Humanities & Society

Forget your keys recently, can’t remember where you put your reading glasses and feeling a little blue? It could be that you’re not getting enough vitamin D. Researchers at the School of Medicine studying the effects of vitamin D deficiency on the elderly have found a correlation of mild depression and forgetfulness with low levels of vitamin D.

SmithPennsylvania Senator Arlen Specter’s decision to switch his allegiance to the Democratic Party will likely raise further questions about the Republican Party’s ability to appeal to moderate voters, but Democrats should realize that Specter will remain fairly independent in his voting on key issues, including ongoing opposition to pro-union “card check” provisions, suggests Steven S. Smith, a congressional expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

While public officials aim to establish Missouri as an attractive place for emerging life sciences companies to start, a study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis indicates that high school science proficiency in the state, especially among high-minority and poverty populations, is greatly dependent on having a core group of certified teachers who are highly qualified to teach courses in their content area.

Taking the political pulse of the nation has been the purview of pollsters for decades, but now a new internet site called Civic Science makes it easy for everyone. Software created with the help of a professor at the Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis allows users to track votes in Congress and compare their views with elected officials across the political spectrum.

As the United States considers major health-care reforms, it may have lessons to learn from Seguro Popular, Mexico’s ambitious plan to improve health care for its estimated 50 million uninsured citizens.

We’ve heard it before: “Imagine yourself passing the exam or scoring a goal and it will happen.” We may roll our eyes and think that’s easier said than done, but a new study from psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis suggests imagination may be more effective than we think in helping us reach our goals. “The imagination has the extraordinary capacity to shape reality,” say co-authors of a study suggesting that merely imagining something close to our hands will cause us to pay more attention to it.

Croson “The Status of Women in Academia” will be the topic of one of two lectures when Rachel T. A. Croson, Ph.D. visits the Danforth Campus April 14 and 15 in a new series launched by The Center for Research in Economics and Strategy at the Olin Business School.

A test developed by physician-scientists at the School of Medicine may help assess more quickly the ability of Alzheimer’s drugs to affect one of the possible underlying causes of Alzheimer’s disease in humans, accelerating the development of new treatments.

SawyerEven as the United States faces the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, businesses are spending more money on innovation, according to a recent Wall Street Journal report. Keith Sawyer, Ph.D., assistant professor of education and psychology in Arts & Sciences and one of the country’s leading experts on the science of creativity, says that investing in innovation is one of the best ways to beat the recession.

“Financing University Education” is the focus of a free public conference to be held at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 14, in the Bryan Cave Moot Court Room of Anheuser Busch Hall.