Arts & Sciences

Photo by Joe Angeles / WUSTL PhotoThe Truster hand-held “Emotion Reader.”Voice-stress analysis, an alternative to the polygraph as a method for lie detection, is already widely used in police and insurance fraud investigations. Now, however, it is being touted as a powerful and effective tool for an array of new applications — everything from screening potential terrorists in the nation’s airports to catching wayward spouses in messy marital disputes. Despite its booming popularity, recent federally sponsored studies have found little evidence that existing voice-stress technologies are capable of consistently detecting lies and deceptions. “You could have gotten better results by flipping a coin,” says Washington University in St. Louis psychologist Mitchell S. Sommers, lead investigator on a recent voice-stress study.

Scholars from around the world will come to the Hilltop Campus Feb. 12-14 for the symposium “Tennessee Williams: The Secret Year.”

His book is titled Islam, Law and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning.

Randy Holmes Hard Bop Heritage will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Randy Holmes Hard Bop Heritage WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side […]

The Lawrence Fields Group will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Lawrence Fields Group WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, […]

Dead Cat Bounce will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Dead Cat Bounce WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, near […]

Public intellectuals — a class of specialists, all-purpose thinkers — will gather from 10-11:30 a.m. Feb. 12 in Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis to have a “Conversation” about, well, public intellectuals. As part of the university’s yearlong 150th anniversary celebration, Arts & Sciences is sponsoring “Conversations,” a four-part series bringing some of the nation’s top scholars together to discuss key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world.

McClatchyPoet and Essayist J.D. McClatchy will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, for The Writing Program Reading Series at Washington University in St. Louis.

Photo by David KilperProfessor Losos displays lab mascot, Morton, an Australian-bearded dragon.As professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, Losos uses lizards to integrate questions of ecology and evolution. He seeks to better understand how organisms survive in their present-day environments, how they’ve changed over time to fit into those environments, and how they’re continuing to change. “We can’t go back in time,” Losos says, “but we can see what happens today.” And, if one sees well enough, one can extrapolate back to understand how similar changes have occurred over millions of years.

Amy L. Chua, professor of law at Yale University and member of the American Society of International Law’s executive council, will discuss her new book which posits that the West’s exportation of free markets and democratic philosophies to developing countries does more harm than good.