Newsroom Stories

The brains of children who suffer clinical depression as preschoolers develop abnormally, compared with the brains of preschoolers unaffected by the disorder, according to university researchers. Their gray matter is lower in volume and thinner in the cortex, a part of the brain important in the processing of emotions.

Biologists have long thought that body size is correlated with temperature zone: larger animals live in colder regions and smaller ones in warmer ones. Newly compiled physiological data allowed this rule to be put to the test. Animals adapt by coordinated changes in their metabolic rates and “insulation.” Body size plays only a minor role.

​As the new year approaches, many plan to make self-improvement resolutions. New research led by Hengchen Dai, PhD, assistant professor at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis, shows extra motivation is all in the timing, and desire to get away from one’s past, imperfect self.

Two Missouri legislators have proposed a bill that would require public universities and colleges to revoke scholarships held by student-athletes who refuse to play, or incite, support or participate in a strike. The proposed law violates the First Amendment of the United States Constitution, says an expert on freedom of speech at Washington University in St. Louis.

An outburst from a distant quasar known as PKS 1441+25 in April of this year gave astronomers at the gamma-ray telescope VERITAS an opportunity to measure the density of the optical “fog” that lies between the quasar and Earth and to deduce the surprising separation of the high-energy emission from the black hole that drives it.

​Joseph Goodman, PhD, associate professor of marketing at Olin Business School and Sarah Lim, doctoral student at Cornell University, say consumers tend to un​derestimate the experiential gift-giving advantage because they’re afraid they don’t know a person well enough to choose a more personal, preference-driven option.

New research, led by Li Ding, PhD, shows that current genome analysis approaches systematically miss detecting a certain type of complex mutation in cancer patients’ tumors. A significant percentage of these complex mutations are found in well-known cancer genes that could be targeted by existing drugs, potentially expanding the number of cancer patients who may benefit.

Few things are as certain as the end of life, so why is it so hard to talk about? That’s a question that many families will be grappling with over the holidays. And while it’s easy to put off dark discussions during festive times, it’s best to have them sooner than later, says Brian Carpenter, a psychologist who studies family relations in later life at Washington University in St. Louis.

Washington University in St. Louis will be well-represented at a pivotal environmental summit, held in India and hosted by the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. Chancellor Mark Wrighton and Pratim Biswas, PhD, the Lucy and Stanley Lopata Professor and Chair of the Department of Energy, Environmental and Chemical Engineering, will each give talks to scientists and researchers gathered in Mumbai for the 5th International Conference on Advances in Energy Research. 

Robert Blankenship, PhD, the Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has won the St. Louis Section of the American Chemical Society’s 2015 Midwest Award.