Science & Technology

Science & Technology Tip Sheet

Lewis the robotic photographerMay and June are prom, graduation and wedding months, times when the family camera gets a steaming workout. Computer scientists at Washington University in St. Louis can take that camera out of your designated photographer’s hands and perch it atop Lewis, the world’s first robotic photographer.

Valencius unearths a common theme among early settlers in *The Health of the Country*.Poring over stacks of yellowed aging letters and other documents from the 19th century while researching American western expansion, Conevery Bolton Valencius, Ph.D., an environmental historian at Washington University in St. Louis, noted a common theme. Assessments of the “sickliness” or “health” of land pervade settlers’ letters, journals, newspapers and literature from that time. Valencius says that the numerous references throughout 19th-century writings to “healthy country,” “sickly” countryside, or “salubrious” valleys reveal the importance settlers placed on the connections between their bodies and their land. One of the main criteria for choosing where to farm and where to raise a family for the early settlers was whether or not the area would be a healthy place to live.

ChenIn the age of SARS, what the world needs is a better respirator, or breathing mask. As hospitals worldwide face major shortages of masks, Da-Ren Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has developed material for a breathing mask using nanofibers so tiny and skinny that the entry of harmful particles as minute as viruses and bacteria is nearly impossible. Comprised of just less than two percent material, it is inexpensive to mass-produce, allowing companies a good profit opportunity.

Eighty percent of the United States soybean crop is genetically modified (GM).The clear, cold logic of science is the only approach that can take the hysteria out of the hot debate over genetically modified (GM) crops, says a biologist at Washington University in St. Louis. Barbara Schaal, Ph.D., Washington University professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, told an international gathering of biotechnology researchers at Washington University that GM crops need more close scrutiny and less fear.

Da-Ren Chen, assistant professor of mechanical engineering and environmental engineering science at Washington University in St. Louis, has developed material for one using nanofibers so tiny and skinny that the entry of harmful particles as minute as viruses and bacteria is nearly impossible.

Rebecca Treiman says the “i before e” rule is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to spelling patterns found in the English language.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and other members of the International Human Genome Consortium announced the successful completion of the Human Genome Project more than two years ahead of schedule. By completing the Human Genome Project, researchers believe they are launching a new age of discovery that will transform human health. Knowing the order of the genetic building blocks — commonly abbreviated A, T, C and G (adenine, thymine, cytosine and guanine) — should allow scientists to learn more about human development and disorders such as heart disease, psychiatric illness and cancer. Already the genome sequencing effort has helped spur discoveries about breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, cystic fibrosis, Huntington’s disease, Parkinson’s disease and sickle cell disease.

Visiting professor Chuen-Jinn Tsai, Ph.D., and Da-Ren Chen, Ph.D., assistant professor of mechanical engineering, discuss the design of their coaxial cyclone.Washington University in St. Louis engineers have developed a device that can make the semiconductor manufacturing industry cleaner

This NASA image shows the smoke from Iraq’s oil fires set early in the confrontation.An air pollution expert at Washington University in St. Louis says the air pollution created by the Iraqi war is regional and should remain that way unless something catastrophic happens such as the torching of the Kuwaiti oil wells in the 1991 Gulf War.