Newsroom Stories

He’ll speak Jan. 28 in Graham Chapel; he and the other spring speakers reflect the depth and breadth of academic endeavors at the University.

With trade barriers decreasing and outsourcing becoming a common practice even for white-collar workers, every business—no matter the size – has been affected by globalization. It doesn’t take a genius to realize that American companies have to react intelligently to this reality, but instead of trying to respond on their own, many companies are turning to experts and researchers in the field

Drosophila melanoFor years, two schools of thought have dominated neurobiologists’ theories about how early nerve cells develop specialties that allow the assembly of a mature brain. One theory suggests master regulators trigger the development, while the other attributes the development to interactions between local factors. In a new study of developing fruit fly brain cells, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine and Harvard University showed that both models are valid.

Yellowing of the eye due to age-related cataractResearchers at the School of Medicine may be a step closer to understanding what causes cataracts and what may help to prevent them. In a new study published in the American Journal of Ophthalmology, the researchers report oxygen may be the culprit.

Instead of solely fostering high schoolers’ self-esteem to curb African-American dropout rates, school social workers and educators should focus on the students’ academic self-beliefs, says a school social work expert. “There is little evidence showing a link between feeling good about oneself and academic achievement, particularly with African-American youths,” says Melissa Jonson-Reid, Ph.D., associate professor at the George Warren Brown School of Social Work at Washington University in St. Louis. “School social workers need to focus on programs that promote a student’s belief in their academic abilities and the importance of education, such as study skills training and mentoring.”

A sociocultural anthropologist at Washington University in St. Louis spent 18 months in a Mexican convent in an attempt to understand young women’s motivations for leaving their homes, friends, school and independence to become a nun. Rebecca J. Lester, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, was also interested in understanding “what goes on emotionally, psychologically and spiritually with these women as they try to decide if they should pledge themselves eternally to Christ and the church.” Lester found while doing her fieldwork at the convent from 1994-95 that the more interesting question was “what kept these women there, day after day?” In her new book, “Jesus in Our Wombs: Embodying Modernity in a Mexican Convent,” released April 5, Lester sets out to explain the force of “the call.”

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo ServicesWedding gown by Barbara MoranThe Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts at Washington University in St. Louis will present The 76th Annual Fashion Design Show at Saint Louis Galleria Sunday, May 1. The fully choreographed, Paris-style extravaganza will feature dozens of professional and volunteer models wearing more than 100 outfits created by 13 seniors and five juniors from the school’s fashion design program.

Tennessee Williams’ ‘blue’ bookA piece of literary history has returned to Washington University in St. Louis, thanks to a fortuitous find in a New Orleans bookstore. In 2004, Henry I. Schvey, Ph.D., professor and chair of the university’s Performing Arts Department in Arts & Sciences, co-directed the world premiere of “Me, Vashya,” a one-act play written in 1937 by then-student Tennessee Williams. Only weeks later, Schvey happened upon another important Williams-related artifact from 1937: a small blue Washington University test booklet containing what appears to be Williams’ Greek final, which he had worried about passing, as well as a previously unknown poem. It is assumed Williams wrote the 17-line poem, which he appropriately titled “Blue Song,” in the back of the booklet while taking his exam.

Downloadable, high-resolution promo photos for the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts’ “76th Annaul Fashion Design Show” at Saint Louis Galleria May 1.

Magnified nanoparticlesSpecially designed nanoparticles can reveal tiny cancerous tumors that are invisible to ordinary means of detection, according to a study by researchers at the School of Medicine. Researchers demonstrated that very small human melanoma tumors growing in mice — indiscernible from the surrounding tissue by direct MRI scan — could be “lit up” and easily located. Because the nanoparticles can be engineered to carry a variety of substances, they also may be able to deliver cancer-fighting drugs to malignant tumors.