Science & Technology

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoA math problem review session at the Kumon-Ladue math program on Clayton Road in Ladue.Parents of school-aged children might want to think of giving their children an enduring holiday gift this year: enrollment in a supplemental mathematics program. While it can cost anywhere from $80 to $110 a month, the results of practicing mathematics nearly daily is rewarding to both students and parents. In fact, parents might be even bigger recipients of this gift than their children. While their children gain self-esteem and confidence, the parents very likely will feel a sense of relief and pride in their children’s accomplishment.

The anthropological works of Glenn Conroy, Ph.D., professor of anatomy and neurobiology and of anthropology, are on display through January 2008 in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center.

Glenn Conroy and Jane Phillips-Conroy with their awards for outstanding teachingHis modest demeanor provides little hint of neither his brilliant career nor the ivy-paved path that serendipitously led him to Washington University in St. Louis more than 20 years ago. A renowned anthropologist, Glenn Conroy, Ph.D., has been gathering valuable fossil remains of humans and non-human primates for more than 30 years. Some of his best work is on display through January in the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center (See it now).

How did our Solar System evolve? WUSTL physicists and a large team of colleagues marked the beginnings of that odyssey by examining samples of solar wind for neon and argon, two abundant noble gases. The work was published in the Oct. 19, 2007, issue of Science.

British historian Janet Browne, Ph.D., an expert in examining the life, times and work of Charles Darwin,will present the Thomas Hall Lecture “Charles Darwin and the Economy of Nature: Money, Metaphor and Adaptive Capital” at 4 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Laboratory Sciences Building auditorium.

A team of seismologists from Washington University in St. Louis, like members of the starship Enterprise, will “boldly go where no man has gone before” after Thanksgiving this year. The team, led by Douglas A. Wiens, Ph.D., Washington University professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, will go to remote regions of Antarctica to place seismographs in both east and west Antarctica to learn about the earth beneath the ice, and glean information about glaciers, mountains and ice streams.

British historian of science Janet Browne continues to explore Darwin’s evolutionary idea.

Timothy Trinidad leads a discussion with classmates (from left) David Schainker, Helena Wotring and Mamta Datwani. The students are part of a computer science engineering course taught by Burchan Bayazit, Ph.D., assistant professor of computer science and engineering. The course stresses “active learning,” and features group work, presentation skill and critiques.Kenneth J. Goldman, Ph.D., associate professor of computer science and engineering, is the recipient of a $562,000 grant from the National Science Foundation that will enable his department to transform undergraduate teaching methodology. Goldman and his fellow principal investigators are working to cultivate “active learning” in the classroom, with a significant increase in studio courses that involve team projects and interdisciplinary collaboration. In a culture marked by frequent critique, students will refine their design skills, as well as improve their ability to present and justify their designs and work in groups. Passive learning, typified by the traditional lecture, will be put on the backburner, though the flame will still burn low.

Mouse embryos stained to show MOF (green) and its histone tag (red) demonstrate that MOF is essential for cell proliferation.To make tumors more sensitive to the killing power of radiation is a key aspiration for many radiation oncologists. Researchers at the School of Medicine have uncovered new information that leads them closer to that goal. In an upcoming issue of the journal Molecular and Cellular Biology, they report the first extensive study of an enzyme called MOF that helps control how DNA is packaged in cells. The researchers show that MOF is an essential factor for tumor development, and they say it may be possible to manipulate the enzyme to make tumors more sensitive to radiation therapy.

As reservoirs of valuable information go, nothing beats the sun. This sphere of heat and energy holds 99.9 percent of the solar system, saved in all original proportions after planets and meteorites formed. Analyzing the mix of hydrogen, oxygen and noble gases found in the sun can answer one of the biggest questions of the universe: How did our solar system evolve? Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis and a large team of colleagues marked the beginnings of that odyssey by examining samples of solar wind for neon and argon, two abundant noble gases. The work was published in the Oct. 19, 2007, issue of Science.