Author: Susan Killenberg McGinn

Are humans inherently good? The prevailing view in popular and scientific literature is that humans and animals are genetically driven to compete for survival, thus making all social interaction inherently selfish. According to this line of reasoning, known as sociobiology, even seemingly unselfish acts of altruism merely represent a species’ strategy to survive and preserve its genes. But Robert W. Sussman, Ph.D., a professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, argues that this is a narrow and simplistic view of evolutionary theory that fails to explain many aspects of sociality among mammals in general and primates in particular. In “The Origins and Nature of Sociality,” a new book Sussman co-edited, he and other researchers challenge the proponents of sociobiology. “The ‘selfish gene’ hypothesis is inadequate,” Sussman says.

Washington University’s 143rd Commencement is at 8:30 a.m. Friday, May 21, 2004, in Brookings Quadrangle on campus. The university will bestow degrees on 2,589 undergraduate, graduate and professional students. The university also will bestow honorary degrees on six individuals. Thomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize-winner, best-selling author and foreign-affairs columnist for The New York Times, will deliver the Commencement address, titled “Imagination.”

FriedmanThomas L. Friedman, a three-time Pulitzer Prize winner, best-selling author and foreign affairs columnist for The New York Times, will deliver the 2004 Commencement address at Washington University in St. Louis, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. The university’s 143rd Commencement will begin at 8:30 a.m. May 21 in Brookings Quadrangle on campus. During the ceremony, Friedman will also receive an honorary doctor of laws.

Associate Professor Michael R. Brent contributed to the analysis of the gene set; this will make the third mammal to be sequenced.

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Sarah Russell, associate dean of Arts & Sciences at Washington University, died Tuesday, April 13, 2004, of a brain tumor at her home in Clayton. She was 63. A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, April 18, in Graham Chapel.

The Sacagawea Golden DollarAs the nation commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition, the explorers’ journals, which offer a veritable treasure trove of information, are being scrutinized as never before. Two historians at Washington University in St. Louis say, however, that most scholars studying the journals aren’t familiar with the literature of the time, and therefore don’t thoroughly understand the content. For example, Lewis writes that Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition, became extremely ill due to her “taking could” (sic). Most reading that passage interpreted it as “taking a cold. The Washington University researchers think that actually she was pregnant again and had a miscarriage because “taking a cold” was a euphemism for pregnancy back then.

Some of the world’s top scholars on modern human origins will gather March 26 at Washington University in St. Louis for the last of a four-part series of “Conversations” on key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world. Arts & Sciences is sponsoring the “Conversations,” which are free and open to the public, as part of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration. The “Modern Human Origins” Conversation will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Graham Chapel.

Ann Nguyen chose a risky project for her graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis. A university team had already sifted through 100,000 grains from a meteorite to look for a particular type of stardust — without success. In 2000, Nguyen decided to try again. About 59,000 grains later, her gutsy decision paid off. In the March 5 issue of Science, Nguyen and her advisor, Ernst K. Zinner, Ph.D., research professor of physics and of earth and planetary sciences, both in Arts & Sciences, describe nine specks of silicate stardust — presolar silicate grains — from one of the most primitive meteorites known.

March Culture & Living Tip Sheet