Author: Talia Ogliore

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.

When biologist Elizabeth Carlen in Arts & Sciences saw that squirrels were not being reported in north St. Louis, she wanted to know why. Her new paper in People & Nature illustrates how social and ecological factors can create bias in contributory science data.

A team from the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences won the Microanalysis Society’s Macres Award for the best instrumentation/software paper.

Peter Alan Fedders, a professor emeritus of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Feb. 22, 2024, in La Jolla, Calif. He was 85. Fedders was an expert in condensed-matter physics who made significant contributions to the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance.

Research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that orchids probably originated in Eurasia. Biologist Susanne Renner in Arts & Sciences is a senior author of the study in New Phytologist.

Rice feeds the world, but a look-alike weed can outcompete the crop. A study led by biologist Ken Olsen in Arts & Sciences shows how weedy rice gets its edge in tropical regions of the world.

Researchers in Arts & Sciences discovered that a common mineral called goethite, found in red soils all over the Earth, tends to naturally trap trace metals over time, locking them out of circulation.

The Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences is offering a series of free public lectures in advance of the 2024 total solar eclipse. The first one, taking place Saturday, Feb 10, is titled: “Cosmic coincidence: The science of eclipses.”