Science & Technology

Over the last 15 years, archaeologists have challenged outdated ideas about humans controlling nature. Writing in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Xinyi Liu in Arts & Sciences argues for a new conceptual bridge connecting the science of biological domestication to early food globalization.

Seven Washington University in St. Louis faculty members have been named fellows of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, joining 23 existing fellows at Washington University.

A $300,000 award from NASA’s Early Career Investigator Program in Earth Science will allow Roger Michaelides, in Arts & Sciences, to track interactions between permafrost and wildfires in a warming Arctic, work that could shed new light on climate change.

The National Science Foundation has given a CAREER award to Nathaniel Huebsch, an assistant professor of biomedical engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis.

A sense of well-being can have a profound impact on health, especially for the aging brain. Higher levels of well-being have been robustly associated with a lower risk for future dementia, according to WashU psychology researchers who contributed to this year’s World Happiness Report.

Marcus Foston, an associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering, is exploring how to add value to lignin, a type of polymer found in wood.

The undergraduate students in Washington University’s zymurgy class can learn about the practical application of synthetic biology through the traditional science of beer brewing.

In a first for the field, biomedical engineers at the McKelvey School of Engineering determined the pH profiles of certain key types of cellular condensates.

In new research published in JAMA Pediatrics, researchers at Washington University make the case that “thrive factors” are a key element of healthy human brain, behavioral and cognitive development. The five thrive factors include: environmental stimulation, nutrition, neighborhood safety, positive caregiving and regular sleep.

Researchers at the McKelvey School of Engineering received a three-year $570,746 grant from the National Science Foundation to support their work to understand the fundamental mechanisms that underpin interactions between nerve cells, or neurons, and nanoparticles, which can be used to both sense and stimulate neurons.