Humanities & Society

Steve Jobs, chief executive of Apple Computers, has issued a challenge to the music industry, saying Apple would support an open online music marketplace if the four-largest music companies would drop the use of digital-rights management software — the technology that prevents the copying of music sold online. Jobs’ challenge, which some consider shocking, is just the latest brick to fall in the inevitable collapse of a legal wall that since 1999 has been obstructing technological progress and preventing people from enjoying more and better music at a lower price, suggests Michele Boldrin, Ph.D., an economist at Washington University in St. Louis who studies the hidden costs of intellectual property rights protections.

Terrell CreativeMarch 2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s momentous Dred Scott decision that denied full American citizenship to African-Americans and gave legal sanction to a racial hierarchy that would undermine the most basic principles of American justice. Experts say the anniversary should be an opportunity for deep national reflection on enduring issues of race and justice. In honor of this landmark case, Washington University in St. Louis will host a conference, titled “The Dred Scott Case and Its Legacy: Race, Law, and the Struggle for Equality,” from March 1-3.

Eric ChouShow me the money.It’s been said by everyone from Cyndi Lauper to Alex Rodriguez that “money changes everything.” Now psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis have published a paper to support that claim. Studying delayed gratification and risk, the psychologists found that people are more likely to wait on collecting full payment for a non-consumable monetary reward than they are for any of three consumable rewards — beer, candy and soda.

If you wanted to start today to reduce your chances of getting cancer, what would you have to do? Lose excess weight, get more exercise, eat a healthy diet and quit smoking. Those basic behavior changes would have a tremendous impact on the incidence of the most prevalent types of cancer — lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer — says Graham Colditz, associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 2004Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s recently announced plan to nationalize the telecommunications and electricity industries in his country sent shockwaves through the boardrooms of multinational corporations with large holdings in Latin America. While some see Chavez as the leading edge of a “socialist revolution,” research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests this latest nationalization push is nothing more than politics as usual, part of a predictable pattern of political tensions that often arise when corporations make large foreign investments.

Samuel Bagenstos, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis and antidiscrimination law expert, will argue Missouri Protection and Advocacy Services v. Carnahan before Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and the Eighth Circuit on Feb. 12. This case involves a challenge to the Missouri constitutional and statutory provisions that disenfranchise individuals who are under full guardianship, even if they have the capacity to vote.

Eric ChouTesting the wake-sleep cycleA biologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his collaborators have identified the factor in mammalian brain cells that keeps cells in synchrony so that functions like the wake-sleep cycle, hormone secretion and loco motor behaviors are coordinated daily.

Interested in being a part of the 17th annual powwow at Washington University in St. Louis? Join members of the St. Louis community at the upcoming Community Powwow Meeting from 5:30 – 8 p.m. on Feb. 19 in Goldfarb Hall, Room 124.

The great novelist, Nurrudin Farah, will be on the Washington University campus Feb. 13 and 14 to speak on “Political Islam and Clan in Present-day Somalia” for the Assembly Series, and to present a reading/discussion of his works for the Department of English in Arts & Sciences. Both events are free and open to the public.

Courtesy photoDaniel Bernard Roumain (DBR)Cutting-edge composer Daniel Bernard Roumain (DBR) and the string quartet section (SQ Unit) of his band, DBR & THE MISSION, will celebrate Black History Month with a rare performance of DBR’s A Civil Rights Reader at Washington University’s Edison Theatre Jan. 26.