Research at Chicago (Audio): The University of Chicago

University of Chicago Graduate School of Business Professor Richard Thaler gives an overview of his new book: Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness. He explains what nudges are and gives a few examples of how they can be useful.

Thaler and Sunstein reminisce at their favorite Hyde Park lunch spot, Noodles, where they say they did some of their best work on the book. Noodles was so important to the creative process, it even made the acknowledgments. The two talk about what each brought to the project, the origin of the elephants on the book cover, their fear of forms, and their hopes for a new political consensus in the country.

Susan Mayer, Dean of the Harris School of Public Policy, discusses the sources of inequality in the United States, differing definitions of equality, and how to make equality a reality. She emphasizes the need for equality of opportunity in education, the work force and family life.

Robert Townsend, co-director of the Thai Family Research Project, discusses the importance of individual entrepreneurs in shaping local and regional economies and reducing poverty. His findings draw on over 10 years of data collected from nearly 3,000 households throughout Thailand. This research contributed to the creation of The Enterprise Initiative, a new project funded by the John Templeton Foundation which focuses on wealth creation and poverty reduction in developing countries.

Olaf Schneewind, M.D., Ph.D, Professor and Chair of the Department of Microbiology, and Joe Kanabrocki, Ph.D, Biosafety Officer for the Ricketts Biocontainment Laboratory, talk about a new state-of-the-art facility designed to develop new treatments, diagnostic tests and vaccines for emerging infectious diseases. The Howard T. Ricketts Laboratory (HTRL) will house research on microbial agents that are considered either Risk Group 2 (agents that cause mild to moderate symptoms in humans, but are not life threatening) or Risk Group 3 (agents that have the potential to cause lethal human infections, but have at least one effective treatment). The HTRL has been designed and built according to the strictest federal standards and incorporates multiple layers of safety and security to protect laboratory workers and the surrounding environment.

Martha Roth, Ph.D., Professor of Assyriology, discusses the final volume of the Chicago Assyrian Dictionary, a comprehensive lexicon of ancient Akkadian dialects 86 years in the making. Roth has served as Editor-in-Charge of the project for the past 11 years.

Jean Decety, Professor, Psychology and Psychiatry, explains his research into pain responses and how physicians learn to turn off the part of the brain that activates feelings of empathy. Decety co-authored Expertise Modulates the Perception of Pain in Others, published in October 2007, which discusses the necessary ability of a doctor to regulate pain perception in order to better treat patients.

Maria Woltjen, Director of the Immigrant Children's Advocacy Project, describes how she founded a program to provide unaccompanied immigrant children with guardians ad litem. In 2005, nearly 8,000 unaccompanied immigrant children were taken into federal custody and many of these children had to face immigration judges without any legal aid. By working with multilingual law students, The Center pairs advocates with immigrant and refugee children to ensure the child's welfare is represented, not the interests of traffickers or smugglers.

Margaret Gardel, Ph.D., Assistant Professor in Physics, is a 2007 recipient of the NIH Director's Pioneer award, along with four others from The University of Chicago. Fundamentally interdisciplinary, Gardel's research straddles both the physical and biological sciences by exploring disease on a molecular level. Gardel explains how the physical structure of cells may yield clues to advanced treatments for cancer and other diseases.

Dr. Bruce Lahn discusses newly discovered variants in two genes, one of which affects brain-size in humans. Because these variants have arisen very recently, studying them may help researchers understand the ongoing evolution of the human brain.

Clemens Reichel, Research Associate at the Oriental Institute, explains the importance of the groundbreaking archaeological expedition he co-directed at Hamoukar in Northern Syria. Until recently, archaeologists believed that urban civilization first arose in Southern Mesopotamia, or modern day Iraq. Work at Hamoukar has revealed a separate and equally ancient urban movement to the north of the area that has been traditionally regarded as the birthplace of the city.

