Humanities & Society

SchaalPresident Obama has appointed Barbara A. Schaal, Ph.D., the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis and vice president of the National Academy of Sciences, to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

While public officials aim to establish Missouri as an attractive destination for emerging life sciences companies, a study by researchers in the Department of Education in Arts & Sciences 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.

“Timely identification and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder (ASD) can impact a child’s development and is the key to opening the door to the services and therapies available to children with autism,” says Paul Shattuck, Ph.D., assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. “Unfortunately, our research shows that the average age of autism diagnosis is nearly six years old, which is three to four years after diagnosis is possible.” Shattuck is the lead author of an article on the timing of ASD identification in the current issue of the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. Video available

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.