Newsroom Stories

303 Gallery, New YorkCollier Schorr, *Lina, Opening Braid, Bettringen*Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989, Germany has re-emerged as a potent intellectual and creative center within the international art world. This month, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis opens Reality Bites: Making Avant-garde Art in Post-Wall Germany, the first thematic museum exhibition to examine how contemporary artists have dealt — both directly and indirectly — with the social, economic and political ramifications of German unification.

Terrell CreativeMarch 2007 marks the 150th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s momentous Dred Scott decision that denied full American citizenship to African-Americans and gave legal sanction to a racial hierarchy that would undermine the most basic principles of American justice. Experts say the anniversary should be an opportunity for deep national reflection on enduring issues of race and justice. In honor of this landmark case, Washington University in St. Louis will host a conference, titled “The Dred Scott Case and Its Legacy: Race, Law, and the Struggle for Equality,” from March 1-3.

Eric ChouShow me the money.It’s been said by everyone from Cyndi Lauper to Alex Rodriguez that “money changes everything.” Now psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis have published a paper to support that claim. Studying delayed gratification and risk, the psychologists found that people are more likely to wait on collecting full payment for a non-consumable monetary reward than they are for any of three consumable rewards — beer, candy and soda.

DamianoPhysicians have an effective new option for treating atrial fibrillation, a common irregular heart rhythm that can cause stroke. WUSM heart surgeons under the direction of Ralph Damiano have developed and tested a device that radically shortens and simplifies a complex surgical procedure that has had the best long-term cure rate for persistent atrial fibrillation. The simplified procedure is termed Cox-maze IV, and the surgeons believe it can replace the older “cut and sew” Cox-maze III.

If you wanted to start today to reduce your chances of getting cancer, what would you have to do? Lose excess weight, get more exercise, eat a healthy diet and quit smoking. Those basic behavior changes would have a tremendous impact on the incidence of the most prevalent types of cancer — lung, breast, prostate and colon cancer — says Graham Colditz, associate director of Prevention and Control at the Siteman Cancer Center at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Ida H. Early has been named secretary to the Board of Trustees, announced Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.The appointment is effective July 1, when Harriet K. Switzer, Ph.D., steps down from that post. “Ida Early brings many years of University experience to her new role, and I welcome the opportunity to work with her,” said Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “Ida is very familiar with the St. Louis community and our University, and is a person of enormous ability, sensitivity and integrity who, I am confident, will be successful as the next Secretary to the Board of Trustees.”

MugliaAfrican-American women are three times more likely to deliver babies three to 17 weeks prematurely than Caucasian women, according to a review of Missouri birth statistics by a group of researchers headed by professor Louis Muglia. In addition, African-American women are more likely to deliver babies prematurely in subsequent pregnancies.

All undergraduate students recently received an e-mail from James E. McLeod, vice chancellor for students and dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, with a personlized link to the survey. The survey must be completed online by Feb. 26.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Cuban leader Fidel Castro in 2004Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s recently announced plan to nationalize the telecommunications and electricity industries in his country sent shockwaves through the boardrooms of multinational corporations with large holdings in Latin America. While some see Chavez as the leading edge of a “socialist revolution,” research from Washington University in St. Louis suggests this latest nationalization push is nothing more than politics as usual, part of a predictable pattern of political tensions that often arise when corporations make large foreign investments.

Human memory, the ability to recall vivid mental images of past experiences, has been studied extensively for more than 100 years. But until recently, there’s been surprisingly little research into cognitive processes underlying another form of mental time travel — the ability to clearly imagine oneself participating in a future event. Now, University researchers have used advanced brain imaging techniques to show that remembering the past and envisioning the future may go hand in hand, with each process sparking strikingly similar patterns of activity within precisely the same broad network of brain regions.