Science & Technology

Eighteen years after NASA’s Stardust mission returned to Earth with the first samples from a known comet, the true nature of that icy object is coming into focus, according to physicist Ryan Ogliore in Arts & Sciences.

Manel Errando, an assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, has been awarded a $375,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to conduct studies of active galactic nuclei.

WashU engineers visited Kennedy Space Center to report research progress and to understand testing capabilities for alternative feedstocks in biomanufacturing.

Artificial light at night is making it more difficult to see the stars, especially in urban areas. The observatory at Tyson Research Center makes the most of its secluded location, offering a unique viewing experience.

Alex Chen and Yajie Yuan, both assistant professors of physics in Arts & Sciences, have received a $447,000 grant from the National Science Foundation to create a unified model of pulsars, rapidly rotating neutron stars that release mysterious pulses of electromagnetic radiation.

Yajie Yuan, an assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, will lead a study of plasmas in neutron star magnetospheres, as part of a new collaboration funded by the Simons Foundation.

NASA and the European Space Agency chose Ryan Ogliore and Kun Wang, both in Arts & Sciences, for the Mars Sample Return Measurement Definition Team. This group will help realize the science potential of the first samples ever to be returned from another planet.

Bradley Jolliff in Arts & Sciences is part of the team that will develop the surface science plan for Artemis III, the first crewed lunar landing mission in more than 50 years.

The American Astronomical Society honored William B. McKinnon of Arts & Sciences for outstanding contributions to planetary science, including his work to propose and develop a series of novel ideas that profoundly changed the view of geophysical processes in the solar system.

Tansu Daylan, an assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences, was selected by NASA to join the Ultraviolet Transient Astronomy Satellite science team.