Newsroom Stories

Michael Kinch’s new book, “Between Hope and Fear: A History of Vaccines and Human Immunity,” tells the story of the people behind vaccines and how the human body fights infection.

People often think about multiple-choice tests as tools for assessment, but they can also be used to facilitate learning. A new paper in the Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition offers straightforward tips for constructing multiple-choice questions that are effective at both assessing current knowledge and strengthening ongoing learning.

Policy, advocacy and industry leaders are coming together Sept. 29 at Washington University in St. Louis to discuss the past, present and future of climate change. Environmental leader Christiana Figueres is among the speakers.

It’s being billed as an event 114 years in the making. The site of the 1904 Olympic Games on the Washington University in St. Louis campus is getting international recognition with the dedication Friday, Sept. 28, of an Olympic rings sculpture that will sit permanently near historic Francis Field.

In “Our Higher Calling,” Holden Thorp, provost of Washington University in St. Louis, and Buck Goldstein, of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, dispel many of the myths surrounding higher education — but also own where universities are failing students and communities.

The Brooksfields are determined to take a trip. Nothing will stop them — not the blizzard, not the mistress, not even the drug dealers. In “Florida,” Lucas Marschke recounts a dysfunctional family vacation for the ages. This weekend, “Florida” will receive its world-premiere staged reading at Washington University in St. Louis as part of the annual A.E. Hotchner New Play Festival.

For the latest edition of WashU Spaces, Kellie Mandry, assistant director for facilities, offers a tour of a refreshed Holmes Lounge and shares what has changed and what will, forever, remain the same.

A National Science Foundation-funded workshop recently brought more than 75 statistics researchers to the Danforth Campus. Organized by Todd Kuffner of Arts & Sciences, this is the third year the event has been hosted at the university, and the first since math changed its name this summer to the Department of Mathematics and Statistics.

An MRI scan often generates an ocean of data, most of which is never used. When overlooked data is analyzed using a new technique developed at the School of Medicine, they surprisingly reveal how many and which brain cells are present – and show where cells have been lost through injury or disease. The findings could lead to new treatments for a variety of brain diseases.

The School of Medicine is joining a national research network aimed at diagnosing rare, previously undescribed diseases in patients whose conditions present as medical mysteries. The Undiagnosed Diseases Network is funded by the NIH and made up of 12 clinical sites and several research centers across the country.