Newsroom Stories

A three-dimensional seismic image of the mantle beneath the Lau Basin in the South Pacific just published in Nature has an intriguing anomaly. The image showed the least magma where the scientists expected to find the most. After considerable debate, they concluded that magma with a high water content was flushed so rapidly that it wasn’t showing up in the images.

The Eliot Trio — pianist Seth Carlin, professor of music in Arts & Sciences, violinist David Halen and cellist Bjorn Ranheim, both of the St. Louis Symphony — will play the music of Beethoven, Bruch and Mendelssohn for its annual concert at 8 p.m. Friday, Feb. 6, in Holmes Lounge on the Danforth Campus.

In our increasingly digital world, the balance between privacy and free speech is tenuous, at best. But we often overlook the important ways in which privacy is necessary to protect our cherished civil liberties of freedom of speech, thought and belief, says Neil M. Richards, JD, a privacy law expert at Washington University in St. Louis and author of the new book, “Intellectual Privacy: Rethinking Civil Liberties in the Digital Age,” published Feb. 2 by Oxford University Press.

Barbara A. Schaal, PhD, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, has been elected president-elect of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the world’s largest general scientific society. She begins her three-year term as an officer and member of the AAAS Board of Directors’ Executive Committee on Feb. 17.

The top prize in the 2015 Olin Cup competition was awarded to Love Will Inc., a developer of virtual currency-based financial tools, at an awards ceremony held Jan. 29 at Washington University.

Cyanobacteria are attractive organisms for the bio-production of fuels, chemicals and drugs but have the drawback that most strains in common use grow slowly. This week scientists at Washington University reported that they have recovered a fast-growing strain of cyanobacteria from a stored culture of a cyanobacterium originally discovered in a creek on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin in 1955.  The new strain grows by 50 percent per hour, the fastest growth rate ever reported for this type of bacteria.

A mosquito-borne virus that has spread to the Caribbean and Central and South America and has caused isolated infections in Florida often causes joint pain and swelling similar to that seen in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, according to new research from the School of Medicine.

In 1980, Liz Callaway and Jason Graae made their off-Broadway debuts in “Godspell.” Three decades later, the pair are Broadway veterans, each boasting a long and storied career. On Feb. 14, these old friends will reunite at Washington University for “Happily Ever Laughter: A Valentine’s Party.” The special one-night-only performance is presented by the Edison Ovations Series.

After a year of planning, the Bear-y Sweet Shoppe opened Jan. 12 on Gregg Walkway on the South 40 at Washington University in St. Louis. The business is supported by the innovative Student Entrepreneurial Program (StEP), which has provided resources and guidance since 1999. The shop is the first StEP business to sell food, use crowdfunding and to be founded exclusively by women.

Wellness Connection, the new employee wellness program through the Office of Human Resources at Washington University in St. Louis, is focused on helping employees lead a healthy lifestyle.