Science & Technology

So what does the future have in store for us in regard to energy resources, consumption and technology? Aaron Bobick, dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, breaks down the issue in his blog, “The Observational Engineer.”

Using a new approach, researchers from Colorado State University and Washington University have uncovered evidence that underscores one long-debated theory about the origins of agriculture.

In a new paper in the journal Physical Review Letters, Bhupal Dev, assistant professor of Physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, describes how future accelerators could crash together charged particles in a new way to shed light on their behavior.

Natural selection acts on behavioral traits, says evolutionary biologist Jonathan Losos, who helped lead a replicated field experiment with anole lizards on eight small islands in the Caribbean, as reported in the June 1 issue of Science

Want to improve your attention? Arts & Sciences brain sciences researcher Richard Abrams at Washington University in St. Louis finds that our attention may be guided by the most recent interactions with our environment.

Homeowners know that one little termite can lead to big problems: while termites are efficient at gnawing away at wood, they can do even more damage if the wood is already broken or has another defect. Mechanical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have found the same effect in some of the body’s tissue.

Arts & Science philosopher Lizzie Schechter uses elements of two philosophical traditions to propose a new way to think about split-brain subjects. Her new book “Self-Consciousness and ‘Split’ Brains: The Minds’ I,” will be published June 1.

The seemingly unrelated conditions of hypertension, epilepsy and overactive bladder may be linked by electrical activity in a protein long studied by a biomedical engineer at Washington University in St. Louis. After new technology recently revealed the structure of the protein, his lab will collaborate with two others to take an unprecedented look into its molecular mechanisms, potentially leading to the development of new drugs for these and other conditions.

An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering & Applied Science is redefining the notion of a wisdom tooth. The team is developing technology that could someday be used to detect early signs of certain diseases in high-risk patients.