Newsroom Stories

A simple blood test reliably detects signs of brain damage in people on the path to developing Alzheimer’s disease – even before they show signs of confusion and memory loss, according to a new study from the School of Medicine and the German Center for Neurodegenerative Diseases.

The School of Law’s Access to Justice Public Interest Law & Policy Speaker Series spring lineup features lawyers, judges, authors and academics who will address a spectrum of high-profile issues. Journalist Amy Sullivan will present on religion in the 2020 presidential election on Jan. 30.

New research from Olin Business School on crowdfunding websites discovers that projects actually raise money faster just before they reach their funding goal.

Chancellor-elect Andrew D. Martin has announced three new members of his office staff: Rebecca Brown, Jill Clark and Nancy Lyons. Martin also has launched a new website.

Purple rice is a whole grain with high levels of antioxidants — and high levels of genetic diversity, thanks to traditional farming practices, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Engineers have created a bacteria-filtering membrane using graphene oxide and bacterial nanocellulose. It’s highly efficient, long-lasting and environmentally friendly — and could provide clean water for those in need.

Allegations against R. Kelly have finally exploded into the #MeToo era with Lifetime’s “Surviving R. Kelly.” But the singer’s troubling behavior can be traced back decades. “There was a lot of sexual energy around Kelly that we as young people felt was a little bit dark and a little bit inappropriate and a little bit taboo,” says Jeffrey Q. McCune Jr., who studies race, gender and popular culture at Washington University in St. Louis. In the early 1990s, McCune was a student at Kenwood Academy, the Chicago magnet school Kelly had attended just a few years before — and a classmate to one of Kelly’s earliest accusers.

By tweaking the recipe for coaxing human stem cells into insulin-secreting beta cells, a team of researchers at the School of Medicine has shown that the resulting cells are more responsive to fluctuating glucose levels in the blood. The finding may lead to a new approach to treating diabetes.

The issue of ever-changing health care, particularly drug discovery, care delivery and introducing new technologies, will be the topic of a morning-long symposium Jan. 23 at Washington University in St. Louis’ Olin Business School as part of the David R. Calhoun Lectureship.

In a new study from the School of Medicine, scientists have blocked the destruction of nerve axons in mice, a step toward helping patients with various neurodegenerative disorders.