Newsroom Stories

Susan Dutcher, Ph.D., professor of genetics and of cell biology and physiology, has been named interim head of the James S. McDonnell Department of Genetics at the School of Medicine effective July 1.

Low quality threatens the high end.What company wouldn’t attribute its profits to the quality product it produces? The answer might be: the company that competes on price. According to research from Washington University in St. Louis, producers of lower quality products actually have better prospects for gaining market share and improving their bottom line. The findings indicate the Chinese manufacturers could easily gain an edge over American producers. More…

James RichardsThe Gateway Festival Orchestra will begin its 43rd season of free summer concerts with “Midwest Musical Masters,” highlighting composers and young artists from Missouri and Illinois, at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 9, in Washington University’s Brookings Quadrangle. The orchestra is conducted by James Richards, professor of orchestral studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Subsequent concerts take place at 7:30 p.m. Sunday, July 16 and 23 in Brookings Quadrangle. The season concludes Sunday, July 30, in Graham Chapel.

It’s not just social security and health-care that could be adversely affected when the baby boomers leave the workforce; the stock market could go into shock as well. According to research at the Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, when people retire, they tend not invest as much they did in their younger years. With the boomer generation starting to pull out of the workforce, Wall Street is bound to feel the blow. More…

Photo by Mary ButkusPreparing for kindergarten.You know what they say — everything you really need to know in life, you learn in kindergarten. Well, if that’s the case, preschoolers should be well prepared for this momentous year in their lives. But for so many little ones, kindergarten just looks — and sounds — like a big, scary place. A preschool educator at Washington University in St. Louis says it needn’t be and that with a little preparation this summer, your preschool child should be more than ready for that first big day of kindergarten in the fall. More…

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoAdvice on what to bring or not bring to college.The bags, boxes and storage trunks are packed. Hotel reservations are made. You’ve loaded the family vehicle or rental truck. But before you hit the road to drop your child off for his freshman year of college, you might want to think twice about bringing along that propane gas grill. A little common sense goes a long way when determining what to pack for a student’s first, or any, year at school, says a residential housing director at Washington University in St. Louis. More…

Bracey”In the Duke Lacrosse rape case, we have a story of a horrifying gang rape, taking place against the backdrop of the most vulgar aspects of sexism, racism and classism in American society,” says Christopher Bracey, J.D., criminal procedure expert and associate professor of law and of African & African American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “This is why it is so important for District Attorney Michael Nifong to get a handle on this case, and soon.” More…

Invasive surgery — and anesthesia — has come a long way.While searching for answers to what it means to be Jewish — and at the same time completing a neuroscience course requirement — a doctoral student at Washington University in St. Louis came across what may be one of the earliest documented cases of brain surgery. And he found it in, of all places, the ancient texts of the Talmud. “Although this account raises several questions about the ailment itself, it provides us with a rare look at invasive cranial surgery dating nearly 2,000 years,” writes Adam Weinberg, a doctoral student in psychology in Arts & Sciences and author of an article on the surgery in the current issue of the Journal of the History of the Neurosciences. More…

David Kilper/WUSTL PhotoKaren L. Wooley and lab members examine polymer samples.A chemist at Washington University in St. Louis has developed a remarkable nanostructured material that can repel pests, sweeten the air, and some day might even be used as a timed drug delivery system — as a nasal spray, for instance. Karen L. Wooley, Ph.D., Washington University James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in Arts & Sciences, has taken the same materials that she developed more than four years ago as marine “antifouling” coatings that inhibit marine organisms such as barnacles from attaching to the hull of ships to now capture fragrance molecules and release them at room temperature. More…

Steven G. Krantz, Ph.D., professor of mathematics at Washington University in St. Louis, illuminates mathematicians’ very human brilliance in his book, Mathematical Apocrypha Redux, his sequel to his successful, original Mathematical Apocrypha, published in 2002, both by the Mathematical Association of America. The book is a collection of anecdotes about famous mathematicians and their frivolity, wisdom and situations, revealing more vulnerable, human versions of the remote and often eccentric savants. More…