Consistent exercise is associated with a lower risk of dying from colon cancer, according to a new study led by Siteman Cancer Center researchers. The study is among the first to show that physical activity can make the disease less deadly. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21683.aspx

Readers of all ages have embraced Lois Lowry’s The Giver, a classic of contemporary science fiction and winner of the 1994 Newbery Medal. Beginning Friday, Jan. 7, Metro Theater Company and Edison Theatre join forces to produce playwright Eric Coble’s powerful stage adaptation. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21580.aspx

Last fall, five WUSTL students from the Department of Art History and Archaeology in Arts & Sciences set out on a mission of discovery, visiting a pair of East Coast exhibitions that focused on works by John La Farge and Paul Gauguin. The group was led by Elizabeth C. Childs, PhD, chair and associate professor of art history and archeology. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21692.aspx

Mechanical engineering students maneuver BattleBots during a Battle Royale held Tuesday, Dec. 14. The battle was the final assignment in a freshman mechanical engineering class last semester in the School of Engineering & Applied Science. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21661.aspx

Last year’s attempt to stem the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico by pouring heavy mud down the well bore may have been defeated by an instability that led to turbulent mixing of the oil and the mud. At the time, Jonathan Katz, PhD, professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, had suggested a simple solution to the problem: cornstarch. Experiments described in an article published recently in Physical Review Letters suggest his solution might have worked. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21662.aspx

The following are among the new faculty members at Washington University: Minjung Kyung, PhD; Yuko Miki, PhD; Sowande’ Mustakeem, PhD; and Alvaro Pelayo, PhD. FULL STORY

URL: http://news.wustl.edu/news/Pages/21693.aspx

• Friday, Jan. 7, 6 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. Travel Lecture Series. “Alaska Sternwheeler.” Travel Channel producer and director of photography Dennis Burkhart. Sponsored by WUSTL Alumni Association. Cost: $5. Graham Chapel. (314) 935-7378.

• Medical School art show opens Jan. 13. The School of Medicine Arts Commission will open the annual student, faculty and staff art show from 7-9 p.m. Jan. 13 in the first floor atrium of the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. The show will run through Feb. 11. It is free and open to the public.

• Women’s basketball splits pair in Ohio. The No. 4 women’s basketball team split a pair of games at the Ohio Wesleyan University Bishop Classic Dec. 29-30 in Delaware, Ohio. WUSTL fell to second-ranked Hope College, 49-47, in a rematch of the 2010 NCAA Division III national championship game won by the Bears last March. The team bounced back with a 71-59 win over Bluffton University in the consolation game.