Newsroom Stories

Backpacks are intended for convenience, but they can also be a source of pain for children who lug them around. Thousands of kids report injuries due to backpacks each year. Overloaded packs and improper usage are often the culprits in these injuries. Matthew Dobbs, a WUSM pediatrician at St. Louis Children’s Hospital, outlines the risks of wearing a backpack and preventative measures that can be taken in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Copyright Pieter JohnsonEutrophication is caused by higher phosphorous and nitrogen that create a profound impact on the food web, threatening the frogs’ existence.A collaboration involving ecologists at WUSTL and the University of Wisconsin strongly points to farming practices and development, two factors that create a condition called eutrophication in ponds and wetlands, as factors behind the high incidence of deformed frogs. Eutrophication is caused by higher phosphorus and nitrogen (prime components of agricultural fertilizer) levels in wet ecosystems. Higher levels of these nutrients cause a profound impact on the food web that imperils the frogs’ existence.

A national team of investigators led by psychiatric geneticists at the School of Medicine has identified a gene that appears to be linked to both alcoholism and depression. The study, published in the September issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics, is the first to identify a specific gene associated with both depression and alcoholism.

GreenbaumStuart I. Greenbaum, Ph.D., dean of the John M. Olin School of Business at Washington University in St. Louis, has announced his intention to step down as dean effective June 30, 2005, according to Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton. Greenbaum has served as dean since 1995 and was named the Bank of America Professor in July 2000.

There is no sports news page for the Sept. 3, 2004 issue of the Record.

Ramanath Cowsik, Ph.D., professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, recently became the 25th member of the Washington University faculty to be elected to the National Academy of Sciences. He joined 71 other new members and 18 foreign associates from 13 countries in recognition of their distinguished and continuing achievements in original research.

The Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will mark the centenary of the 1904 World’s Fair by including works performed at the fair in concerts throughout its fall season. The Washington University Chamber Orchestra — under the direction of Elizabeth Macdonald, director of strings in the music department — will launch the season with […]

The Hilltop Campus Mail Services is merging two operations to the University’s new North Campus facility at 700 Rosedale Ave.

Sadat will be installed as the Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law Sept. 7; Foster will become the Edward T. Foote II Professor of Law Feb. 17.

He “has led the John M. Olin School of Business with distinction and significant success,” Chancellor Wrighton says.