Science & Technology

As an economist, academician and researcher steeped in such data and assessments, one Washington University in St. Louis expert wants to press the pause button on the worst-case-scenario numbers related to the National Climate Assessment that was released the day after Thanksgiving.

The findings, reported in the journal Science, contain positive implications for the survival of the West Antarctic Ice Sheet, which scientists had previously thought could be doomed because of the effects of climate change, according to study co-author Douglas Wiens of Arts & Sciences.

In the midst of what scientists consider to be a sixth mass extinction event, Washington University is joining forces with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo to collaborate on ­life-saving research and conservation efforts.

The way we’re feeding ourselves is devastating rainforests, widening waistlines, exploiting small landholders and causing thousands of pounds of food to go to waste. Alumni and Washington University researchers are working hard to change how we put food on our table.

Michael Wysession, a professor of earth and planetary sciences, explores the intersection of earth science and the classic novel Frankenstein.

The island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa was largely unexplored seismically until recently. The first broadband seismic images of the island help solve a longstanding mystery: why are there volcanoes far from any tectonic boundary?

At a transformative moment in our nation’s history, when America’s “Brexit vote” came to pass, where better than Washington University to bring together the thought leaders and experts from disparate fields covering the littered landscape that was, is and forever will be Election 2016?

Why was the New Year’s flood in Missouri so bad? Most news reports blamed it on the heavy rain, but Robert Criss, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis says analysis of the flood data shows much of the damage was due to recent modifications to the river.

A widespread pattern of human-caused environmental degradation and related flood-mitigation efforts began changing the natural flow of China’s Yellow River nearly 3,000 years ago, setting the stage for massive floods that toppled the Western Han Dynasty, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Archeobotanists argue that plant domestication involved much trial and error in many different geographic regions over a long period of time. A genetic technique that allows domesticated and wild strains of the same plant to be compared shows that domestication requires only simple genetic changes. Yet the findings don’t contradict the archeobotanical data.