Martin E. Marty, Professor Emeritus of the History of Modern Christianity in the Divinity, discusses his new book, The Mystery of the Child, and the origins of his interest in the subject of children. Departing from literature on children that regards the child as a problem to be controlled, Marty's new work--emanating from his involvement in Emory University's three-year study of The Child in Law, Religion and Society --calls for us to foster wonder in children, asking that we rediscover what it means to be a child as well as to care for one.

Roughly 25 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV, and the number is growing. Since 90 95 percent of HIV infections in Africa result from heterosexual sex, understanding changes in heterosexual behavior in response to rising HIV rates is crucial to developing effective prevention strategies. In the new study 'HIV and Sexual Behavior Change: Why Not Africa?' Emily Oster, Becker Fellow for the Gary S. Becker Center on Chicago Price Theory at the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business and Assistant Professor of Economics, analyzes the apparent lack of behavioral response among Africans. Most prior estimates of behavioral response have focused on very limited and specialized populations.

Robert Topel, professor of economics from The University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, assesses the benefits of medical research from an economic perspective. Topel calculates the social value of increased longevity, observing that even modest reductions in mortality may indicate enormous social returns.

University of Chicago fossil preparator, Tyler Keillor, discusses the iterative process of creating the model for Tiktaalik, the fossil discovery by paleontologist Neil Shubin that fills in the evolutionary gap between fish and land animals.

Milan Mrksich, professor of chemistry at the University of Chicago, discusses his research on integrating living cells with non-living engineered microsystems to create hybrid devices. (c) 2006 The University of Chicago

Sanjay Dhar, of the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, observes several striking geographic patterns in the performance of national brands. (c)2006 The University of Chicago

Sanjay Dhar, marketing professor in the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business, investigates the strategic role of advertising investments in the formation of long-run industrial market structures. (c)2006 The University of Chicago.

Paleontologist Neil Shubin discusses his newly discovered species, Tiktaalik roseae, that fills in the evolutionary gap between fish and land animals. Shubin and his colleagues describe the species in the April 6, 2006 issue of Nature.

John Frederick of the University of Chicago hopes to discover more about the health effects of particulate matter, such as its relationship to incidents of asthma and a warming trend known as the heat island effect. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

University of Chicago Professor Daphne Preuss has discovered an ingenious method to add genetic material to plants. Her research on chromosome assembly may have important, real world consequences in improving crops and making medical breakthroughs. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

What is dark matter? Is the universe speeding up? University of Chicago Professor Michael Turner clarifies how theoretical and experimental cosmologists challenge each other to unravel the deep mysteries of the universe. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

New research led by University of Chicago Professor Olaf Schneewind on the mechanisms that bacteria use to cause human disease may help produce new therapeutics. Copyright 2005 The University of Chicago.

Danielle S. Allen, Dean of Humanities at The University of Chicago, discusses why our political life is characterized by so much distrust and gives her thoughts on how we can arrive at a place of more peaceful interaction. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

Under University of Chicago Professor Olaf Schneewind, researchers lead a collaborative effort to use modern science to protect the public from infectious agents. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

Cardiac arrest and industrial cooling? Dr. Lance Becker of the University of Chicago and Argonne National Laboratory researchers have discovered an improbable link between the two that may transform treatment for heart attacks. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

In 'Streets of Glory: Church and Community in a Black Urban Neighborhood' University of Chicago sociologist Omar McRoberts explores the relationships between urban 'storefront' churches and the community in which they are situated. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

University of Chicago Professor David Bevington discusses the process of publishing the comprehensive new electronic and print editions of Ben Jonson's work, which will feature modernized language and will include secondary materials such as costume and set sketches. Copyright 2003 The University of Chicago.

Are votes of federal judges predictable from their ideology? University of Chicago law professor Cass R. Sunstein discusses judicial behavior on federal courts, examining considerable data on how appointees have voted, and considers whether judges are affected by their colleagues. Copyright 2004 The University of Chicago.