Humanities & Society

Your mood at the time might determine whether or not you help this woman.Do you consider yourself a moral person? Most of us do. But what is it exactly that makes us moral beings? A philosopher at Washington University in St. Louis thinks that circumstance and mood often have an extraordinary impact on how people behave, no matter what kind of character they may appear to have. Or, in other words, seemingly Sweet Sally may turn into Selfish Sally if in a foul mood. More …

Fueled by the simplicity of red state-blue state election maps, some pundits have leaped to the conclusion that America is experiencing a landmark shift in traditional political allegiances, with poor, working-class voters leaving the Democratic Party to become “NASCAR Republicans” while wealthier voters join the ranks of an increasingly elite bunch of liberal, limousine-driving “Latte Democrats.” Not so, says the WUSTL co-author of a new study of how income influences state-by-state voting patterns. More …

The straightforward solution for many people living in poverty is building savings. For the 9 million disabled Americans living in poverty, the answer isn’t as simple. “The poverty rate among Americans with disabilities is nearly double that of persons without disabilities, and while there is a complex web of federal and state-based programs offering financial assistance to eligible persons with disabilities, policy rules often preclude the accumulation of assets, which are often key for exiting poverty,” says Michelle Putnam, Ph.D., assistant professor of social work at Washington University. “”New research and public policies have the potential to help people with disabilities to have greater economic resources and become more integrated into their communities.” More …

Restricting calories may mean living longer.Can eating a low-calorie yet nutritionally balanced diet extend human life as it does in rodents? Preliminary research suggests it might, so researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are launching a long-term study to find out. More…

Photograph of *Spinosaurus* dinosaur bones found in a German museum.A geologist at Washington University has confirmed the discovery of a geologist from another era by discovering presumably lost photographs in a German museum. The finding is important to the history of paleontology. More…

Unraveling the mysteries of the human brain, and the mind it gives rise to, is within the reach of modern science, suggests a forthcoming issue of the journal Neuroscience. The special issue explores how sophisticated working memory processes — from the firing of a single neuron to the activation of multiple brain regions — help shape our understanding of the world, says issue co-editor Grega Repovs, a visiting post-doctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis. More…

Current levels of defense spending represent less than 5 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP), says Murray Weidenbaum, the Mallinckrodt Distinguished University Professor at Washington University in St. Louis. He says that the cost of today’s war pales in comparison to military outlays of about 35 percent of GDP at the peak of World War II; 15 percent of GDP for the Korean War; 10 percent for Vietnam and 6 percent for the Gulf War. More…

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoThreat of injunctions can be beneficial in cases like eBay and BlackBerry, says WUSTL expert F. Scott Kieff.The threat of an injunction to protect patented technology, as seen in eBay v. MercExchange, is what drives infringers and patentees to strike deals — sometimes on the steps of the courthouse — because shutting down the business would lose money for both sides, says F. Scott Kieff, J.D., an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. These deals, he points out, are what drive innovation. More…

African-American entrepreneur Earl G. “Butch” Graves, Jr. will deliver the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture at 11 a.m. Wednesday, April 5th in Graham Chapel. The lecture, titled “The Media History and Portrayal of Black America,” is free and open to the public. Graves is the chief operating officer and president of the Earl G. Graves Publishing Company, publisher of Black Enterprise magazine.

A team of researchers at the School of Medicine is studying how fatty liver disease affects sugar and fat metabolism in overweight adolescents and how losing weight affects the condition. In the last 30 years, the number of overweight children has doubled in the United States, and overweight children are at increased risk for the problem.