Humanities & Society

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), car crashes are the leading cause of death for children. Almost 2,000 children age 14 and under are killed in automobile crashes each year and another 280,000 are injured. Proper use of car seats reduces the risk of death significantly — by as much as 71 percent for infants and by about 55 percent for toddlers. The CDC also estimates that 50,000 serious injuries could be prevented and 455 lives saved each year if all children under 5 used safety seats. In spite of the dangers, 40 percent of American children 4 and under routinely ride unrestrained. But Emergency Department physicians at Washington University School of Medicine and Barnes-Jewish Hospital in St. Louis are trying to change that. They are targeting low income families, training them in proper use of child safety seats and then giving those families gift certificates that can be redeemed for the seats. The Safe and Secure program hopes to cut down on deaths and injuries from car crashes by providing more than 2,000 free car and booster seats to Missouri families who live below the poverty level as determined by Medicaid.

The Sacagawea Golden DollarAs the nation commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 1804-06 Lewis and Clark Expedition, the explorers’ journals, which offer a veritable treasure trove of information, are being scrutinized as never before. Two historians at Washington University in St. Louis say, however, that most scholars studying the journals aren’t familiar with the literature of the time, and therefore don’t thoroughly understand the content. For example, Lewis writes that Sacagawea, the only woman on the expedition, became extremely ill due to her “taking could” (sic). Most reading that passage interpreted it as “taking a cold. The Washington University researchers think that actually she was pregnant again and had a miscarriage because “taking a cold” was a euphemism for pregnancy back then.

Photo courtesy U.S. Army Corps of EngineersBarge traffic makes its way through a lock on the Upper Mississippi.”Our Rivers: A Sustainable Resource?” is the focus of a public education forum that four Washington University faculty will lead as part of a community-wide symposium being held in conjunction with the 5th annual St. Louis Earth Day Celebration, April 22-23. The sustainable rivers program will be held April 22 from 10:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. and will feature Washington University faculty Charles Buescher, professor of environmental engineering, Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences and William Lowry, Ph.D., professor of political science in Arts & Sciences. The colloquium will provide a background history of the rivers in our region and their various uses in transportation, agriculture, power production, recreation and public water supply.

ShangeNtozake Shange, author of the revolutionary “choreopoem” for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf, will deliver the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Lecture for the Assembly Series at 4 p.m. Thurs., April 8th in Graham Chapel.

Ben Malcolmson, sports editor of The Daily Trojan at the University of Southern California, explores the athletic and academic success of Washington University, which has won 12 Division III national championships in the last 15 years, despite the innate differences within the realms of Division I and Division III athletics programs.

Photo by David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoWashington University’s new Earth & Planetary Sciences Building.Earth Day may arrive each April, but for architecture students and faculty, environmental design is increasingly part of the year-round curriculum. At the same time, a growing number of American universities are challenging themselves to implement green principles on their own campuses. From ivy-covered walls and tree-lined walkways, new ideals are taking shape: highly efficient buildings — constructed of local, sustainable materials — that reduce waste and minimize strain on local infrastructures; a holistic approach that considers operational as well as construction costs; and entire universities that might someday achieve net zero environmental impact.

What are the origins of intolerance and prejudice? How are intolerance and prejudice similar, and how are they different? Are there certain people who are more intolerant or more prejudiced than others? How can the social problem of intolerance and prejudice be solved? These are just a few of the questions to be addressed as a panel of internationally recognized scholars assembles at Washington University in St. Louis on April 2 for a an interdisciplinary forum on issues of “Intolerance and Prejudice.”

Some of the world’s top scholars on modern human origins will gather March 26 at Washington University in St. Louis for the last of a four-part series of “Conversations” on key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world. Arts & Sciences is sponsoring the “Conversations,” which are free and open to the public, as part of the university’s 150th anniversary celebration. The “Modern Human Origins” Conversation will be held from 10 to 11:30 a.m. in Graham Chapel.

Bust of NefertitiDuring the Age of Imperialism, historical pieces such as the Bust of Nefertiti were taken from their home countries and installed in major museums throughout the world. Leading academics, authors and curators will examine whether these works of art should be returned to their source nations at the “Imperialism, Art & Restitution” conference March 26-27 at the Washington University School of Law.

WarrenThe United States’ recent economic slowdown has been punctuated by some of the largest bankruptcies in history, including Enron and WorldCom. Leading academics and prominent practitioners will examine the fallout of these bankruptcies at the F. Hodge O’Neal Corporate and Securities Law Symposium April 2 at the Washington University School of Law.