Humanities & Society

While consumer spending once helped keep the economy healthy, rising consumer debt is the reason it’s getting sick. The root cause of the current economic slowdown in the U.S. goes back several decades, according to an economics professor at Washington University in St. Louis.

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

Women over age 65 have a harder time preserving muscle than men of the same age, which probably affects their ability to stay strong and fit, according to research conducted at the School of Medicine and the University of Nottingham in the United Kingdom. For the first time, scientists have shown it is more difficult for older women to replace muscle that is lost naturally because of key differences in the way their bodies process food.

“West Bank Story” is a little film about a big subject, uses music and comedy to deliver a serious message, and was created by a young man wise beyond his years. That person – Ari Sandel – will show his Oscar-winning film short and discuss how he came to make it at 4 p.m. Tuesday, April 1 in Lab Sciences Auditorium. It is free and open to the public.

Poet Mary Jo Bang, professor of English and director of The Writing Program, both in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the 2008 National Book Critics Circle Award in poetry.

Whether or not Hillary Clinton wins the Democratic nomination for president, the question of how much being a woman helped or hurt her campaign will linger for a long time. A WUSTL professor discusses the unique challenges Clinton faces and why people seem to react so strongly to her. Video available.

Learning something once — like the fact that berg means mountain in German — and studying it over and over again may do little to help you remember it in the future. The key to future recall, suggests a new WUSTL study, is how often over time you actively practice retrieving that information from memory.

Mike Venso/Laumeier Sculpture ParkAschheim’s “Earworm (Node),” contains LEDs, plastic, speakers, music and copper.Artist Deborah Aschheim, known for her focus on interactive multi-sensory responses to neuroscience, memory and cognition, joins Washington University faculty from art, medicine, psychology and neuroscience for a free public panel discussion examining the relationship between Aschheim’s art and brain science at 6 p.m. March 20 in Room 110, January Hall. The “Deborah Aschheim: Reconsider,” exhibition, on display at Laumeier Sculpture Park, explores why we remember what we see and hear and why we forget, while offering a solution to curb the “forgetting curve.”

Emotional concerns are a serious consideration with the diagnosis of dementia.When it comes to a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, what you don’t know may not kill you, but knowing the truth as soon as possible appears to be the better approach — one that may improve the emotional well-being of both patients and their caregivers, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Charles J. Ogletree Jr.: A civil rights pioneer Legendary civil rights pioneer Charles J. Ogletree Jr., J.D., will present his views on the Roberts court at noon Tuesday, March 4, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom in Anheuser-Busch Hall. The talk, part of the School of Law Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series, is […]