Humanities & Society

Dancer at the 2004 PowwowAn American Indian powwow, traditional cuisine, storytelling, music and crafts will be among the highlights of the University’s American Indian Awareness Week April 4-9. “Although the Kathryn M. Buder Center has been hosting American Indian Awareness Week for the last 14 years, this year is the most significant in our history, as it is a celebration honoring our 15 year anniversary,” says Dana Klar, interim director of the Kathryn M. Buder Center for American Indian Studies at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work. The annual powwow and awareness week allow the University’s American Indian students to share their unique cultures with the rest of the campus and the St. Louis community. All events are free and open to the public.

Photo by Tim Parker(From left) Sam, Dylan and Ashley Mopkins show the scarves they made for their mom.When dealing with life-threatening diseases such as cancer, complete care sometimes extends to other members of the family. That’s the idea behind the Help Us Give Support (HUGS) program at Siteman Cancer Center. Members of HUGS, children between the ages of 4 and 12, recently took part in an Arts as Healing event to create decorative scarves for their mother or grandmother fighting breast cancer. Read more from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Vegetarians who don’t cook their food have abnormally low bone mass, usually a sign of osteoporosis and increased fracture risk. But a research team at the School of Medicine also found that raw food vegetarians have other biological markers indicating their bones, although light in weight, may be healthy.

What makes a woman a woman?The mysteries of both human sex chromosomes have now been laid bare with the publication of the sequence of the human X chromosome in the journal Nature. Scientists at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in England led the effort to sequence the X, with significant contributions from the Genome Sequencing Center at Washington University.

RoedigerSome of the nation’s top memory researchers are meeting at Purdue University on March 25-27 to talk about the most important findings in the field and to honor one of their own. The conference, entitled “Roddyfest: Directions in Memory Research,” honors Henry L. “Roddy” Roediger III, a pioneer in memory research and former Purdue professor. Roediger is chair of the Department of Psychology in Arts & Sciences at WUSTL.

The conference will explore the many barriers to economic prosperity and well-being for America’s working poor.

A bacterium that lives in the human gut adaptively shifts more than a quarter of its genes into high gear when its host’s diet changes from sugar to complex carbohydrates. This not only allows the bacteria to survive rapidly changing nutrient conditions but also helps maintain the stability of the gut’s highly complex microbial society, according to WUSM researchers.

Events include film screening of “Eyes on the Prize” and a panel discussion about the series; a keynote address by Robert Moses; and an exhibition in Olin Library.

The School of Law and the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University will host the fifth annual access to equal justice conference, “Poverty, Wealth and the Working Poor: Clinical and Interdisciplinary Perspectives,” from 8:30 a.m.-5:30 p.m. April 1 in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. The conference will explore the many barriers to economic prosperity and well-being for America’s working poor. Particular emphasis will be given to the interplay of race, gender, wealth, and power in regards to employment, welfare, housing, health care, education and the environment.

The Monsanto Fund has awarded Washington University $3.7 million to develop, build and operate two custom mobile classrooms. Washington University will lead a partnership, including the St. Louis Science Center, the Missouri Botanical Garden, the Saint Louis Zoo, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis, to create and provide programming on the vehicles. The program will help young elementary school students develop enthusiasm for learning and doing science, through interactive experiences and exhibits.