Month: March 2020

Many countries reacted slowly and inadequately to the spread of COVID-19. Some critics have said this is due to initial reports of the disease, which indicated that it mainly affected older populations. “Older adults are not some kind of expendable commodity,” said Nancy Morrow-Howell, the Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an international leader in gerontology.

Lack of sleep could help promote the development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to two studies from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The studies could help identify people at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia and point to strategies for prevention.

At a time when the world is focused on a global health pandemic, Brian Carpenter, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says it may be difficult to grieve for and memorialize an individual. But we must.

The $2 trillion plan to prop up a pandemic-reeling United States, amid the news that there were 3.3 million unemployment claims lodged in the previous week, is expected to pass the House on March 27. An array of Washington University in St. Louis experts offer perspectives on the plan.

With the university community shifting to virtual meetings and classes via Zoom, the Office of Public Affairs created WashU-themed virtual backgrounds so people can all have a scene from campus wherever they are working and learning.

In one of the United States’ national myths, George Washington accepts responsibility for having chopped down a cherry tree — a story that’s held up as a sign of how deeply honorable our founding president was. Our research finds that leaders who claim the blame for their governments’ performance when crises strike also can reap rewards.

Weedy rice is a feral form of rice that infests paddies worldwide and aggressively outcompetes cultivated varieties. A new study led by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that weed populations have evolved multiple times from cultivated rice, and a strikingly high proportion of contemporary Asian weed strains can be traced to a few Green Revolution cultivars that were widely grown in the late 20th century.

It is nice to think about a cure, especially when things seem to get worse every day. But we implore you to follow medical professionals’ advice and not get or take an experimental medication recommended without evidence of its success. If you have no psychiatric history, we’d rather you stay that way.

Giovanni Boccaccio’s masterpiece, the “Decameron,” is set on the outskirts of Florence in 1348. His protagonists have retreated to the countryside in the wake of the Black Death, which is decimating their city both mortally and socially. The book offers important lessons as we confront the global threat of Coronavirus.

The task was as Herculean as it was heartbreaking: Pack and ship some 2,000 boxes of books, computers, medications and other essentials to Washington University students across the globe.