Month: January 2017

Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, recently was elected president of Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS), a national organization dedicated to improving the social position of women through feminist sociological research and writing. She discusses her plans for SWS, sociology and gender research, and why academics need to engage in public discourse.

Researchers at the School of Medicine studying leishmaniasis, a tropical disease that kills tens of thousands of people every year, believe they have found an explanation for the seemingly paradoxical connection between long-term infection and long-term immunity.

Christopher Stark, assistant professor of music in Arts & Sciences, composed music for the movie “Novitiate,” which will make its world premiere at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival.

As everyone has probably heard, antibiotics are less and less effective and there are fewer and fewer replacements for failing drugs in the pipeline. So what would happen if you got an infection that was resistant to all the known antibiotics? Would you die, or is there something else doctors could try as a last […]

If you are on Obamacare, you are likely a better tenant or homeowner. Families who get health insurance through the Affordable Care Act (ACA) are significantly more likely to make their rent and mortgage payments than are those who remain uninsured, suggests a new study from the Brown School and Olin Business School.

A kiss. A punch. A body braced for impact. The paintings of Rosalyn Drexler exude uncanny stillness, anticipation and, frequently, the dread of imminent violence. This spring the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present “Rosalyn Drexler: Who Does She Think She Is?,” the first full-career retrospective for the multitalented artist.

Alexander Stefaniak, assistant professor of musicology in Arts & Sciences, has written a book on the German composer and music critic Robert Schumann.

Despite announcing in his first press conference that he would deal with a pharmaceutical industry “getting away with murder,” President-elect Donald Trump doesn’t seem to have a clear path for how he will reduce drug prices, said Rachel Sachs, associate professor of law and expert on drug regulation and health law.

The general public has a sense that something is amiss with the pharmaceutical industry, but few might consider it in a state of collapse. Washington University’s Michael Kinch tries to convince otherwise in “A Prescription for Change,” his history and review of the industry. 

A team of seismologists analyzing the data from 671 earthquakes that occurred between 30 and 280 miles beneath the Earth’s surface in the Pacific Plate as it descended into the Tonga Trench were surprised to find a zone of intense earthquake activity in the downgoing slab. The pattern of the activity along the slab provided strong evidence that the earthquakes are sparked by the release of water at depth.