A new test efficiently detects virtually any virus that infects people and animals, according to research at the School of Medicine, where the technology was developed. “With this test, you don’t have to know what you’re looking for,” said the study’s senior author, Gregory Storch, MD.

Psychologist Jennifer Eberhardt, PhD, of Stanford University, investigates how subtle racial biases are interpreted in the brain. Her research reveals the extent to which racial imagery, and subsequent judgments, influence outcomes in the criminal justice system. Her Assembly Series lecture will take place at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 9, in Anheuser-Busch Hall.

NASA announced this week that dark streaks that appear on Martian slopes in the summer, lengthen and then fade as winter approaches are seeps of salty water. The news again raised hopes that Mars may have life. Washington University Mars expert Ray Arvidson, PhD, of Arts & Sciences, says it will take thoughtful mission planning to find out.

What is the relationship between art and activism? How should artists engage questions of racial justice? Have events in Ferguson changed those equations? On Saturday, Oct. 3, four St. Louis-based artists will discuss these questions as part of the Greater St. Louis Humanities Festival. The Center for the Humanities in Arts & Sciences organized the discussion.