Science & Technology

Animal milk was essential to east African herders at least 5,000 years ago, according to a new study that uncovers the consumption habits in what is now Kenya and Tanzania — and sheds a light on human evolution, according to new research from anthropologists from Washington University in St. Louis.

Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering spent two weeks in India cooking with local residents. They found that soot wasn’t the only worrisome byproduct of traditional cookstoves; organic carbons are causing problems, too.

Jianjun Guan, professor of mechanical engineering and materials science at the McKelvey School of Engineering, has been inducted into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering College of Fellows.

A research team led by Jonathan Losos, the William H. Danforth Distinguished Professor and professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, was awarded $1.2 million for a CRISPR-based gene editing study of Central American lizards.

Washington University in St. Louis now offers a major in environmental analysis though the Environmental Studies program in Arts & Sciences. The major is a response to the global demand for environmental and sustainability experts who can think critically, communicate clearly and solve problems in collaboration with their communities. 

An international team of researchers that includes anthropologists at Washington University in St. Louis has unearthed the earliest known skull of Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like in their anatomy and aspects of their behavior. The effort was led by La Trobe University in Australia.

Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Missouri-St. Louis are partnering for an upcoming virtual teach-in to discuss solutions to abate climate change. All are welcome to take part.

At a time when the world is focused on a global health pandemic, Brian Carpenter, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says it may be difficult to grieve for and memorialize an individual. But we must.

Weedy rice is a feral form of rice that infests paddies worldwide and aggressively outcompetes cultivated varieties. A new study led by biologists at Washington University in St. Louis shows that weed populations have evolved multiple times from cultivated rice, and a strikingly high proportion of contemporary Asian weed strains can be traced to a few Green Revolution cultivars that were widely grown in the late 20th century.

The coronavirus pandemic has led to plenty of uncertainty. Tim Bono, assistant dean in Arts & Sciences and a lecturer in psychological and brain sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, offers tips for managing parts of life that are still under our control.