Newsroom Stories

Scientists from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis have shown a new way to reverse or eliminate energy loss in optical systems such as lasers. They are doing so by, ironically, adding loss to a laser system to actually reap energy gains. In other words, they’ve invented a way to win by losing.​​​

This week’s announcement that HBO will begin offering new video streaming service without a cable subscription is likely to have significant impact on the television industry. And the ripple effect could happen fast, according to Raphael Thomadsen, PhD, associate professor of marketing in Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Our 21st-century world faces seemingly insurmountable problems. It is a challenge simply to understand the breadth of the issues, let alone find sustainable and adoptable solutions. History has shown that no single entity, or even country, can do this alone. And the world’s research institutions — colleges and universities rich in diversity and scholarship — […]

Stephen Prothero, PhD, professor of religion at Boston University and author of numerous books, will explore America’s cultural rifts from a historic perspective for the Assembly Series. The program, free and open to the public, will begin at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 23, in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. His presentation, “Why Liberals Win: America’s Culture Wars from the Election of 1800 to Same-Sex Marriage,” is a Danforth Distinguished Lecture, sponsored by the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

You know the voice but do you know the dance moves? On Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 1 and 2, Ira Glass, host and executive producer of “This American Life,” will join Monica Bill Barnes & Company for “Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host” at Edison Theatre.

Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, participated in an Oct. 8 news conference held at the Brown School expansion site to commemorate the Associated General Contractors annual Build St. Louis Week (Oct. 6-10). The week celebrates the construction industry and recognizes local construction’s accomplishments and impact on St. Louis’ economic well-being.

​Top national and local designers will showcase their work at runway shows and parties across the region. Fashion Week closes Oct. 18 with the 2014 Midwest Fashion Conference​ at Washington University.  

Recent revelations that NBC News’ chief medical correspondent violated an Ebola quarantine after returning from Africa, and that a Dallas health care worker infected with the virus boarded a commercial jet have focused the nation’s attention on Ebola and what can be done to protect citizens. While measures like quarantine do restrict the freedom of exposed individuals, they do so to protect the public’s health, says a Washington University in St. Louis expert on biomedical ethics.

In an Oct. 8 ceremony, Ross C. Brownson, PhD, a leading expert in chronic disease prevention and applied epidemiology, was installed as the Bernard Becker Professor. Brownson holds joint appointments at the Brown School and at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.​

More than 3 million pregnant women give birth in the United States every year. But physicians still know little about the best ways to manage the crucial second stage of labor, the stage that is the hardest physically on mothers and their babies. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have received an $8.7 million grant to study how best to manage the second stage.