Newsroom Stories

Frequent flier programs are very important in the ultra-competitive airline industry. But which ones deliver the best benefits for travelers? A Washington University faculty member was recently among a panel of experts who helped analyze the nation’s best deals.

Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, Hubert Humphrey and some guy named “Thomas Moore” are among the names that many Americans mistakenly identify as belonging to a past president of the United States, finds a news study by memory researchers at Washington University in St. Louis.

Akeda Hosten, a senior in the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University, talks about why the annual Black Anthology matters and how songwriting is a little bit like engineering. The Black Anthology production “woke” is Feb. 12-13 at Edison Theatre on the Danforth Campus.

Members of Synapse, Washington University’s neuroscience club, are helping local high school students prepare for the annual St. Louis Area Brain Bee, Saturday, Feb. 13, at McDonnell Hall. “The Brain Bee is a competition but it’s not about being competitive. It’s about getting more people excited about this fast-growing field,” says junior Smruti Rath.

Anyone counting on a certain share of an inheritance should be aware that in recent years, parents have become increasingly likely to divide their estates unequally, suggests a new study co-authored by economist Robert Pollak of Washington University in St. Louis.

Anthropologists from Washington University in St. Louis are among an international research team that found Australopithecus sediba did not have the jaw and tooth structure necessary to exist on a steady diet of hard foods. The findings are contrary to a 2012 study that gained international attention.

Dingli Shen, professor of international relations at Fudan University and vice dean of Fudan University’s Institute of International Studies, will present the Cabot Corporation-Xinsheng Zhang Lecture on “Cybersecurity in U.S.-China Relations,” Monday, Feb. 8, in the Clark-Fox Forum in Hillman Hall.

An upcoming broadcast of NOVA called “Memory Hackers,” airs Wednesday, Feb. 10, and will explore the cutting edge frontiers of human memory. Washington University in St. Louis scientists are featured in the show.

Why was the New Year’s flood in Missouri so bad? Most news reports blamed it on the heavy rain, but Robert Criss, PhD, professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis says analysis of the flood data shows much of the damage was due to recent modifications to the river.

Civic Scholar Kierstan Carter wanted to change St. Louis by connecting high school students with community leaders. But when that idea flopped, Carter moved on to Plan B: changing herself.