Science & Technology

Washington University in St. Louis postdoctoral research associate Aubreya Adams went to Antarctica in January and February 2014 to help with routine maintenance of seismic stations on the West Antarctic ice shelf. But nothing in the southern continent is ever routine. In her short stay, she experienced extreme weather, saw a rare mirage, visited bizarre ice vents on the volcanic Mount Erebes and saw first hand the effects of the warming that recently made front page news in The New York Times.

“The Surrounding Game” is a documentary film about the game of Go co-directed by WUSTL graduate student Cole Pruitt. It follows two of America’s top young players as they compete to obtain professional rank in this subtle and elegant game. Implicit in the story is a larger question: Can a game this subtle and difficult, which has been pursued as a fine art in Asia for millennia, be transplanted to America, which does not have the culture or the training system to support it?

A project to provide low-cost eyeglasses for people in the developing world and one to develop a cell-death detector will share $25,000 to further develop their projects as winners of the 2014 Discovery Competition. Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Engineering & Applied Science created the competition in 2012.

That the WUSTL-connected contingent comprises 40 percent of this year’s Arch Grant winners is no surprise to H. Holden Thorp, PhD, provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Get an up close look at the eight WUSTL-affiliated 2014 Arch Grant winners.

Washington University’s Bear Cub program is funding four innovative projects that have commercial potential. Pictured is William G. Hawkins, MD, who is developing a new treatment for pancreatic cancer.

Biology researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are placing their bets on the wild side as they prepare a pack of social amoeba for competition Friday, May 16, in the first-ever Dicty World Race, an international science competition that carries a $5,000 prize for the single-celled organism deemed to be the “smartest and fastest” in negotiating a microscopic maze.

Three biomedical engineering seniors at WUSTL are gaining national attention for the robotic prosthetic arm they developed for a 13-year-old St. Louis girl. Built on a 3-D printer, the arm  is cheap, functional — and pink.

The Spector Prize, first awarded in 1974, recognizes academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research. Students are nominated by their research mentors for outstanding research that has made substantial contributions to a field. This year, the prize has been awarded to Deborah Huang, who plans to graduate this month with a major in biochemistry and molecular biology and a minor in public health.

Students from Eureka High School prepare their plane for launch during the Boeing Design Challenge at the Washington University Field House April 29. They were among 110 area high school students from six school districts on 26 teams who designed and hand-launched balsa wood gliders in different competitions, learning concepts of physics and engineering. The teams were assisted by engineers from Boeing Co.