Author: Diana Lutz

Erik TrinkausA human jawbone (left), dated to between 34,000 and 36,000 years ago, along with a facial skeleton (center) and a temporal bone (right).A research team co-directed by Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., professor of anthropology at Washington University in St. Louis, has dated a human jawbone from a Romanian bear hibernation cave to between 34,000 and 36,000 years ago. That makes it the earliest known modern human fossil in Europe. Other human bones from the same cave — a temporal bone, a facial skeleton and a partial braincase — are still undergoing analysis, but are likely to be the same age. The jawbone was found in February 2002 in Pestera cu Oase — the “Cave with Bones” — located in the southwestern Carpathian Mountains. The other bones were found in June 2003.

New and improved consumer goods, better planes, vehicles, and electronics, and new biomedical products that could lead to better pharmaceuticals and innovative medical devices are among the objectives of a new, interdisciplinary center housed in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. The Center for Materials Innovation, (CMI) located in the refurbished basement of Crow Hall, will enable collaborators from across campus to make basic and applied advances in materials research, eventually touching many aspects of daily life.

Photo by Mary Butkus / WUSTL PhotoStudy finds that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage that food servers, hair stylists and cab drivers receive.In the world of gratuities, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. Psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage that food servers, hair stylists and cab drivers receive. Compiling data from nearly 1,000 tips left in restaurants, hair salons and with cab drivers, the researchers found that the percent of the tip actually decreases with the amount of the bill across all three tipping situations. Their findings also indicate that with bills more than $100, the percent of the tip levels off — if the bill is $200, the server is likely to receive the same amount as if it were $100.

Photo by Mary Butkus / WUSTL PhotoStudy finds that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage that food servers, hair stylists and cab drivers receive.Psychologists at Washington University in St. Louis say you may be cheaper than you think. They have shown that the larger the bill, the smaller the tip percentage that food servers, hair stylists and cab drivers receive. Compiling data from nearly 1,000 tips left in restaurants, hair salons and with cab drivers, the researchers found that the percent of the tip actually decreases with the amount of the bill across all three tipping situations. Their findings also indicate that with bills more than $100, the percent of the tip levels off — if the bill is $200, the server is likely to receive the same amount as if it were $100.

Photo by David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoGiammar discusses a batch reaction cell.As global temperatures continue to rise, many methods have been proposed to deal with the excess of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. An environmental engineer at Washington University in St. Louis just wants the problem to go away – out of the atmosphere, into the earth.

A new technique in development may produce quick and efficient radiation dosing.Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique that drastically decreases the time a radiation oncologist spends calculating radiation dosages and also provides a more carefully controlled dosage with less damage to nearby healthy tissues. They have applied a mathematical tool called wavelet analysis to radiation dose distributions simulations and have sped up the dose calculations by a factor of two or more over the standby dose calculation.

A new technique in development will produce quick and efficient radiation dosing.Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have developed a technique that makes radiation oncologists significantly faster at calculating radiation dosages for patients undergoing cancer treatment. The technique also provides a more carefully controlled dosage of radiation to cancerous cells that is less likely to damage nearby healthy tissues. The research team — led by Victor Wickerhauser, Ph.D., professor of mathematics in Arts & Sciences and Joseph O. Deasy, Ph.D., assistant professor of radiation oncology at the School of Medicine — has turned to a mathematical tool called wavelet analysis to calculate radiation dose distributions. The tool has helped speed up the dose calculations by a factor of two or more compared to the standard dose calculation technique.

September Tip Sheet: Science & Technology

Bruce Fegley, Ph.D., and his colleagues in the Planetary Chemistry Laboratory here will conduct experiments on the origin of organic compounds in the solar nebula, the cloud of gas and dust from which the sun, Earth and other objects in the solar system formed. Fegley’s group will use the experimental results and other data to […]

Washington University in St. Louis and Monsanto Co., Creve Coeur, Mo., have been issued patent 6,608,241 by the United States Patent Office. The patent is for a technique that protects crops from devastating viral diseases that currently threaten or harm many important food crops. The inventors are Roger Beachy, Ph.D., president of the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, and professor in the department of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, and Robert T. Fraley, Ph.D., Monsanto chief technology officer and former Monsanto research scientist Stephen G. Rogers.