Hold That Thought

It's mid-January, that time of year when a person's zeal to start fresh in the new year might be starting to fade. But don't give up on your resolutions quite yet! Psychologist Tim Bono has some research-proven tips for how to successfully build willpower. Bono, an assistant dean in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, teaches the popular course Positive Psychology: The Science of Happiness.

How do you remember home? Nancy Berg, a professor of Hebrew and comparative literature at Washington University in St. Louis, examines this question as it relates to Jewish writers from Iraq. In the mid-twentieth century, the thriving Jewish community in modern-day Baghdad quickly came to an end. Years later, those who experienced life in Baghdad - and also the children of those exiled - turn to literature to share their memories. Berg shares some of these authors and stories and describes the vibrant cultural scene brought to life in these works.

Join Doug Wiens, professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, as he describes his explorations of Antarctica. For some fifteen years, Wiens and his colleagues have been studying the physics behind ice movement and examining questions about where and how ice in the the western Antarctic ice sheet is melting.

Thanksgiving is a day most Americans look forward to, a day of watching parades and feasting on delicious food with friends and family. However, the rosy picture we have in our minds of our Pilgrim forefathers sitting down to eat with the local Native American tribes is, frankly, a myth. In honor of the holiday, American religious historian Mark Valeri shares the true and harrowing tales of the Pilgrim immigrants, and how and why their story came to national prominence in the post-Civil War era. He also examines how the myth of that first Thanksgiving has taken root in the American identity, and traces the revisions the story has undergone through the decades.

In 2015 alone, hundreds of thousands of migrants have fled war-torn Syria and elsewhere and made their way to Europe. While many Europeans have welcomed the refugees, some countries have expressed reluctance to accept Muslim asylum seekers. When thinking about the ongoing crisis, anthropologist John Bowen, from Washington University in St. Louis, sees a discouraging consistency with the larger history of Islam and immigration in Europe. Here he talks about that history and and how Europe, and France in particular, can best move forward.

India has more hungry people than any other country in the world. Can biotechnology solve this enormous problem? Glenn Stone, professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental studies at Washington University in St. Louis, describes the controversies and debates surrounding the role of genetically modified crops in the developing world. Stone writes about food, farming, and biotechnology on his blog, FieldQuestions.

In 1487, when the witch trials were just starting to take root in Europe, a Dominican priest published the Malleus Maleficarum, or The Witches' Hammer, a treatise on the prosecution of witches in a court of law. This text would be used over the next three centuries as the authority on the trial and torture of witches, laying out why women in particular were so susceptible to witchcraft. By the end of the witch craze in the 1720s, an estimated 80,000 had been tried and executed. In this extended episode, Gerhild Williams, a professor of comparative literature and Germanic literature and culture at Washington University in St. Louis, breaks down the witch trial phenomenon into three parts: (1) defining the witch and the roots of these beliefs, (2) how the political landscape evolved and the contents of The Witches' Hammer, and (3) how and why the witch craze took hold and what we can learn from it today.

As our world becomes increasingly interconnected, countries enter into more and more international agreements. Tens of thousands of such agreements help form common rules about everything from trade relations to environmental policy to immigration rights. But what happens when countries break the rules? In his latest book, International Courts and the Performance of International Agreements, political scientist Matt Gabel, from Washington University in St. Louis, examines how international courts work and how they can be most effective.

In an increasingly global and interconnected world, cities from Chicago to Rio de Janeiro confront similar issues. Where and how will people live as urban centers become both larger and more dense? What are the effects of urban renewal on lower-income populations? Carol Camp Yeakey, director of the Center on Urban Research & Public Policy and Interdisciplinary Program in Urban Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, shares her perspectives on urban studies in a global context.

When battling for votes and popular support, political parties across the globe have often chosen to focus on economic issues. But as countries become more and more integrated into a larger, global economy, does this remain true? Or, do non-economic issues like immigration, the environment, and social justice become more prominent? In a recent paper, graduate student Dalston Ward, along with two of his classmates and political scientist Margit Tavits from Washington University in St. Louis, examined the role of globalization in how political parties have changed strategies over time.