Humanities & Society

Dr. Mario Castro and nurse Michelle Jenkerson visit with patient Wil Klages and his mom, Peg Klages.Studying Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) to learn what puts children at risk for the most severe infections, Washington University researchers at St. Louis Children’s Hospital found that a child’s age at the time of infection and whether that child lives with a smoker could mean the difference between the sniffles and the intensive care unit.

Most pediatric burns can be prevented.Childhood burns can happen when least expected: An inquisitive toddler crawling around the kitchen pulls on a coffee pot’s dangling electrical cord, causing the scalding liquid to burn his tiny arm. The Trauma and Burn Program at Washington University School of Medicine and St. Louis Children’s Hospital admits approximately 165 burn patients a year and treats another 200 on an outpatient basis. Robert P. Foglia, M.D., director of the program, offers tips on how to prevent household burns, the leading cause of accidental deaths in the home.

BraceyWhen it comes to sheer dramatic appeal, the Michael Jackson case has it all. “This trial embodies much of what fuels undying popular fascination with celebrities and the celebrity lifestyle — race, sexual perversion, betrayal, money, power and fame,” says Christopher Bracey, criminal procedure expert and associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “With so much attention directed at this case, selecting a fair and impartial jury may prove difficult. The big question will be whether the jury can look beyond the glare of the celebrity defendant and the potential celebrity witnesses to consider the evidence in this case.” As the trial continues, Bracey will remain on the lookout for the ways in which Jackson’s celebrity status continues to shape, for better or worse, the style of lawyering, the trial process, jury consideration of evidence, and ultimately the public’s perception that justice has been delivered.

With the first wave of baby boomers preparing for retirement, the 2005 White House Conference on Aging to be held this fall in Washington, D.C., will be an important opportunity to assess aging in America and improve the lives of older Americans. “The demographic revolution is upon us, and there is widespread agreement that we need to do something differently regarding older adults,” says Nancy Morrow-Howell, Ph.D., productive aging expert and the Ralph and Muriel Pumphrey Professor of Social Work in the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. “The U.S. government and other service agencies need to expand and create institutions that make volunteering a natural part of later life,” she says.

Joshua Brown of WUSTLA new theory suggests that the brain may subconsciously help us avoid risky situations.While some scientists discount the existence of a sixth sense for danger, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has identified a brain region that clearly acts as an early warning system — one that monitors environmental cues, weighs possible consequences and helps us adjust our behavior to avoid dangerous situations. “Our brains are better at picking up subtle warning signs than we previously thought,” says WUSTL research psychologist Joshua Brown, co-author of a study on these findings in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science.

When both husband and wife hold college degrees, it is the husband’s degree — and the husband’s degree alone — that typically determines whether a “power couple” will move to another city for career purposes, suggests a new study by economists at Washington University in St. Louis. The study is bad news for young women seeking gender equity in salary and career opportunities.

The U.S. Supreme Court is again considering whether it is constitutional to display the Ten Commandments on public property. An expert on the American religious experience from Washington University in St. Louis argues that the only way to allow all citizens to contribute to this country’s religious tapestry is for religion not to have a direct role in civil affairs and on government property. “If there is anything the Founding Fathers wanted to avoid, it was a repeat of the wars of religion that wracked Europe during the 16th and 17th centuries,” says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences.

James L. Gibson, Ph.D., the Sidney W. Souers Professor of Government in Arts & Sciences, will receive a 2005 Decade of Behavior Research Award in recognition of his research on democracy issues. The award recognizes high-caliber research that has profoundly influenced the public’s understanding of behavioral and social science principles as well as the use of social and behavioral science knowledge in policy settings.

Anthropology Professor Robert Sussman goes against the prevailing view and argues that primates, including early humans, evolved as prey of many predators.

NorsigianJudith Norsigian, co-author of the landmark feminist health care book, Our Bodies, Ourselves, will deliver a lecture titled “The Impact of Media on Women’s Health” for the Washington University Assembly Series at 11 a.m. Wednesday, March 2, in Graham Chapel. At 4 p.m. that day, she will also participate in a panel on “Women and Stem Cell Research.” Norsigian’s events are being held in conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum’s exhibition, “Inside Out Loud: Visualizing Women’s Health in Contemporary Art.”