Humanities & Society

Most state legislators say testimony at legislative hearings is influential, though few report that it changes their votes, finds research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. “Testimony does matter, especially if it is delivered by credible, trustworthy presenters,” said lead author Sarah Moreland-Russell, PhD, assistant research professor at the Brown School.

More rural Americans are signing up for Medicare Advantage despite reductions in payments, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis. Extra benefits may be among the likely reasons, says study co-author Timothy McBride, PhD, professor at the Brown School.

While measles and the human papillomavirus (HPV) are vastly different diseases, failing to get vaccinated against them can have equally serious consequences, suggests Bradley Stoner, PhD, a medical anthropologist who studies infectious disease transmission at Washington University in St. Louis.

Factors associated with the prevalence of diabetes vary by geographic region in the United States, according to new research from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis led by J. Aaron Hipp, PhD. The findings suggest that approaches to combating the disease should be localized.

In our increasingly digital world, the balance between privacy and free speech is tenuous, at best. But we often overlook the important ways in which privacy is necessary to protect our cherished civil liberties of freedom of speech, thought and belief, says Neil M. Richards, JD, a privacy law expert at Washington University in St. Louis and author of the new book, “Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age,” published Feb. 2 by Oxford University Press.

Good news for the new year: According to new research by Washington University in St. Louis and Cornell University, there’s a 1-in-9 chance that a typical American will hit the jackpot and join the wealthiest 1 percent for at least one year in her or his working life. The bad news: That same research says only an elite few get to stay in that economic stratosphere – and nonwhite workers remain among those who face far longer odds.

​Watch as Washington University in St. Louis students rehearse a Phillipine dance form called tinikling, one of more than a dozen performances scheduled for this year’s Lunar New Year Festival Jan. 30-31. More than 160 students will perform in the annual celebration of Asian art forms and traditions. ​

When it comes to race, too many people still mistake bigotry for science, argues Washington University in St. Louis anthropologist Robert W. Sussman, PhD, in his new book, “The Myth of Race: The Troubling Persistence of an Unscientific Idea.”

Given past voter backlashes against natural disaster responses that were considered to be inept, it’s no surprise that New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio and other politicians took aggressive measures to prepare for the megastorm now lashing the East Coast, suggests Andrew Reeves, PhD, an expert on the politics of disaster relief at Washington University in St. Louis.

Much more than an archaeology course, a six-week summer field practicum on the history of Central Asia, led by Michael Frachetti, PhD, associate professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers students from all disciplines the opportunity to immerse themselves in the past and present culture of Kazakhstan.