Science & Technology

Nothing in Adam Steltzner’s younger years pointed to his becoming NASA’s chief engineer for the highly delicate landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. He flunked high school geometry and dropped out to join a rock band. On March 26, Steltzner will tell how “Curiosity Changed My Life” for the Assembly Series. His presentation, which will begin at 6 p.m. in Graham Chapel, is free and open to the public.

The St. Louis FameLab, a science communication competition sponsored by National Geographic and NASA, recently gave young scientists a chance to present their science to nonscientists in three minutes. Efforts such as this are becoming increasingly common as scientists try to reconnect with the public. Some universities now require three-minute video presentations for every thesis or dissertation — or even for every published journal article.

Graduate and professional students presented their research during the 19th Annual Graduate Student Research Symposium, held Feb. 22 in Whitaker Hall. Suthatip Jullamon, a law student, explains her research comparing class-action law in Thailand with the U.S.

For decades, neuroscientist Richard Davidson, PhD, has been conducting research on the positive impact of contemplative practices such as meditation on the brain. The work may have important ramifications for treating mental disorders. Davidson was on campus this month to deliver the Witherspoon Memorial Lecture on Religion and Science for the Assembly Series and a talk for the Department of Psychology.​

With a five-year, $3.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health, Washington University orthopedic researchers and engineers are working to enhance rotator cuff repair surgery.

Washington University in St Louis chemist Timothy Wencewicz says we’ll stay ahead of antibiotic resistance only if we find drugs with new scaffolds, or core chemical structures. One promising candidate, an antibiotic made by a bacterium than infects plants, caught his attention because it contains an “enchanted ring,” the beta-lactam ring that is found in penicillin. In this drug candidate, however, it acts against a different target than the penicillins.

Roger Tsien, one of three chemists who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein, will give the Leopold Marcus lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. His talk, “Fluorescent Molecules for Fun and Profit,” is intended for a general audience and will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Laboratory Sciences Building, Room 300. The talk is free and open to the public.

The McDonnell Distinguished Lecture this year will describe current understanding of the formation of the solar system, particularly its mix of rocky planets, gas giants and icy planets. The part of the story we have not nailed down, says speaker Alex N. Halliday, PhD, of Oxford University, is the origin of Earth’s moon. The lecture, which takes place at 7 p.m. Wednesday, March 5, in Whitaker Hall, Room 100, is free and open to the public.

Washington University in St. Louis students joined Bon Appétit staff in preparing maple syrup and other locally collected foods for brunch this month at Ibby’s Bistro, all for their class with biology senior lecturer Stan Braude, PhD. The students tapped Danforth Campus maple trees and collected berries on the South 40 and acorns in nearby Forest Park.

Using an inexpensive 3-D printer, biomedical engineers, including Igor Efimov, PhD (left), the Lucy & Stanley Lopata Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering have developed a custom-fitted, implantable device with embedded sensors that could transform treatment and prediction of cardiac disorders.