Critic Vendler, poet Graham in ‘Conversations About Poetry’

Renowned critic Helen Vendler and Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Jorie Graham will participate in a three-day discussion on poets and poetry Oct. 15-17 as part of the University’s Fall Reading Series 2003, sponsored by The Writing Program and the Department of English, both in Arts & Sciences. “Conversations About Poetry” will kick off at 8 p.m. […]

Honoring achievement

Photo by Bob BostonAward-winners Lee Epstein and Eugene M. Johnson Jr. greet each other at the recent Faculty Achievement Awards Ceremony.

Study lifts veil on brain’s executive function

Photo courtesy of Vanderbilt UniversityThe “CEO” in your brain appears to be concerned more about the consequences of your actions than how hard they are to produce. That is the implication of a detailed study of the neuronal activity in a critical area of the brain, called the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), published in the Oct. 3 issue of the journal Science. The finding is important because the ACC plays a key role in disorders such as schizophrenia and obsessive-compulsive disorder in humans, suggests Joshua Brown, study co-author and WUSTL research associate in psychology.

Be prepared to deal with parents’ aging before a crisis hits

U.S. Administration on AgingAging is a women’s issue because women provide the bulk of care and support to older adults.An aging parent wants to keep the car keys, while his adult daughter thinks he is a hazard to himself and others on the road. Or a widow who has lived in her home for 55 years refuses to move out, although her children worry that she’s too frail to manage the stairs. As more and more adult children face caring for their aging parents in the coming decades, an expert on the clinical psychology of aging says the key to dealing with these types of situations is to discuss them before they become a reality. “Don’t procrastinate,” says Brian D. Carpenter, Ph.D., an assistant professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. “Start the process of talking to your aging parents early — before a crisis.”

Not your father’s periodic table

David Kilper/WUSTL photoWashington University’s Katharina Lodders has developed an innovative periodic table slanted toward astronomy.The periodic table isn’t what it used to be, thanks to innovations by a planetary chemist at Washington University in St. Louis. Katharina Lodders, Ph.D., Washington University research associate professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, has evalutated data from numerous studies including her own and arranged the data into a periodic table slanted toward astronomers and cosmochemists.

Forget rainy springs

Courtesy photoSculpture by Wesley Anderegg, Lompoc, CASo you think you know mosquitoes? Consider the venerable law that rainy weather is the cause of increased mosquito populations. An ecologist at Washington University in St. Louis says if you believe that, you’re all wet.
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