George W. Bush’s decision to invade Iraq following the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, arguably was the most important decision of his presidency. That momentous decision also is central to understanding the psychological makeup of one of the most polarizing figures in American history, according to a new book by Dan McAdams, chair and professor of psychology in the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences at Northwestern University.
A new book by a Northwestern University School of Law professor tells the stories of three dramatic fugitive slave trials of the 1850s. Each of the trials underscores the crucial role runaway slaves played in building the tensions that led to the Civil War, and the three trials together show how “civil disobedience” developed as a legal defense. “Fugitive Justice: Runaways, Rescuers and Slavery on Trial” (Harvard University Press, November 2010) also highlights the role of the lawyers who took on these cases and pioneered the idea of civil rights litigation.
Northwestern University Library has launched a Web-based catalog of rare Arabic-script materials from West Africa that not only will increase awareness of its rich holdings but - with their use -- are expected to reshape our understanding of Islam, Africa and African history.
In the 1950s, U.S. schoolchildren learned to protect themselves from nuclear attack with help from Bert the Turtle in the film "Duck and Cover." FEMA's Herman the Crab today helps protect them from terrorism and other disasters. A book by a noted theatre historian presents a cross-cultural study of how disaster is rehearsed in the U.S., U.K. and Canada.
"Through the Labyrinth: the Truth about How Women Become Leaders" (Harvard Business School Press) argues the glass ceiling metaphor - that subtle barrier blocking women from leadership's highest positions - no longer applies. There's no absolute barrier stopping progress for women today but, instead, a progressive falling away of women at all levels.
A new book chronicles the "unscientific" way that revisions to psychiatry's bible, "The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders," were made. Using social anxiety disorder and antidepressant Paxil as examples, it shows how the creation of new mental disorders opened the door to the drug industry and "pathologized" normal behavior.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus to address graduates, parents and guests and receive an honorary doctor of arts degree.
A study suggests Mom was right when she insisted you take music lessons -- even when it was clear a professional music career wasn't in your future. The study is the first to provide concrete evidence that music training significantly enhances the brainstem's sensitivity to speech sounds -- a finding with implications for language as well as music learning.
Speed daters who romantically desired most of their potential partners were rejected quickly and overwhelmingly, according to a new Northwestern University study. The more you tend to experience romantic desire for all potential romantic partners you meet, the less likely it is that they will desire you in return. (Think too indiscriminate.)
A Northwestern University shows how sustained attention literally makes the world come into sharper focus. Not only do brain cells respond more strongly to stimuli. They also synchronize as if to the cues of a symphony conductor stepping in to control a large set of unruly musicians so that they all play together.
Sibling ties that cross the socioeconomic divide significantly affect the stability and well-being of black middle-class Americans, according to a new Northwestern University study that further illustrates the fragility of the black middle class.
A new study that takes a rare look at the physiological, social and emotional dynamics of day-to-day experiences in real-life settings shows that when older adults go to bed lonely, sad or overwhelmed, they have elevated levels of cortisol shortly after waking the next morning.
A new study by Northwestern University researchers shows that the brain learns to differentiate between similar smells simply through passive experience, shedding light on how we ultimately learn to identify thousands of smells from birth. The study also revealed for the first time how and where the brain modifies and updates information about smells.
Recognized as a new species in 1937, the kouprey, an ox, has been an icon of Southeast Asian conservation and is feared extinct. Now, Northwestern University biologists and a Cambodian conservationist present compelling genetic evidence that the kouprey may never have existed as a wild, natural species.
Two Northwestern University engineers have been studying the whisker system of rats to better understand how mechanical information from the whiskers gets transmitted to the brain. Now they have developed arrays of robotic whiskers that sense in two dimensions and that can sense information about both object shape and fluid flow. The arrays could find application on assembly lines, in pipelines or on land-based autonomous rovers or underwater vehicles.
Two Africanist scholars at Northwestern University have created video about the significance of glass beads in African society to give their lectures a new dimension.
One-third of married individuals choose someone other than their spouse as a surrogate for medical decision-making. And more often than not, when adult patients chose a parent, sibling or child, they prefer their mothers, sisters and daughters to serve as medical proxies over their fathers, brothers and sons, according to a study from Northwestern University.
In the first study to look at self-assessed Internet competence and its relationship to actual online ability, women and men are found to have equal skills. Yet women rank their skills significantly lower than men do. The findings are consistent with research on math and science ability and may have serious implications for women.
A report urges educators to teach K-12 students to think spatially and use geographic information systems (GIS) to do so. Researchers have developed student-friendly GIS software giving middle and high school students a taste of real-world science inquiry.
With the world's third largest HIV-infected population, Nigeria needs effective prevention programs. A $3 million Gates Foundation grant will support community-specific, social science research to understand the social contexts that can inform more effective prevention strategies.
In a systematic analysis of 30 years of the best scientific research on child development and parenting, a developmental psychologist examines the advice of five parenting "gurus" to the research findings on topics from spanking to TV viewing and day care to sex education.
