Science & Technology

John Lockwood programs the data enabling device to stop the SoBig worm.A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed technology to stop malicious software – malware – such as viruses and worms long before it even has a chance to reach computers in the home and office. John Lockwood, Ph.D., an assistant professor of computer science at Washington University, and the graduate students that work in his research laboratory have developed a hardware platform called the Field-programmable Port Extender (FPX) that scans for malware transmitted over a network and filters out unwanted data.

Jeff Ojemann/University of WashingtonImproved imaging of brain’s language areas may replace more invasive pre-surgery mapping techniques, such as the electrocortical stimulation method shown here.Advances in neurosurgery have opened the operating room door for an amazing array of highly invasive forms of brain surgery, but doctors and patients still face an incredibly important decision – whether to operate when life-saving surgery could irrevocably damage a patient’s ability to speak, read or even comprehend a simple conversation. Now, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are developing a painless, non-invasive imaging technique that surgeons here are using to better evaluate brain surgery risks and to more precisely guide operations so that damage to sensitive language areas is avoided. The breakthrough could improve odds of success in an increasingly common surgery in which damaged sections of a patient’s temporal brain lobe are removed in an effort to alleviate epileptic seizures. November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month.

November Science & Technology Tip Sheet

SukhatmeA “Colloquium on Energy” lecture and panel discussion will be held on Friday, Oct. 31 from 10 am to 12 pm at the Charles F. Knight Executive Education Center. The symposium is part of the Washington University “Sesquicentennial Environmental Initiative” to help better understand the role that research universities can play in addressing issues related to the environment. The lecture and panel discussion is co-sponsored by the John M. Olin School of Business and the School of Engineering and Applied Science Environmental Engineering Science Program. A Keynote address on “Alternate Energy Sources: The Indian Context,” will be presented by Professor S. P. Sukhatme, Chairman of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board in India and professor emeritus and former director of the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay. A panel discussion on energy related issues will follow Professor Sukhatme’s lecture.

Courtesy photoWashington University chemists have shown that the shape of nanowires such as this one can affect its electronic and optical properties.Size matters, but so does shape, at least in the world of semiconducting nanocrystals, report chemists at Washington University in St. Louis. Their findings, published in the August 2003 issue of Nature Materials, demonstrate experimentally that the shape of a semiconductor nanocrystal can affect its electronic and optical properties.

Courtesy photoBiologists at Washington University in St. Louis studying groups of lizards have proposed a general pattern among groups in the timing of evolutionary diversification.Many scientists believe that each group of living things evolves in its own idiosyncratic manner. But now biologists at Washington University in St. Louis have proposed a general pattern among groups in the timing of evolutionary diversification.

David Kilper/WUSTL photoWashington University’s Katharina Lodders has developed an innovative periodic table slanted toward astronomy.The periodic table isn’t what it used to be, thanks to innovations by a planetary chemist at Washington University in St. Louis. Katharina Lodders, Ph.D., Washington University research associate professor in Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences, has evalutated data from numerous studies including her own and arranged the data into a periodic table slanted toward astronomers and cosmochemists.

Courtesy photoSculpture by Wesley Anderegg, Lompoc, CASo you think you know mosquitoes? Consider the venerable law that rainy weather is the cause of increased mosquito populations. An ecologist at Washington University in St. Louis says if you believe that, you’re all wet.

October Science & Technology Tip Sheet

Washington University in St. Louis is joining two other universities in a new center devoted to developing the basis for environmentally friendly chemical processes. The National Science Foundation (NSF) has announced that the Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis (CEBC) headquartered at the University of Kansas has been selected to receive $17 million under the NSF Engineering Research Centers (ERCs) program. Additional funding streams and donated facilities as a result of the award are expected to bring the total package value to nearly $30 million.