Author: Talia Ogliore

Natalie Mueller, an assistant professor of archaeology in Arts & Sciences, and alumna Caitlin Rankin dig into the Cahokia Mounds’ history to cast doubt on a popular theory about why the ancient city was abandoned.

In a paper published in Physical Review Letters, physicist Kater Murch in Arts & Sciences demonstrates a new type of sensor that leverages quantum entanglement to make time-traveling detectors.

Natalie Mueller in Arts & Sciences excavated and identified a trove of ancient plant remains in Kenya that represents the largest and most extensively dated archaeobotanical record from east Africa.

Scientists from Washington University in St. Louis have launched a balloon-borne telescope to unlock the secrets of astrophysical black holes and neutron stars, some of the most extreme objects in the universe. XL-Calibur launched July 9.

In a laboratory setting, experimental petrologists at Washington University recreated the magnetizing reactions that could be causing the mysterious, light-colored features on the Moon’s surface, known as lunar swirls.

Washington University scientists, including Kun Wang in Arts & Sciences, are part of a team that reported that near-Earth asteroid Bennu’s dust is rich in carbon and nitrogen, as well as organic compounds, all of which are essential components for life as we know it. 

Kara Andres, a postdoctoral fellow with the Living Earth Collaborative, collected samples from Simpson Lake in Valley Park, Mo., one of about 800 lakes worldwide that were surveyed on the UN’s International Day of Biodiversity.

Hani Zaher, a professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, published a study in Molecular Cell that dives into the mechanisms behind the ways cells respond to stress.

Arpita Bose, an associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, will travel to Belgium next year to continue her work on the green potential of purple bacteria.

A team led by biologist Rachel Penczykowski in Arts & Sciences found more infestations of powdery mildew in St. Louis than in the city’s surrounding suburbs and countryside.