Humanities & Society

  “Embattled Israeliness, Embedded Jewishness: Jewish Influences on Israeli Music” is the focus of a lecture by visiting Israeli scholar Assaf Shelleg at 8 p.m., Sept. 2, in the Whitaker Hall Auditorium at Washington University.  

These skulls, from victims of the Khmer Rouge, are on display in a Buddhist stupa at Choeung Ek, a mass burial site commonly known as one of “the killing fields.”Lessons learned from research into the societal effects of post-Apartheid “truth and reconciliation” hearings in South Africa are now being applied to a U.S. National Institute of Peace-sponsored study of the long-term mental health impact on Cambodians from human rights tribunals targeting the killing of millions by the nation’s former Khmer Rouge regime, says James L. Gibson, a professor of political science at Washington University in St. Louis and co-author of a study published Aug. 6 in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

While purchasing all the necessary back to school supplies in the coming weeks, incoming college students may also want to update their vaccination records. Being vaccinated is a simple way to prevent several controllable infectious illnesses, says an expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

Ethnic profiling is illegal in the United States, prohibited by the Fourth Amendment, which requires probable cause for searches and seizures, and by the Fourteenth Amendment, which calls for equal protection under the law. And yet as the recent arrest of Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates demonstrates, the issue remains far from settled. This fall Washington University in St. Louis will present “Ethnic Profiling: A Challenge to Democracy,” a semester-long series exploring the history, impact and ethical issues surrounding ethnic profiling through lectures, readings, performances, panel discussions and other events.

This fall, Washington University will present “Ethnic Profiling: A Challenge to Democracy,” a semester-long series exploring the history, impact and ethical issues surrounding ethnic profiling through lectures, readings, performances, panel discussions and other events.

Students who learn history by watching historically based blockbuster movies may be doomed to repeat the historical mistakes portrayed within them, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis. Findings suggest showing popular history movies in a classroom setting can be a double-edged sword when it comes to helping students learn and retain factual information in associated textbooks.

Parkinson’s disease is well-known for impairing movement and causing tremors, but many patients also develop other serious problems, including sleep disturbances and significant losses in cognitive function known as dementia. Now researchers at the School of Medicine have modeled Parkinson’s-associated dementia for the first time.

CoburnWhether your child is going away to college this fall across town or across the country, there are more ways to keep in touch than ever before. With today’s ubiquitous cell phones and access to Twitter, Facebook and texting, it may seem as though your child has never left the house. For students, there is the ever-present possibility of an available parent at the end of a cordless tether, which has the potential to hinder the letting go process, claims an expert on the college transition at Washington University in St. Louis.

America has the potential to solve its energy crisis over the next decade, but doing so requires immediate investment in the development and deployment of clean energy technologies, says Mark S. Wrighton, chancellor of Washington University in St. Louis and vice chair of a new National Resource Council report on America’s energy challenges.

Bernstein”Private employment provides less health insurance than believed,” says Merton C. Bernstein, a founding board member of the National Academy of Social Insurance and the Coles Professor of Law Emeritus at Washington University in St. Louis. Bernstein is available to discuss health insurance in the U.S.