Polarized X-rays reveal shape of matter around black hole

New measurements from Cygnus X-1, reported Nov. 3 in Science, represent the first observations of a mass-accreting black hole from the Imaging X-Ray Polarimetry Explorer mission, an international collaboration. The lead author is Henric Krawczynski, in Arts & Sciences.

Medical apprentice program recognized by labor agency

The School of Medicine’s medical assistant apprenticeship program has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Labor as a model program. It was started to spur interest in the field and fill crucial medical assistant openings.

Are bots winning the war to control social media?

Twitter is being misused, according to Arts & Sciences’ Soumendra Lahiri and Dhrubajyoti Ghosh. Their analysis suggests fake accounts make up the majority of Twitter users. This army of bots is trying to influence social media users in politics and other topics.

Research Wire

Using machine learning with an additional processing step, researchers from the lab of Matthew Lew at the McKelvey School of Engineering can wrest a host of information from a few pixels of light.

Research Wire

The Midwest Climate Collaborative recently received its first National Science Foundation funding, a Civic Innovation Challenge grant, to explore ways to mitigate heat islands in four Midwestern cities.

Announcements

Deadline extended for Danforth Confluence Award

Nominations are being accepted until Nov. 30 for a new award that will fund community-based research promoting impact and deep engagement with St. Louis. Faculty information sessions will take place next week on the Danforth and Medical campuses.