Month: July 2019

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a one-parameter measure that makes selecting the correct electrolyte for potassium-air batteries an exercise in rationality, rather than patience.

Adia Harvey Wingfield’s new book exposes how hospitals, clinics and other institutions participate in “racial outsourcing,” relying heavily on black doctors, nurses, technicians and physician assistants to do “equity work”— extra labor that makes organizations more accessible to communities of color.

Consumers who take advantage of nonprofit credit counseling services have statistically significant reductions in consumer debt, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Even in the strange world of open quantum systems, the arrow of time points steadily forward — most of the time. A video details new experiments conducted at Washington University in St. Louis that compare the forward and reverse trajectories of superconducting circuits called qubits, and find that they largely tend to follow the second law of thermodynamics. The research is published July 9 in the journal Physical Review Letters.

Images from in and around the Washington University campuses.

Washington University will begin a national search this summer for its next provost. Marion Crain, who holds a dual appointment as vice provost and the Wiley B. Rutledge Professor of Law, will serve as interim provost during the transition.

As ecosystem engineers, bison have been hiding in plain sight for the past 40 years, since archaeologists first discovered that several native plants were domesticated in eastern North America. New research by Natalie Mueller, assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, explains the connection, published July 8 in Nature Plants.

Anne Peterson, of Olin Business School, tapped into the Live Near Your Work employee housing assistance program to rehab an abandoned home in St. Louis’ West End neighborhood. The result was so impressive the Landmarks Association of St. Louis gave Peterson an award for historic rehabilitation. This year, the popular program’s budget expands to $300,000.

Researchers from Olin Business School studied self-managed teams, and found that they tend to create pay inequality. Women “consistently receive bargaining outcomes below their productivity level, while men are consistently overcompensated,” the researchers wrote.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ 2019 MFA in Visual Art Thesis Exhibition features work by 17 graduating students. Works in various media explore themes such as the politics of race, the role of gender, the poetics of the everyday, and utopian or dystopian futures.