Newsroom Stories

A team of researchers, including Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has determined through analysis of the earliest known hominid fossils outside of Africa, recently discovered in Dmanisi, Georgia, the former Soviet republic, that the first human ancestors to inhabit Eurasia were more primitive than previously thought.

The Habif Health and Wellness Center on the Danforth Campus has received a full three-year accreditation from the Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care.

The stock market might be nervous now due to the subprime loan mess, but Stuart Greenbaum, former dean of the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, is bullish on the situation.

Zarqa Nawaz knows something about crossing cultures. Born in England of Pakistani immigrants, raised in Toronto, and now living in Saskatchewan, the Muslim writer, producer and filmmaker will give the annual Olin Fellows lecture at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Oct. 3 in Graham Chapel. The talk, “Crossing Cultures” is free and open to the public. A panel discussion featuring Nawaz as well as other panelists will continue the discussion from 2 – 4 p.m. in the Women’s Building Lounge.

To help curb the expanding waist lines of her constituents, south Los Angeles City Councilwoman Jan Perry has proposed a two-year moratorium on new fast food restaurants in her district. If enacted in Los Angeles, or any other American city for that matter, would the plan work? Don’t count on it, says Connie Diekman, R.D., director of University nutrition and president of the American Dietetic Association.

In a continuing effort to make science accessible to the general public, the Department of Physics and University College, both in Arts & Sciences, are offering their annual fall Science Saturdays lecture series. Beginning this Saturday, Sept. 29, four faculty members will describe their research on successive Saturdays.

School of Medicine pain researchers have shown that it’s possible to separate the good effects of opiate drugs such as morphine (pain relief) from the unwanted side effects of those drugs (tolerance, abuse and addiction).

Photo by David KilperBest-selling suspense author Ridley Pearson reads “The Story of Ferdinand” to a group of preschoolers during Jumpstart’s Read for the Record Sept. 20 at the Campus Store on the Danforth Campus.

Leila N. Sadat, J.D., the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law, has been appointed director of the Whitney R. Harris Institute for Global Legal Studies by Kent D. Syverud, J.D., dean of the School of Law and the Ethan A. Shepley University Professor. Michael Peil J.D., assistant dean for international programs, is the new executive director of the Harris Institute.

CottlerLinda Cottler, professor of epidemiology in psychiatry at the School of Medicine, has been named president-elect of the American Psychopathological Association (APPA). She will serve as its president in 2010, the organization’s centennial year.