Arts & Sciences

The reading, sponsored by The Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, is free and open to the public and will take place in Duncker Hall’s Hurst Lounge.

Good pollinators wantedMother Nature could use a few more good pollinators, especially in species-rich biodiversity hotspots, according to a new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science (PNAS online, Jan. 16, 2006). Jana Vamosi, Ph.D, postdoctoral associate at the University of Calgary and Tiffany Knight, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and their collaborators have performed an exhaustive global analysis of more than 1,000 pollination studies which included 166 different plant species and found that, in areas where there is a great deal of plant diversity, plants suffer lower pollination and reproductive success. For some plant species, this reduction in fruit and seed production could push them towards extinction.

Randy Korotev with a sample meteorite found in Siberia.The mysterious orb you find in your backyard that wasn’t there just the day before has to be a meteorite, right? Wrong. Overwhelmingly the chances are it’s a meteorwrong, says Randy Korotev, Ph.D., research associate professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He says that 998 out of 1,000 meteorites are from asteroids, one out of 1,000 is from the Moon, and one out of 1,000 is from Mars. Of the hundreds of meteorites that have been found in the United States, none has been a lunar meteorite, and only one has been a Mars meteorite.

A new, more robust analysis of recently derived human gene trees by Alan R. Templeton, Ph.D, of Washington University in St Louis, shows three distinct major waves of human migration out of Africa instead of just two, and statistically refutes — strongly — the ‘Out of Africa’ replacement theory. That theory holds that populations of Homo sapiens left Africa 100,000 years ago and wiped out existing populations of humans. Templeton has shown that the African populations interbred with the Eurasian populations — thus making love, not war.

Many Americans can guess a caller’s ethnic background from their first hello on the telephone. Can the sound of your voice be used against you?However, the inventor of the term “linguistic profiling” has found that when a voice sounds African-American or Mexican-American, racial discrimination may follow. In studying this phenomenon through hundreds of test phone calls, John Baugh, Ph.D., the Margaret Bush Wilson Professor and director of African and African American Studies in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has found that many people made racist, snap judgments about callers with diverse dialects. Some potential employers, real estate agents, loan officers and service providers did it repeatedly, he says. Long before they could evaluate callers’ abilities, accomplishments, credit rating, work ethic or good works, they blocked callers based solely on linguistics.

Courtesy photoLucie Brock-BroidoAcclaimed poet Lucie Brock-Broido will read from her work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9, for The Writing Program Reading Series. She is the author of three collections of poetry, including Trouble in Mind (2004), The Master Letters (1995) and A Hunger (1988).

Brett Bailey’s exploration of the South African psyche is based on a true story; it’s a show “about fear, how it hypnotizes society and destroys community.”

She will also be in residence with the Dance Program Jan. 27-Feb. 1 to conduct a series of master classes with intermediate and upper-level dance students.

An exhibit titled Offcourse, featuring works from more than 65 WUSTL graduate students, will be at Baseline Gallery from Jan. 28-Feb. 4.

You don’t have to be an art major to create and exhibit artwork, and Washington University’s 2nd Annual Graduate Student Visual Arts Exhibit is a testament to that. Washington University graduate students from all disciplines were invited to submit visually compelling creations for an exhibit at Baseline Gallery, 1110 Washington Ave., in the downtown loft district. When the exhibit opens with a reception from 6-10 p.m. Jan. 28, more than 65 graduate students representing disciplines ranging from chemistry, medical sciences, engineering and law to anthropology, architecture, art and English, will have their creative sides on display. The exhibit, titled “Offcourse,” runs through Feb. 4.