Humanities & Society

By a 4-4 vote, a short-handed U.S. Supreme Court today let stand a lower court’s 2-1 decision to block President Barack Obama’s executive actions on immigration. The decision is “deeply regrettable,” said Stephen Legomsky, a noted expert on immigration law at Washington University in St. Louis.

State legislators who prioritize cancer control may be more receptive to basing their decisions on research evidence than policy makers interested in other issues, finds a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

Marriage may not be the protective mechanism it was thought to be when it comes to poverty and child well-being among low-income urban young women, particularly those who have experienced trauma, finds a new Brown School study.

The city of Philadelphia on June 16 passed a 1.5 cent-per-ounce tax on soda and other sugary drinks, making it the first major city in the nation to impose such a tax. The move is poised to be a watershed event in public health policy, said a health economist at Washington University in St. Louis.

Heralded on the cover of Time magazine in 2000 as a genetically modified (GMO) crop with the potential to save millions of lives in the Third World, Golden Rice is still years away from field introduction and even then, may fall short of lofty health benefits still cited regularly by GMO advocates, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

John Inazu, associate professor of law, discusses his research on the concept of “confident pluralism,” the idea we can and must live together peaceably in spite of deep differences over politics, religion, sexuality and other important matters.

On May 16, the U.S. Supreme Court sent the Zubick vs. Burwell case, a challenge to the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive requirement for employers, back to the lower courts for further examination, leaving women employees and students at workplaces around the country in limbo, says Elizabeth Sepper, associate professor of law and expert on health law.

A recent Supreme Court case that was expected to limit privacy laws actually has the potential to expand them, according to an expert on privacy law at Washington University in St. Louis.

Google’s decision this week to ban payday loan ads should be commended, but also highlights the need that many lower-income consumers have for affordable short-term loan options, says an expert on social and economic development at Washington University in St. Louis.

The dramatic 7.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Nepal one year ago left behind a landscape littered with crumbled homes, buildings and roads. While infrastructure can be rebuilt, the disaster may have a more lasting impact on the nation’s culture, suggests an interdisciplinary team studying the aftermath as part of a rapid response grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF).