Newsroom Stories

Celebrated sculptor Chakaia Booker will launch the Sam Fox School’s spring Public Lecture Series with a free talk Jan. 19. Subsequent speakers will range from Pritzker Prize-winning architect Francis Kéré to author and illustrator Deb J.J. Lee, avant-garde stage director Robert Wilson and fashion technologist Anouk Wipprecht.

Gut bacteria can influence brain health, according to a study of mice genetically predisposed to develop Alzheimer’s-like brain damage. The School of Medicine study findings suggest a new approach to treating Alzheimer’s and other neurodegenerative diseases.

A School of Medicine study may help explain how excess weight can contribute to diabetes and may provide researchers with a target to help prevent or delay diabetes in some of those at risk. The findings suggest that many people with elevated levels of insulin also have defects in an enzyme important to the processing of a key fatty acid.

A study, in mice, from the School of Medicine, suggests that the bacterium Acinetobacter can hide undetected in bladder cells and then reactivate when stimulated by medical intervention. The findings suggest that patients may bring the bacterium into hospitals.

Kelvin Adams, who retired in December as superintendent of St. Louis Public Schools, and Deidra Thomas-Murray, the district’s students in transition coordinator and foster care liaison, will be honored at the 36th Annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at 2 p.m. Monday, Jan. 16, in Graham Chapel on the Danforth Campus.

A proposed rule that would restrict minors’ access to public library books without parental consent “would make Missourians less free and less informed,” said Greg Magarian, a professor of law and a First Amendment expert.

The Neuroscience Research Building under construction on the Medical Campus will contain energy-efficient, low-energy research freezers in laboratories; electric charging stations in the parking garage; and numerous other sustainability-focused elements. The building is on track to achieve Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification.

Major advances in battery technologies will bring us a big step closer this year to large-scale renewable energy goals, international energy independence and a big reduction in greenhouse gases, according to Arts & Sciences’ Michael Wysession.

A team of researchers led by Young-Shin Jun at the McKelvey School of Engineering analyzed how light breaks down polystyrene, the plastic from which packing peanuts and disposable utensils are made. They found that small plastic particles interact with neighboring substances more easily than previously thought, including with things like heavy metals and organic contaminants.

Models based on an average cell are useful, but they may not accurately describe how individual cells really work. Molecular biologists use actual single-cell data to update the framework for understanding the relationship between cell growth, DNA replication and division in a bacterial system.