Newsroom Stories

NASA’s robotic rover Spirit, bogged down in the loose soil of a Red Planet crater for months, has helped make an important scientific discovery just by spinning its wheels. “We’ve found something supremely interesting in the disturbed soil,” says WUSTL’s Raymond Arvidson, deputy principal scientist on the mission. Sulfate minerals churned up by the rover’s wheels offer evidence that this area “could have once supported life,” he explains.

Having trouble figuring out what to get that high school senior on your gift list this holiday season? Or parents, want to make sure your 17-year-old keeps his or her mind on the right track while on winter break? A book might provide a simple solution. Washington University in St. Louis faculty offer their suggestions for the one book — in a few cases two or three — that a high school senior should read before heading off to college, whether to be better prepared for the college classroom or for living away from home or simply to be a more well-rounded person.

Many of the same genes influence both alcohol and marijuana use as well as dependence on those substances, according to researchers at the School of Medicine. Together, these genes make some people more likely to drink alcohol or use marijuana. As consumption of alcohol or use of marijuana increases, risk of dependency rises.

A tiny sensor that exploits the same physics as the whispering gallery in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London will help make nanotechnology safer.

Robert Kranz has devoted much of his caeer to understanding cytochrome c, a little-noted molecule but one as important to life as DNA or hemoglobin. Because bacteria and people use different systems to assemble this molecule, his work may open the door to novel antibiotics and other medicinal drugs.

Four Washington University faculty members have been named fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the world’s largest general scientific society. The rank of fellow is the highest honor awarded by the association and is bestowed upon members by their peers.

SLIDESHOW: John C. Danforth Center for Religion & Politics

Washington University used the backdrop of our nation’s capital Dec. 16 to announce the establishment of the John C. Danforth Center for Religion & Politics, a scholarly and educational center that will focus on the role of religion in politics in the United States. For a slideshow of the events surrounding the announcement, click here.

This is a special edition of the eRecord to announce the establishment of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics. The Record will go entirely digital in January 2010 to improve timely communication to the University community and to reduce printing and distribution costs.

John C. Danforth, former U.S. senator, speaks during a Dec. 16 news conference while Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton looks on. The University is establishing a scholarly and educational center that will focus on the role of religion in politics in the United States, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. “The establishment of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion & Politics reflects the legacy of Jack Danforth and his belief in the importance of a civil discourse that treats differences with respect,” Wrighton said. The creation of the center, which includes the recruitment of five new faculty members with endowed professorships, is being made possible by a $30 million endowment gift from the St. Louis-based Danforth Foundation. It is believed to be the largest gift of its kind made to a university to fund such an academic center.