An audiologist says the "earbuds" generally used with iPod and MP3 players increase hearing loss risks. The answer: use the devices at 60 percent maximum volume no more than one hour daily. Better yet, try muff-type or noise-canceling headphones.
Circuit parties -- mammoth dance events for gay and bisexual men -- were created in the 1980s in large part to raise awareness and funding related to HIV and AIDS prevention. Today, the circuit parties -- with up to 20,000 attendees -- may be part of the problem rather than the solution, according to a Northwestern University study.
"Urban Lawyers: the New Social Structure of the Bar" not only uses American Bar Foundation data to illustrate how dramatically the Chicago bar was transformed at the end of the 20th century, it also draws on leading research to offer a sweeping look at the legal profession as a whole.
A research psychologist finds adults who score high on psychological measures of social responsibility are less depressed and more satisfied with life. He also finds they tell life stories of turning negative experiences into positive outcomes.
Northwestern University has partnered with The Art Institute of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory on a long-term art conservation and scientific research program that recently received a three-year, $500,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
The holidays are for getting together with friends and family to renew relationships and create memories. Some people, though, worry about upcoming gatherings where past hurts and arguments may loom over the proceedings. How to cope?
Preliminary results from the STAR-D project, one of the nation's largest studies of depression, show that chronic depressive episodes are common and are associated with poorer physical health, lower quality of life, socioeconomic disadvantage and minority status.
Controlling high blood pressure in individuals age 80 years and older has become a major national health problem, according to a study.
Asian American and Pacific Island women, particularly those born abroad, are less likely to receive breast-conserving surgery for early-stage breast cancer than non-Hispanic white women, according to a study.
Over the last quarter of the 20th century, the legal profession became much more concerned about business than solving everyday problems of people's lives, according to a new book, "Urban Lawyers: the New Social Structure of the Bar."
About one in five Americans has a disability and one in 10 has a severe disability. Whether physical disabilities, developmental disabilities or mental illness -- these individuals face difficult challenges in the healthcare system.
Learning disabilities such as dyslexia are believed to affect nearly one in 10 children. To better study them, scientists have developed a data-driven conceptual framework linking for the first time the source-filter model of acoustics with the cortex's "what" and "where" pathways via the auditory brainstem.
Food and Drug Administration policies prevent pharmaceutical manufacturers from informing patients about potentially fatal toxicities that occur with some cancer drugs -- policies that should be revised immediately, according to researchers.
Immigrants who have lived in the United States for at least 15 years are nearly as obese as U.S.-born adults, according to an article.
A study by sleep researchers at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine suggests that even short-term exposure to either morning or evening social and physical activity improves cognitive performance and subjective sleep quality in the elderly.
Northwestern University researchers have identified a key molecular "signal" that allows malarial parasites to release virulence proteins inside human red blood cells.
Overweight and obesity in young adulthood and middle age may have devastating effects on future Medicare expenditures, particularly given the continued and alarming increase in prevalence of obesity in the United States during recent decades, according to a study.
Chronic back pain, a condition afflicting many Americans, shrinks the brain by as much as 11 percent -- equivalent to the amount of gray matter lost in 10 to 20 years of normal aging, a Northwestern University research study found.
Treatment with high-dose immunoglobulin G (IgG) during pregnancy lessens the severity of hemochromatosis (NH), a rare, devastating gestational disease with abnormal iron accumulation in the liver and severe liver injury that almost always results in fetal death or acute liver failure in newborns.
A new study at Northwestern University seeks to determine whether natural tomato oil with a high concentration of lycopene may reverse or delay progression of high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia.
Drug discovery researchers at Northwestern University have developed a new class of compounds that have the potential to reduce the inflammation of brain cells and the neuron loss associated with Alzheimer's disease.
Gaining 15 pounds or more over several years is the major contributor to progression of risk factors for heart disease and development of metabolic syndrome, while maintaining a stable weight significantly reduces those risks.
Living on a cruise ship is a feasible and cost-effective option to assisted living facilities, and the services offered on a cruise ship parallel -- even surpass -- what is provided in senior care facilities, according to a study.
Using nonprescription, or over-the-counter, medications to treat common upper respiratory infections could save $4.75 billion a year, according to a new study conducted by researchers from Northwestern University.
Using MRI technology, a group of Northwestern University researchers literally have peered into the brain to offer new evidence on the existence of false memories and how they are formed.
Northwestern University has received a major grant from the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to advance technologies in the field of islet cell replacement for the treatment of type 1 diabetes.
Northwestern University researchers have discovered a mechanism that may help to explain how angiogenesis inhibitors work on normal, blood vessel-forming endothelial cells, but not on insidious, aggressive melanoma cells that masquerade as endothelial-like cells by forming their own vascular networks, called "vasculogenic mimicry."
Contrary to the psychoanalytic theory that children who appear to be well adjusted as adolescents are actually "ticking time bombs," most normal teenagers adapt to and benefit from life experiences, a Northwestern University study has found.
A "planned-care method" of providing primary care for children with asthma can significantly reduce symptoms and need for emergency medications, according to a study.
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