muscular atrophy, a condition that significantly weakens all of her muscles. When she was diagnosed at 1 month of age, her doctors didn't expect her to live. Her parents turned to UI Children's Hospital, where doctors created the proper treatment regimen.

Voyager 1 didn’t get to interstellar space all on its own. The University of Iowa has been involved in the historic mission from the beginning, building a key instrument for the spacecraft that has produced many seminal discoveries on its 36-year journey—and counting.

University of Iowa space physicist Don Gurnett says there is solid evidence that NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft has become the first manmade object to reach interstellar space, more than 11 billion miles distant and 36 years after it was launched. Gurnett is principal investigator for the Voyager 1 Plasma Wave Instrument.

University of Iowa Professor of Physics and Astronomy Don Gurnett and research scientist Bill Kurth will present a free, public lecture on NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft and its historic encounter with interstellar space at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 16, in Lecture Room 1 of Van Allen Hall on the UI campus.

A study by University of Iowa psychiatry professor Nancy Andreasen uses brain scans to document how schizophrenia impacts brain tissue as well as the effects of anti-psychotic drugs on those who have relapses.

Distinguished international communication scholar Chin-Chuan Lee will give two public sessions on the University of Iowa campus Sept. 18 and 19, both free and open to the public.

The University of Iowa Center for New Music, housed within the UI School of Music, will present a free concert by violinst Wolfgang David and Center for New Music director and UI piano faculty member David Gompper at 3 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 22, in the Senate Chamber of Old Capitol.