Newsroom Stories

An-Chun Chien Wei-Jen Chua Vikram Govindan Ta-Chih Hsiao Ryotaro Kato Woosung Kim Zhou Li Qing Nian Hong Min Park Hyun Cheol Roh Manoranjan Sahu Yuanming Shan Karavikar Svetasreni Yanjiao Xie Juanyi Yu Ziyan Zhang Chuanzhen Zhou Ming Zu

Scientists have known for years that the energy cost of walking and running is related primarily to the work done by muscles to lift and move the limbs. But how much energy does it actually take to get around? Does having longer legs really make a difference? Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of physical anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has developed a mathematical model for calculating energy costs for two and four-legged animals. His research was published in a recent issue of The Journal of Experimental Biology.

The figure shows the dynamics of a slab-tear earthquake (top), compared with a shallow thrust earthquake (bottom). The slab-tearing event typically doesn’t feature an accompanying tsunami.Seismologists at Washington University in St. Louis and their colleagues in Australia, Japan and Tonga have determined why a large earthquake in Tonga did not cause a large tsunami. A tsunami warning was issued around the Pacific Rim following the magnitude 8.0 earthquake on May 3, 2006, but the resulting tsunami was very minor and caused no damage.

Robert Osburn (yellow helmet, recording and sketching) and WUSTL graduate student Jenny Lippmann (measuring and doing compass readings) conducting the cave survey in a small passage of 23 degree cave in Crawford County, Missouri.The Caves of St. Louis County and the Bridges of Madison County share a common theme: loss. The former, a scholarly paper that appears as the sole entry of the current issue of Missouri Speleology, is a description of some of St. Louis County’s 127 known caves and a warning that development over the past two centuries has eliminated or destroyed many caves in a state that could quite rightly call itself the Cave State. The latter is a tear-jerking novel, made into a movie by Clint Eastwood about a doomed, unlikely love affair, a hallmark of the ’90s with all the permanence of the Backstreet Boys. Caves, though, are in trouble, in St. Louis County, Missouri, and elsewhere, says co-author Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

In dating — as in business — you don’t want to be looking for a date when you’re desperate; you want to find one before you become desperate. Business professors at Washington University in St. Louis have found that how firms manage their research and development (R&D) pipelines could mean the difference between always having products in the works and searching desperately for new goods. More…

When the Conrad Black trial gets under way in March, the argument will be similar to the case against Tyco’s Dennis Kozlowski rather than the cases against Ken Lay or Bernard Ebbers, says Samuel W. Buell, J.D., associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “This is a case about whether an executive looted his own company, not whether he committed accounting fraud,” says Buell, a former Enron prosecutor. “In a looting case, the battle is often over the testimony and credibility of the members of the board of directors.” More…

Companies maintain a delicate balance when it comes to selling product lines that contain varying degrees of quality. Premium products need to be positioned beyond the claim of “higher quality” alone. A high-end product needs to compare favorably with its direct competitors, but it can’t appear too similar to other items in the firm’s product line. Part of the solution, according to a marketing professor at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis is for firms to use an advertising strategy that contains image-oriented appeals to differentiate its premium products from the rest. More…

Corporate governance has been in the forefront of public debate lately, thanks to such high-profile events as options backdating, the awarding of inflated CEO compensation packages and efforts to augment shareholder empowerment. These larger scandals have implications that reach beyond the boardroom into every aspect of an enterprise. Ultimately, the transgressions take their toll on all of society, according to Stuart Greenbaum, former dean of the business school at Washington University in St. Louis.

Photo by Robert BostonDiemer discusses patient Christine Filcoff’s treatment after a bone density test.Four years ago, Kathryn Diemer was riding her Irish thoroughbred horse, Patronus, when he suddenly bolted. Diemer fell and broke her back. As a physician, she always had felt empathy toward her patients with osteoporosis, a disease that breaks down tissue in bones. But her fall only heightened her sense of sympathy. Compassion, contagious enthusiasm and training at Washington University with top bone clinicians helped Diemer become a leader in her field.

Eminent British archaeologist Lord Colin Renfrew to speak on cognitive archaeology and how we become human, at the Assembly Series, 4 p.m., March 22 in Graham Chapel.