Science & Technology

In conjunction with Clifford Will’s 60th birthday, WUSTL’s Gravity Group in the Department of Physics in Arts & Sciences is hosting the 16th Midwest Relativity Meeting (MWRM-16) Nov. 17-18 as well as the CliffFest Dinner Nov. 18 and the Cliff Will Birthday Symposium on Gravitational Theory and Experiment Nov. 19. The three events are expected to bring more than 200 physicists from around the country and the world to campus.

The fact that corporate leaders recognize their industries’ role in social responsibility is not new, but there are relatively few examples that clearly connect this failure to respond with negative changes. One of the best examples is the pharmaceutical giant Merck, which was led by P. Roy Vagelos during a pivotal era in the industry’s history. Vagelos will explore these examples in detail for his talk on “The Social Responsibility of Business” to be held at 4 p.m. Nov. 13 in Graham Chapel.

Aristo, the Washington University robot, uses sensor networks to avoid simulated “fire” – red cups – while navigating near “safe” areas,which are blue cups.Agent 007 is a mighty versatile fellow, but he would have to take backseat to agents being trained at Washington University in St. Louis. Computer scientist engineers here are using wireless sensor networks that employ software agents that so far have been able to navigate a robot safely through a simulated fire and spot a simulated fire by seeking out heat. Once the agent locates the fire, it clones itself – try that, James Bond — creating a ring of software around the fire. A “fireman” can then communicate with this multifaceted agent through a personal digital assistant (PDA) and learn where the fire is and how intense it is. Should the fire expand, the agents clone again and maintain the ring – an entirely different “ring of fire.” More…

Photo courtesy Muzeul Olteniei / Erik TrinkausThe early modern human cranium from the Pestera Muierii, Romania.A re-examination of ancient human bones from Romania reveals more evidence that humans and Neandertals interbred. Erik Trinkaus, Ph.D., the Mary Tileston Hemenway Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and colleagues radiocarbon dated and analyzed the shapes of human bones from Romania’s Pestera Muierii (Cave of the Old Woman). The fossils, which were discovered in 1952, add to the small number of early modern human remains from Europe known to be more than 28,000 years old. More…

Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, has analyzed data from the Lewis and Clark expedition and says it shows that the Missouri River today is but a shadow of what it was two hundred years ago, narrower and more prone to serious flooding.A geologist at Washington University in St. Louis and his collaborator at Oxford University have interpreted data that Lewis and Clark collected during their famous expedition and found that the Missouri River has markedly narrowed and its water levels have become more variable over the past two hundred years. This narrowing, or channeling, created by wing dikes and levees constructed mainly in the 20th century, has put the Missouri River at an increased risk of more damaging floods, the authors say. They blame the fact that the river cannot spread out as it did naturally at the turn of the 19th century, thus forcing water levels higher. More…

Vagelos will explore these examples in detail for his talk on “The Social Responsibility of Business” to be held at 4 p.m. Monday, November 13, in Graham Chapel. The program will also feature a panel discussion featuring Washington University-associated business experts. It is the final installment of the Danforth Lecture Series.

Photo by David Kilper

The fourth week of October will feature an actor, a graphic novelist, and a mathematician.

Moving new technology from the laboratory to patients’ bedsides takes more than just a clever idea. It often requires the combined expertise of university researchers who develop the technology and industry scientists who understand what it takes to get innovations to the marketplace. That’s exactly what two Washington University scientists had in mind when they created a consortium of experts from academia and industry.

The fourth week of October features three diverse and exciting speakers in the Assembly Series: Tony award-winner B.D. Wong will speak on breaking down cultural barriers in “All the World’s a Stage: From Exclusion to Inclusion” at 4 p.m., Monday, October 23 in Graham Chapel. Iranian born graphic novelist, Marjane Satrapi will discuss her work at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, October 25 in Graham Chapel. Cornell mathematician Steven Strogatz will speak on “Sync: The Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order” at 4 p.m., Thursday, October 26 in Rebstock Hall, Room 215.