Newsroom Stories

Star-shaped cells called astrocytes, long considered boring, “support cells,” are finally coming into their own. To everyone’s surprise they even play an important role in the body’s master clock, which schedules everything from the release of hormones to the onset of sleepiness.

Is Tom Sawyer a clever entrepreneur, or did his friends paint that fence under false pretenses? U.S. Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. decides, with a little help from Washington University students, in an event celebrating the School of Law’s 150th anniversary.

Washington University in St. Louis has launched a new interactive campus map that will help users find accessible parking, where to buy coffee and other points of interest. The map, available through the university’s website, will provide up-to-the-minute information about construction zones and parking changes.

The brain hosts an extraordinarily complex network of interconnected nerve cells that are constantly exchanging electrical and chemical signals at speeds difficult to comprehend. Now, scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report they have been able to achieve — with a custom-built microscope — the closest view yet of living nerve synapses.

The African Film Festival returns to campus March 31-April 2. Screenings are free and will be in Brown Hall. The festival sets time aside Saturday for its special “Eye on Youth” programming.

Filmmaker Ericka Beckman (BFA ’74) and visual artist Ian Weaver (MFA ’08) are recipients of the inaugural Stone & DeGuire Contemporary Art Award.

Scientists at the School of Medicine have implicated a specific molecule in the self-destruction of axons, the wiring of the nervous system. Understanding just how that damage occurs may help researchers find a way to halt it.

A four-year study of one rare and one common lupine growing in coastal dunes showed that a native mouse steals most of the rare lupines seeds while they are still attached to the plant. The mouse is a “subsidized species,” given cover for nocturnal forays by European beachgrass, originally planted to stabilize the dunes.

Doctors who treat back pain are exploring new approaches that help some patients avoid opioid drugs. One option available at the Washington University Pain Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital involves stimulating the spinal cord with very short pulses of electricity.

Opioids, including heroin and prescription drugs, killed more than 33,000 people in 2015, more than any year on record, according to the CDC. President Trump’s proposed budget aims to address the crisis with a $500 million increase in prevention and treatment, but it isn’t enough to address the issue, says an expert on substance use disorder treatment.