If you’ve ever watched a sleeping baby, you’ve probably noticed the twitching movements they make in their sleep. A research team at the University of Iowa has provided compelling evidence that these involuntary movements are important to the developing brain.

By the time construction is complete on the newest University of Iowa residence hall in 2015, it will have been more than a century since the UI opened its first hall: Currier, a dormitory for women, in 1914. A lot has changed in the past 100 years regarding student housing.

Julie Orringer and Ryan Harty, alumni of the University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop, will present a free reading at 8 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 29, in the Frank Conroy Reading Room of the Glenn Schaeffer Library, adjacent to the Dey House.

The University of Iowa Museum of Natural History continues its fall Movies@MNH series Sunday, Dec. 2, at 2 p.m. in Macbride Auditorium. This month’s movie is “The Worm Hunters,” with a run time of 52 minutes. The movie series is a free family event open to the public.

University of Iowa alumnus Charles Rowan Beye will read from "My Husband and My Wives: A Gay Man's Odyssey" at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 30, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

Dylan Nice, alumnus of the University of Iowa Nonfiction Writing Program and adjunct lecturer, will read from his collection of short stories, "Other Kinds," at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 28, in a free reading at Prairie Lights Books in downtown Iowa City. The reading also will be streamed live on the University of Iowa Writing University website.

A new study published Nov. 15 in the New England Journal of Medicine finds that patients who have a cardiac arrest in the hospital today are more likely to survive and to avoid neurological disability than they were 10 years ago.

Colleges are often perceived as leaning left, but research by social scientists at the University of Iowa College of Education suggests the reality is more nuanced and that the Greek system tends to be a locus for students who are more conservative.

Roy Devyn Marble’s mother wasn’t sure she wanted her son to play basketball at the University of Iowa, where his legendary father is the leading scorer in the program’s history. But the junior is already creating an identity of his own as a force on the court.

The University of Iowa Museum of Art (UIMA) and School of Art and Art History (SAAH) will host Midwest Matrix, a free weekend-long tribute to mid-20th century fine art printmaking on Dec. 1 and 2. The event features a symposium, film world premiere, exhibitions, Iowa Print Fair, and more.

In what organizers believe to be a first, the UI's selection for 2012 Mom and Dad of the Year are husband and wife. Rich and Patti Schmitz, of Waterloo, were honored for their extensive volunteer work—and for their perseverance. Their home has been hit by a tornado twice in 10 years.

The Gallery series of the University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts will present Mémoire, a student production written by Micah Ariel James and directed by Rachel Korach Howell, at 8 p.m. Thursday–Saturday, Nov. 29–Dec. 1, and at 2 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 2, in Theatre B of the UI Theatre Building.