Newsroom Stories

Even before they can read, children as young as three years of age are beginning to understand how a written word is different than a simple drawing — a nuance that could provide an important early indicator for children who may need extra help with reading lessons, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Charles L. Roper, MD, a groundbreaking cardiothoracic surgeon and a professor emeritus of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, died of respiratory failure Dec. 17, 2015, in Kirkwood, Mo. He was 90.

Clayco’s chairman and CEO, Robert G. Clark, along with the company’s partners, have committed $4.1 million to Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis to advance research into a rare blood vessel disease that results in death five to 10 years following diagnosis.

​New discoveries, a new campus, Star Wars economics and another presidential debate – these were among the most-read stories of 2015 at Washington University in St. Louis.​

Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Barnes-Jewish West County Hospital are offering a newly approved, nonsurgical therapy to help people lose weight. Shelby Sullivan, MD, holding models of the two systems being used, said the therapy involves placing special balloons into the stomach and inflating them to give patients the feeling of being full after eating small meals.

The Moon was never a fully homogenized body like Earth, analysis of Moon rocks made by the Chinese rover, Yutu, suggests. The basalts the rover examined are a new type, chemically different from those retrieved by the Apollo and Luna missions 40 years ago.

Curious seismologists who looked at the recordings made by a seismic station four miles away from the “cook-off” of an ammunition holding area in Iraq in 2006 found they could distinguish, mortars, rockets, improvised explosive devices, helicopters and drones. Seismology is increasingly being used for investigative purposes, they said, not just to detect earthquakes.

In a new analysis, researchers at the School of Medicine have shed light on the hereditary elements across 12 cancer types — showing a surprising inherited component to stomach cancer and providing some needed clarity on the consequences of certain types of mutations in well-known breast cancer susceptibility genes BRCA1 and BRCA2.

Wishing family and friends a “Happy New Year” is all well and fine, but if you’re serious about spreading cheer in the New Year, consider passing along more specific advice from a psychologist who studies the science of happiness at Washington University in St. Louis.

There is renewed interest by some Missouri groups for a proposed 23-cent-per-pack raise to Missouri’s tobacco tax, which is the nation’s lowest. While any raise in tobacco prices is one of the most effective ways to reduce and prevent smoking, the modest tax raise does not go far enough, says a tobacco control expert at Washington University in St. Louis. ​