Newsroom Stories

Leading international figures in climate change research, including Peter Raven, PhD, the George Engelmann Professor of Botany Emeritus in Arts & Sciences, will gather at Washington University in St. Louis Thursday and Friday, Sept. 10-11, to examine climate change and what it could mean to future biodiversity. Hosted by the International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES), the Symposium on Biological Extinctions and Climate Change will take place at Hillman Hall on the Danforth Campus.

Art fulfills many roles. One is to start conversation. Beginning Friday, Sept. 11, and continuing throughout the fall, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum at Washington University in St. Louis will present nearly two dozen free public events, ranging from lectures, gallery talks and panel discussions to concerts, film screenings and all-ages activities.

Issues at the crossroads of religion, medicine and law will be the focus as the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics opens its fall lecture series Thursday, Sept. 10, with a talk on “Obamacare and American Values.”

In 2014, in the wake of unrest following the death of a Ferguson, Mo., teenager, the Washington University Assembly Series and its campus partners tackled issues of race and social justice head on. This fall, the university’s signature lecture series — which has, since 1953, brought some of the most important voices in contemporary society to campus — reflects this continuing interest with five programs that delve into these issues and more. The series kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 16, with social scientist Melvin Oliver.

A free e-book by researchers at Washington University School of Medicine provides practical, science-based advice for lowering breast cancer risk at every stage of life. “Together — Every Woman’s Guide to Preventing Breast Cancer” is written for a lay audience to help women improve their breast health and the breast health of their loved ones.

Working in mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis led by Brian N. Finck, PhD (left), and Kyle S. McCommis, PhD, showed they could reduce glucose production in the liver and lower blood sugar levels. Their approach — shutting down a liver protein involved in making glucose — may help treat type 2 diabetes.

ISSUES Magazine has won the 2015 Douglas Haskell Award for Student Journals from the Center of Architecture in New York. Launched in 2012, the magazine explores links between architecture, design and social issues.

Katie Plax, MD, who is recognized widely for an innovative youth outreach center she started and for her work advocating for children and teens, has been named the Ferring Family Chair in Pediatrics at St. Louis Children’s Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Architect and structural engineer Guy Nordenson, who began his career as a draftsman for R. Buckminster Fuller and Isamu Noguchi, will launch the Sam Fox School’s fall Public Lecture Series with a free talk Monday, Sept. 14. In all, the series will feature 10 presentations by nationally and internationally known artists, architects, curators and designers.

New research may help explain why drug treatments for addiction and depression don’t work for some patients. The conditions are linked to reward and aversion responses in the brain. And the research suggests that some treatments simultaneously stimulate reward and aversion responses, resulting in a net zero effect.