Newsroom Stories

The University has raised $602,440 in its United Way of Greater St. Louis campaign, surpassing its stated goal of $600,000.

The genome of a humble worm may provide clues to the evolution of parasitic worms, including those that infect humans, School of Medicine researchers found.

Photo by Whitney CurtisNewsweek editor Jon Meacham, who was in St. Louis Nov. 8 to speak at the annual Founders Day gala, shakes hands with senior Ben Sales, Student Life senior news editor, after an informal session greeting students in Wilson Hall.

Scientists have shown for the first time that neuroprosthetic brain implants may be able to help stroke patients with partial paralysis.

On Dec. 15, a few weeks ahead of schedule, the Missouri Department of Transportation will open the western half of the I-64 project and close the eastern half from Hanley Road to Kingshighway until December, 2009.

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have shed light on a basic process that could improve future solar cells. Dewey Holten, Ph.D., professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences and graduate student Hee-eun Song have directly measured the rate of hole transfer between identical porphyrin compounds in their ground states. These results are key to understanding the fundamental processes underlying charge separation in this sort of structure and have applications for improving the efficiency of solar cells.

David Kilper/WUSTL Photo Services*Falling Petals*Washington University Dance Theatre (WUDT), the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Common Ground, its 2008 concert, Dec. 5 to 7 in Edison Theatre. Performances will feature more than three-dozen student dancers, selected by audition, in eight works by faculty and guest choreographers. Pieces range from contemporary dance and re-stagings of modern classics to dances drawing on Chinese and Indian traditions.

Donald Finkel, poet-in-residence emeritus of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, of complications from Alzheimer’s disease at the Schuetz Manor in St. Louis County. He was 79. Finkel joined the Washington University community in 1960 with his wife, the late poet Constance Urdang. He was the author of more than a dozen books of poetry. An obituary will appear in the Dec. 4 issue of the Record.

Historically, scientists have regarded itching as a less intense version of the body’s response to pain, but researchers at the School of Medicine have determined that pain and itch actually are regulated by different molecular mechanisms. Researchers report they have separated itch and pain sensations in mice, a finding that could have important implications for treating both pain and chronic itching.

New research from the School of Medicine suggests cooling the brain may prevent the death of nerve cells that has been observed in infant mice exposed to anesthesia. The effects of anesthesia on human infants and young children have been debated among neuroscientists, but growing evidence suggests exposure to anesthetic drugs during brain development may contribute to behavioral and developmental delays.