Newsroom Stories

A review published in the Nov. 9 issue of Science explores the complexity of evolution’s predictability in extraordinary detail. Jonathan Losos of Arts & Sciences takes on a classic question posed by Stephen Jay Gould in an effort to fully interrogate ideas about contingency’s role in evolution.

School of Medicine researchers are beginning to understand the link between autoimmune disease and the cardiovascular system. A new study in mice shows that immune cells that arise during autoimmune disease cause cholesterol to become trapped inside blood vessels.

David Charbonneau, professor of astronomy at Harvard University, will deliver the annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 15, in Whitaker Hall, Room 100, on the Danforth Campus of Washington University in St. Louis. The talk, titled “How to Find an Inhabited Exoplanet,” is free and open to the public.

Emotions such as anger, fear, disgust and disillusionment can have dramatically different effects on voter apathy and turnout, said Alan Lambert, associate professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

In the age of reality TV, what does it mean to be “authentic”? So asks senior Grace Haselhorst in “The Realness.” Thyrsus, Washington University’s student-run experimental theater group, will debut the play Nov. 9-11.

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton and Dean Aaron Bobick of the School of Engineering & Applied Science joined faculty, staff and friends for a groundbreaking ceremony kicking off construction of James M. McKelvey, Sr. Hall. 

Extending its standing as one of the top leukemia programs in the U.S., the School of Medicine has been awarded an $11.5 million NIH grant to further high-level investigations into leukemia and related blood cancers. The grant funds a prestigious Specialized Program in Research Excellence (SPORE) in leukemia.

A new study by a group of business school researchers, including Washington University’s Daniel Elfenbein of Olin Business School, used a computational model to interpret decision-making, learning and experiences that end in an entrepreneur’s success and failure in market entry and exit.

Last month, Penina Acayo Laker asked students in her “Design for Social Impact” class to interview their friends about the Nov. 6 midterm elections. The results were alarming. So the class created posters to educate fellow students about the voting process and inspire them to go to the polls.

Headlining this year’s celebration of the 1853 founding of Washington University in St. Louis is Peggy Noonan, one of the country’s most eminent political analysts. The event also honors the university’s distinguished faculty, alumni and supporters.