Perspectives

David Curiel, MD, PhD, professor of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine, has just published the second edition of “Adenoviral Vectors for Gene Therapy.” The book explains gene-delivery vehicles based on the adenovirus, an emerging tool in treating disease.

William Wallace, an art historian in Arts & Sciences and author of “Michelangelo: The Artist, the Man, and his Times,” discusses how documents — including an extremely rare one in University Libraries’ Special Collections — provide a window into Michelangelo’s life and art for “Hold That Thought.”

Michal Grinstein-Weiss and Jane Oliphant, of the Brown School’s Center for Social Development, write a blog on the New America site about the importance of savings and the opportunities that tax refunds present.

Psychologists Rebecca Treiman and Jeffrey Zacks, of Arts & Sciences, write an op-ed in The New York Times about efforts to improve reading speed (and warning there are no easy shortcuts if you want to retain what you read).

John Inazu, of the School of Law, writes in the UCLA Law Review about the offense of unlawful assembly and argues that the modern approach can give law enforcement too much discretion, encroaching on people’s First Amendment rights.

Jason Purnell, of the Brown School, co-wrote an editorial in The Journal of the American Medical Association about the relationship between income and life expectancy and improving population health.

Washington University leaders joined with several Missouri business leaders in an op-ed in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch criticizing a proposed constitutional amendment being debated at the state Capitol. The measure would allow people and businesses to not serve same-sex weddings if they have religious objections. Business leaders argue the measure would harm the state’s economy.

Peter Joy, of the School of Law, writes about the sentence of Brendan Dassey, the teenager whose criminal case was featured along with that of Steven Avery in the “Making a Murderer” documentary series on Netflix. Joy explains the “Strickland standard” and how it applies to this case.

Leigh Schmidt, of the Danforth Center on Religion & Politics, writes an essay in the journal Religion & Politics marking the anniversary of the 1966 Time magazine cover story titled “Is God Dead?”

While you might not connect comic books and superheroes with religion, Roshan Abraham reveals how religion is in comics’ DNA. Abraham, assistant professor of classics and of religious studies in Arts & Sciences, discusses the parallels for “Hold That Thought.”