Humanities & Society

Nutritionist offers advice for packing a healthy lunch box.With childhood obesity and diabetes on the rise, more and more people are becoming aware of the need to eat more healthily and to get more exercise early in life. Considering most kids’ affinity for fast food and video games, directing them to a healthier lifestyle can be easier said than done. But, as kids head back to school, a nutritionist at Washington University in St. Louis offers advice to parents on packing a healthy lunch for their children — one that they will actually eat.

Welfare to work leaves some out in the coldThe Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 dramatically changed the nation’s welfare rules. The act ended low-income families’ entitlement to cash assistance and changed the welfare program from a system of income support to one based on work. “Unfortunately, one of the consequences of this legislation is that a segment of welfare recipients, probably the most disadvantaged group, left or were forced to leave welfare without having the proper means to live,” says Yunju Nam, Ph.D., assistant professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis.

The lead counsel for Vice President Al Gore in the 2000 election litigation and the director of the Southern Center for Human Rights are part of the fall lineup for the School of Law’s eighth annual Public Interest Law Speakers Series. Titled “Access to Justice: The Social Responsibility of Lawyers,” the series brings to the University outstanding academics and practitioners in areas such as international human rights, the economics of poverty, civil liberties, racial justice, capital punishment, clinical legal education, and government and private public service.

Spurred by concerns over China’s booming economy, the Bush administation plans to crank-up pressure on Chinese authorities to curtail the rampant theft of intellectual property — the black market in pirated films, software and equipment that costs American companies billions in lost sales. While anti-piracy rhetoric plays well in Washington, a new book on the “Politics of Piracy” in China suggests that external diplomatic pressure will have little effect on China’s ability to enforce international norms on copyrights, trademarks and patents. “The key to gaining enforcement of those laws lies at the local level,” says the book’s author, WUSTL China specialist Andrew Mertha.

HusseinFor the past 18 months, the Iraqi Special Tribunal (IST) for Crimes Against Humanity has emitted conflicting signals regarding the means and process by which it will ultimately bring Saddam Hussein to trial. “While it is not possible to predict the ultimate outcome of the current proceedings against Hussein, there is no doubt that skepticism remains as to the Iraqi Special Tribunal’s credibility and legitimacy,” says Leila N. Sadat, expert on international law and international war crimes tribunals and the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law at Washington University in St. Louis. “The IST’s decision to take up the Dujail case first, and the establishment of the IST itself, raise very interesting questions of international criminal law and procedure.”

Chief Justice Rehnquist administers the oath of office to President Bill Clinton.The death of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist marks the second major change to the membership of the Supreme Court and the end of a tremendously successful and dedicated career in public service. “As an associate justice and later Chief Justice of the United States, William Rehnquist was one of the leading figures in American law for over three decades,” says Neil M. Richards, former law clerk for Chief Justice Rehnquist and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “He will be remembered as one of the great Chief Justices in American history, and deservedly so. He was a warm, gentle, funny, conscientious, and brilliant man and judge.”

Researchers have found that the areas of the brain that young people use when daydreaming are the same areas that fail in people with Alzheimer’s.

Erik Trinkaus analyzed anatomical evidence of early modern humans, which suggests a reduction in the strength of the smaller toes.

Image courtesy of Benjamin Shannon, John Cirrito, and Robert Brendza Washington University in St. LouisBrain regions active during default mental tates in young adults reveal remarkable correlation with those regions showing Alzheimer’s disease pathology.Researchers who used five different medical imaging techniques to study the brain activity of 764 people, including those with Alzheimer’s disease, those on the brink of dementia, and healthy individuals, have found that the areas of the brain that young, healthy people use when daydreaming are the same areas that fail in people who have Alzheimer’s disease. Findings suggest Alzheimer’s may be due to abnormalities in regions of the brain that are active when people are musing, daydreaming, or thinking to themselves.

LaRussaThe Washington University Assembly Series will have an unorthodox start to its fall schedule with a talk by Cardinals’ manager, Tony La Russa at 11 a.m. Sept. 7 in Graham Chapel. The rest of the series features speakers on a wide range of topics including politics, economics, writing, history, religion, medicine, literature, evolution, space exploration, social justice and the Holocaust.