Science & Technology

Processes that were thought to take tens of thousands of years can happen in hours, according to new research. And that may change our understanding of the carbon cycle, and maybe the history of Earth’s climate.

Tiny protein structures called amyloids are key to understanding certain devastating age-related diseases, but they are so minuscule they can’t be seen using conventional microscopic methods. A team of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a new technique that uses temporary fluorescence, causing the amyloids to flash or “blink”, allowing researchers to better spot these problematic proteins.

Students in an undergraduate class in Arts & Sciences traveled to the remote Portuguese Azores archipelago to study field geology techniques in a rugged landscape shaped by volcanoes and shifting tectonic plates.

If you’ve ever experienced jet lag, you are familiar with your circadian rhythm, which manages nearly all aspects of metabolism. Every cell in the body has a circadian clock, but until now, researchers were unclear about how networks of cells connect with each other over time. Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and collaborating institutions have developed a new method that sheds light on these circadian rhythm networks.

Scientists in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have, for the first time, created a biosynthetic spider silk that behaves like the real thing. And they may soon make it even stronger.

A cross-disciplinary team of chemists and physicists in Arts & Sciences is building a better computer chip to improve detection and surveillance for the illegal transport of nuclear materials at U.S. borders. The work is part of a new, five-year, $10 million collaboration in low-energy nuclear science led by Texas A&M University.

Rita Parai, assistant professor of geochemistry in Arts & Sciences, constrains the history of volatile transport from the atmosphere into the deep Earth in a new publication in the journal Nature.

Petra Levin, professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, was recently awarded a $2 million grant to identify and characterize the molecular circuits that coordinate or limit the growth and reproduction of bacteria.

William Yeoh, of the School of Engineering & Applied Science, is designing algorithms to run the smart homes of the future – and he’s making sure they won’t bother us too much.

By looking into the brains of locusts, researchers in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have determined how one smell can affect another, and how a locust can recognize a smell even though its brain activity looks different depending on the context.