Humanities & Society

Repeated testing vs. repeated studyingRemember the dreaded pop quiz? Despite their reputation as a cruel tool of teachers intent on striking fear into the hearts of unprepared students, quizzes — given early and often — may be a student’s best friend when it comes to understanding and retaining information for the long haul, suggests new psychology research from Washington University in St. Louis. More…

Concerns over biopiracy have fueled urgent calls for a new system of legal protection for indigenous biological materials and knowledge. Detractors of the current patent systems say that the knowledge of traditional cultures and communities does not readily fit into the industrialized world’s definition of intellectual property (IT); critics argue that existing laws basically promote the interests of the industrialized world. However, intellectual property and technology law expert Charles McManis, J.D., disagrees. More…

The Bush administration’s plan to push through health savings accounts is limited in how much it can lower healthcare costs, according to a business professor in the Olin School of Business at Washington University. He says that health savings accounts could work for some things – if the relationship between most doctors and patients changes, and if there were greater acceptance of the variety of ways to keep people healthy. More…

A program designed by the Weight Management Center at the School of Medicine and the YMCA of Chesterfield has helped the Garcia family from Chesterfield lose roughly 105 pounds. The Family Lifestyle Intervention Program (FLIP) is designed to show families how to get healthy together through supervised exercise, counseling and education.

Wendy Kopp, founder of Teach for America, will talk about the need to correct disparities in America’s public school system for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m., Wednesday, March 8 in Graham Chapel. The program is free and open to the public.

At a panel discussion for the Assembly Series to be held at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 1, five individuals will try to assess “The Future of the Democratic Party.” The program, which is co-sponsored by the College Democrats at Washington University, is free and open to the public.

“It is vitally important to the entire St. Louis region that we support the learning of science and mathematics in our school districts,” says education Chair William Tate.

The University will host a group of Japanese activists, filmmakers and scholars touring the nation to promote the documentary film project.

Sponsored by the Weidenbaum Center on the Economy, Government, and Public Policy, the event will open with a keynote address by Debbie Walsh.

Embargoed for 9 a.m. (CST), Monday, Feb. 20, 2006 Earthquakes are a common part of life in California. Towns are prepared for major seismic events and most residents consider earthquake safety an important issue. But in the Midwest, people rarely think of the large New Madrid fault zone underneath their feet. According to seismologists, major New Madrid earthquakes are rare, but when one eventually occurs, it can be catastrophic. So how do small towns that line the New Madrid fault zone improve earthquake preparedness when immediate risk and awareness are low and town budgets are stretched? “Unfortunately earthquake safety in the Midwest is event driven — most people will not begin to care about the risk until an earthquake happens,” says David Gillespie, Ph.D., disaster preparedness expert and professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis. “Town leaders need to think long-term – 25 or 50 years out — about incremental improvements in safety measures that can be sustained. This is a different kind of planning, but it is necessary to be ready for the eventual catastrophic quake that will strike.”