Newsroom Stories

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are seeking older volunteers to learn how physical and mental exercise influences brain function and performance of daily activities. For the exercise-training component of the study, researchers will compare aerobic exercise on treadmills or exercise bikes to flexibility training. In the cognitive portion of the study, a specialized brain-training regimen will be compared with a more general health-education program. 

There’s not much Jerome Levy, MD, 75, who graduates May 21 with a Master of Liberal Arts degree in Arts & Sciences, isn’t interested in knowing — and doing. That’s why Levy, emeritus professor of surgery, has been chosen by the Record as an Outstanding Graduate in University College.

The American Academy of Social Work and Social Welfare recently inducted four Brown School faculty members as fellows, recognizing their accomplishments as scholars and practitioners who have achieved excellence for work that advances social good.

The Class of 2010 hopes to leave a lasting impression by setting a Guinness World Record for the longest human massage chain in history.

Sitting on a long national or international flight may may actually improve your creative thinking, suggests an expert on human creativity from Washington University in St. Louis. While reading a book or watching a movie may help fill up time on the plane, idle time can be a key ingredient to becoming more creative in your personal and professional lives, says R. Keith Sawyer, PhD, an associate professor of education and of psychology, both in Arts & Sciences.

Washington University in St. Louis is recognizing Charles F. and Joanne Knight by naming its world-renowned Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) in their honor.

Jason Echols spent his time at the Brown School concentrating on gerontology — including helping to produce a contest-winning YouTube video on social work and aging. “We haven’t really done enough to talk about what happens when people grow older,” Echols says. Working with older adults is something he’s passionate about, and he’ll continue working toward that passion after he receives his master’s of social work from the Brown School May 21.

The lottery for the first round of enrollment in the Family Learning Center at Washington University will be held Thursday, May 27. The Family Learning Center — scheduled to open Sept. 7, 2010 — will offer care for 156 children of faculty, staff and students from the ages of 6 weeks to 6 years.

The School of Medicine’s Public Health Interest Group is holding a class at the Herbert Hoover Boys & Girls Club Adams Park Unit to teach children and their parents how to prepare healthy meals. School of Medicine students spend the first hour discussing nutrition with the children and their parents separately, and in the second hour, the families come together to prepare and eat a meal.

The decoding  of the Neandertal genome, which suggested modern humans interbred with Neandertals, followed hard on the heals of a WUSTL professor’s critique on mathematical and logical grounds of a gene analysis that suggested no interbreeding.