Author: Talia Ogliore

Five planetary scientists from WashU’s McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences are available to speak with reporters from the path of totality for the Monday, April 8, solar eclipse. The scientists will be at Bollinger Mill State Historic Site in southern Missouri, near Cape Girardeau.

Research led by geochemist Rita Parai in Arts & Sciences offers a glimpse of Earth’s history by tracking infinitesimal levels of noble gases in volcanic rocks. The new study is published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters.

A conveyer belt of ice jostles the entire Ross Ice Shelf out of place at least once daily, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Over the last 15 years, archaeologists have challenged outdated ideas about humans controlling nature. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Xinyi Liu in Arts & Sciences argues for a new conceptual bridge connecting the science of biological domestication to early food globalization.

A survey of nearly 1,000 people found Arts & Sciences’ course “The Pandemic: Science & Society” led to more accurate risk perception and stronger protective behaviors.

A $300,000 award from NASA’s Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science will allow Roger Michaelides, in Arts & Sciences, to track interactions between permafrost and wildfires in a warming Arctic, work that could shed new light on climate change.

Henric Krawczynski was installed as the Wilfred R. and Ann Lee Konneker Distinguished Professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences during a ceremony Feb. 28 at the Whittemore House. His installation lecture was titled “The Bright Side of Black Holes.”

Physicist Jeff Gillis-Davis in Arts & Sciences is leading a team that will develop and test an instrument to measure the chemistry of rocks, minerals, soil and ices on the surface of the Moon. The device is small enough to be carried by a rover or other robotic explorer.

Kenneth Olsen, a George William and Irene Koechig Freiberg Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, joined researchers from 24 countries in an effort to strengthen cooperation and solve a key problem of improving rice yields.

Neutron star mergers are a treasure trove for new physics signals, with implications for determining the true nature of dark matter, according to research from physicist Bhupal Dev in Arts & Sciences.