Newsroom Stories

Schedule of events and participant biographies for the Campus Ecology Workshops, part of The Sustainable University Campus, a national colloquium on campus environmental design organized by the School of Architecture and the U.S. Green Buildings Council—St. Louis Chapter March 28 and 30.

Ann Nguyen chose a risky project for her graduate studies at Washington University in St. Louis. A university team had already sifted through 100,000 grains from a meteorite to look for a particular type of stardust — without success. In 2000, Nguyen decided to try again. About 59,000 grains later, her gutsy decision paid off. In the March 5 issue of Science, Nguyen and her advisor, Ernst K. Zinner, Ph.D., research professor of physics and of earth and planetary sciences, both in Arts & Sciences, describe nine specks of silicate stardust — presolar silicate grains — from one of the most primitive meteorites known.

The results of an experimental cross-species transplant suggest the innovative approach might halt type 1 diabetes while greatly reducing the risk of rejection. Click here for more medical articles

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences and the St. Louis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists will present a concert and symposium highlighting the works of French composer Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911) March 19 and 20. The concert commemorates the immense organ of 10,000 pipes built for Festival Hall, the primary concert venue of the 1904 World’s Fair.

LevitteJean-David Levitte, French Ambassador to the United States, will deliver a lecture on “The United States and France in a World Transformed,” at noon March 13 in the Uncas A. Whitaker Hall auditorium on the campus of Washington University in St. Louis.

South African fortepianist Kristian Bezuidenhout, winner of the Westfield Center for keyboard studies’ prestigious Young Scholar’s Award, will present a fortepiano recital in Washington University’s Karl Umrath Hall Lounge at 8 p.m. Monday, March 15.

The Four Bitchin’ Babes. From left: Suzzy Roche, Camille West, Debi Smith and Sally Fingerett Folk troubadours Christine Lavin and the Four Bitchin’ Babes reunite for a pair of shows at Washington University’s Edison Theatre Friday and Saturday, March 26 and 27. The first evening will feature founding member Christine Lavin joined by the Babes. The second evening will feature the Babes joined by Lavin.

A team of scientists reports a major advance in seqencing large genomes.A team of scientists that includes a Washington University in St. Louis biologist, has evaluated and validated a gene-enrichment strategy for genome sequencing and has reported a major advance in sequencing large genomes. The team showed a six-fold reduction of the effective size of the Zea mays (maize or corn) genome while creating a four-fold increase in the gene identification rate when compared to standard whole-genome sequencing methods.

Photo courtesy U.S. ArmyA U.S. Army brigadier general congratulates the graduates of the new police academy in Sin’Jar.Americans anxious to handover power to a sovereign Iraqi government by June 30 should remember it took 10 years for Allied Forces to return similar powers to Germany following World War II, says WUSTL political expert Victor Le Vine. Iraq, like post-war Germany, is now considered debellatio — its government no longer exists under international law. And, like it or not, the United States is stuck in Iraq until a new government is formed, a process that hinges on some very contentious constitution making. As part of an international conference on post-conflict constitutional reconstruction, Le Vine spent two years examining some 20 cases of constitution making in countries torn by war, revolution, rebellion and internal collapse. His analysis suggests that Iraqi nation-building will be both “painful and agonizingly difficult.”

“The Tenth Circuit’s decision upholding the constitutionality of the ‘Do Not Call’ registry is a straightforward application of the Supreme Court’s commercial speech jurisprudence, but this may not be the end of the ‘Do Not Call’ list cases,” says Neil M. Richards, an expert in the fields of privacy law and constitutional law and an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “It’s likely that the telemarketers will petition the Supreme Court to take the case, and I think there’s at least some chance that the Supreme Court might hear it,” he says. “Supreme Court commercial speech doctrine is confusing, and this would be an opportunity to clear up some of the confusion.”