Arts & Sciences

HackerAward-winning poet Marilyn Hacker will read from her work at 7 p.m. Friday, March 18, at Washington University’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum. The author of 11 books of poetry and essays, Hacker is a cancer survivor and prominent lesbian activist as well as an influential literary editor and a gifted translator. Much of her work details her own struggles with breast cancer and the loss of friends to AIDS. The talk sponsored by The Center for the Humanities and The Writing Program, both in Arts & Sciences, in conjunction with the Kemper Art Museum’s Inside Out Loud: Women’s Health in Contemporary Art.

Photo by Robert BostonA fossil of a diminutive human nicknamed “the Hobbit” likely represents a previously unrecognized species of early humans, according to the results of a detailed comparison of the fossil’s brain case with those of humans, apes and other human ancestors.

The author of a number of definitive texts, he’s a professor of ancient philosophy at St. John’s College at the University of Cambridge.

Seth Carlin, David Halen and Michael Haber will take the stage at 8 p.m. March 18 in the Whitaker Hall auditorium.

Her new book is titled The Red Brush: Writing Women of Imperial China.

Photo by Robert BostonInvestigators Charles Hildebolt (right) and Dean Faulk hold a cast of the skull of the “Hobbit,” likely a new species of prehistoric humans.Medical school researchers performed a detailed comparison of the fossil’s brain case with those of other human ancestors. More medical news

The wife of Professor Emeritus Burton Wheeler, she died Feb. 25.

The University and the National Consortium for Specialized Secondary Schools of Mathematics, Science and Technology (NCSSSMST) are co-sponsoring a professional conference March 10-12 on the Hilltop Campus. The exploration-themed conference will encourage attendees to “Map Your Course With Math, Science and Technology.”

Joshua Brown of WUSTLA new theory suggests that the brain may subconsciously help us avoid risky situations.While some scientists discount the existence of a sixth sense for danger, new research from Washington University in St. Louis has identified a brain region that clearly acts as an early warning system — one that monitors environmental cues, weighs possible consequences and helps us adjust our behavior to avoid dangerous situations. “Our brains are better at picking up subtle warning signs than we previously thought,” says WUSTL research psychologist Joshua Brown, co-author of a study on these findings in the Feb. 18 issue of the journal Science.

When a company decides to turn to a call center to handle its customer service, company heads assume that signing a contract is the best way to get the best service. Not necessarily, says Tava Olsen, associate professor of operations and manufacturing management in the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis. Olsen and a colleague at the University of Toronto, found that some contracts allow call centers to meet their obligations half-way, leaving their clients — and their client’s clients — on hold.