Joe Biden, abortion and the Catholic vote

Frank FlinnDemocratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden is telling the Catholics in his audiences that St. Thomas Aquinas had a different teaching on abortion than the current pope and his immediate predecessors. He’s right, says Frank K. Flinn, Ph.D., adjunct professor of religious studies in Arts & Sciences. Flinn is author of the Encyclopedia of Catholicism (2007).

Addressing the intersection of art and community

Dancer, choreographer, and creative/performance artist Liz Lerman, together with WUSTL faculty, will participate in a panel discussion on the intersection of art and community. The Assembly Series program, “Still Crossing: Expressing Identities, Building Communities” begins at 4 p.m. October 30 in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge.

Voter fraud allegations are pure bluster, says election law expert

Magarian”No evidence exists of any serious threat of voter fraud, at present or in any recent election cycle,” says Greg Magarian, J.D., election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. The current cries of ‘fraud’ focus on the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a public interest organization that advocates for low- and moderate- income and minority citizens. “Filing false registration forms does not constitute voter fraud,” he says. “Voter fraud requires voting by a person who is not legally entitled to vote. That is a difficult trick to pull off, and simply turning in a registration form for ‘Captain Crunch’ does almost nothing to enable it.”

Deprived of a sense of smell, worms live longer

Video capture by James Collins*C. elegans* roundwormMany animals live longer when raised on low calorie diets. But now researchers at the School of Medicine have shown that they can extend the life spans of roundworms even when the worms are well fed — it just takes a chemical that blocks their sense of smell.

Power of collaboration

Photo by David KilperSawyer helps foster creativity in the classroom and workplace

Memorial service for Richard Todd Nov. 2

A memorial service will be held Nov. 2 for Richard D. Todd, Ph.D., M.D., the Blanche F. Ittleson Professor of Psychiatry and director of the Division of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, who died Aug. 22. The service will be held at the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center in Connor Auditorium […]

Flu shots for medical school employees

Fall is here — time for picking apples, carving pumpkins and getting a flu shot. The School of Medicine again will offer free flu shots to its faculty, staff and students at various locations this fall. “Flu shots are for the benefit of employees and their families, and in a health-care setting, it’s particularly important […]