‘Lost crops’ could have fed as many as maize
For thousands of years, goosefoot and knotweed were grown as crops, possibly feeding as many indigenous people of North America as corn. But the domesticated forms of these lost crops became lost over the years, and now a Washington University in St. Louis archaeologist is trying to figure out why — and recreate them.
Famished
Eating Disorders and Failed Care in America
When Rebecca Lester was eleven years old — and again when she was eighteen — she almost died from anorexia nervosa. Now both a tenured professor in anthropology and a licensed social worker, she turns her ethnographic and clinical gaze to the world of eating disorders — their history, diagnosis, lived realities, treatment and place […]
WashU Expert: Political chaos in Bolivia is a ‘coup’
In Bolivia, a tangled election mess seems to have reaffirmed the popularity of leader Evo Morales. A Washington University in St. Louis faculty member says the country has propped up a new leader in what amounts to a military coup.
Connecting veterans to personalized care
Undergraduates in the Medicine and Society program in Arts & Sciences are helping St. Louis veterans create a version of their life story to be included in their official medical file. The innovative program is taking off around the nation.
Cultivating Knowledge
Biotechnology, Sustainability, and the Human Cost of Cotton Capitalism in India
In Cultivating Knowledge, anthropologist Andrew Flachs shows how rural farmers come to plant genetically modified or certified-organic cotton, sometimes during moments of agrarian crisis.
Ancient DNA study tracks formation of populations across Central Asia
Ethically sourced and informed by archaeology, an ambitious new study reports genome-wide DNA information from 523 ancient humans collected at archaeological sites across the Near East and Central and South Asia. Washington University in St. Louis brought key partners together to generate the world’s largest study of ancient DNA, published this week in the journal Science.
Time to retire the ‘pristine myth’ of climate change
Anthropologist T.R. Kidder in Arts & Sciences contributed to one of the first “big data” studies in archaeology to tackle broader questions of how humans have reshaped landscapes, ecosystems and potentially climate over millennia. The analysis published Aug. 30 in the journal Science challenges conventional ideas that man’s impact has been “mostly recent.”
Investigative journalist casts critical eye on industry influence, pesticide science
Investigative journalist Carey Gillam will deliver the first talk of the fall 2019 Agri-Food Workshop lecture series, “Monsanto Trials and Monsanto Papers,” casting a critical eye on industry influence and pesticide science, Aug. 30.
Sometimes you feel like a nut
A long-term study of western gorillas in Gabon has revealed an unexpected behavior: they use their teeth to crack open and eat nuts. New research by Adam van Casteren, lecturer in biological anthropology in Arts & Sciences, may have important implications for the way researchers predict the diet of human ancestors based on the shape of their teeth.
Long live the long-limbed African chicken
A new study reveals much about the history of African poultry development, according to Helina S. Woldekiros, assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences. But a 3,000-year-old local breed type is threatened by the introduction of commercial cluckers.
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