Newsroom Stories

An international team of researchers that includes anthropologists at Washington University in St. Louis has unearthed the earliest known skull of Homo erectus, the first of our ancestors to be nearly human-like in their anatomy and aspects of their behavior. The effort was led by La Trobe University in Australia.

Law and graphic design. Not necessarily two disciplines one thinks of as being related. But a new class at Washington University in St. Louis is using concepts from each to help students wrestle with the challenges of race, place and inequality.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis studied the gut microbiomes of wild apes in the Republic of Congo, of captive apes in zoos in the U.S., and of people from around the world and discovered that lifestyle is more important than geography or even species in determining the makeup of the gut microbiome.

Todd Decker and Kelly Daniel-Decker launched the Department of Music’s new “Musical Postcards” video series with an intimate living room performance of the Gershwin classic “Love is Here to Stay.”

As the coronavirus continues to spread across the nation, a number of false conclusions and rumors have spread with it. Three epidemiologists in public health at Washington University in St. Louis separate the truth from myth.

FUSE, our website for innovation and entrepreneurship, is highlighting examples of WashU faculty, alumni and students who are doing what they can to help and serve those directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Feng Sheng Hu, the Harry E. Preble Dean of the College of Liberal Arts & Sciences at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has been appointed dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and professor of biology and of earth and planetary sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, effective July 1, according to Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.

Many countries reacted slowly and inadequately to the spread of COVID-19. Some critics have said this is due to initial reports of the disease, which indicated that it mainly affected older populations. “Older adults are not some kind of expendable commodity,” said Nancy Morrow-Howell, the Betty Bofinger Brown Distinguished Professor of Social Policy at the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis and an international leader in gerontology.

Lack of sleep could help promote the development of Alzheimer’s disease, according to two studies from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The studies could help identify people at high risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia and point to strategies for prevention.

At a time when the world is focused on a global health pandemic, Brian Carpenter, a professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, says it may be difficult to grieve for and memorialize an individual. But we must.