An international team of scientists, led by the School of Medicine, has decoded the DNA of a Sumatran orangutan. With this genome as a reference, the scientists then sequenced the genomes of five additional Sumatran and five Bornean orangutans, they report in the journal Nature. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21774.aspx

The Crimes Against Humanity Initiative at the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute at the School of Law recently released the text of a proposed multilateral treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity. Leila Nadya Sadat, JD, director of the initiative, says that this is the first time that such a convention has been drafted. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21797.aspx

WUSTL alumnus Julie Alexander returns to campus next week as the 2010-11 Marcus Artist in the Dance Program in the Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences. While in residence, she will present a free informal performance, titled “Weaving Traditional Japanese Dance and American Postmodern Dance,” at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21739.aspx

A discussion on the need for interfaith cooperation, featuring Rabbi Steve Gutow and the Rev. Michael Kinnamon, will take place at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 1, in the Bryan Cave Moot Courtroom of Anheuser-Busch Hall. Sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics and the Michael and Barbara Newmark Institute for Human Relations of the Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis, the event is free and open to the public. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21783.aspx

Bryan Stevenson, JD, prominent death penalty defense attorney and executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative, kicks off the second half of the School of Law’s 13th annual Public Interest Law & Policy Speakers Series Thursday, Feb. 3, with the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemorative Lecture on “Poverty, Incarceration, and Injustice in America.” FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21787.aspx

• 4 p.m. Dept. of Music Spring 2011 Lecture Series. “John Finley Williamson’s Impact on Choral Music in America.” Joseph G. Beck, author and choral dir. Free and open to the public. Music Classroom Bldg., Rm. 102. kschultz@artsci.wustl.edu or (314) 935-5566.

• Taste of Technology fair at Olin Library Feb. 2. Learn about the newest gadgets and software at Olin Library’s Taste of Technology fair from noon-4 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2, in the Level 1 lobby.

• Track teams in action this weekend. The men’s and women’s indoor track & field teams will be back in action Saturday, Jan. 29, for the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Engineer Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.