Newsroom Stories

The Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus) was spotted in Houston in 1985 but can now be found in all of the southern states and as far north as Maine. To reconstruct its spread, scientists turned to the new discipline of landscape genetics. Correlating genetic patterns with landscape patterns, they concluded that the mosquito had hitched a ride along highways. One of only a handful of landscape genetics studies to track an invasive species, this is the first to detect hitchhiking.

The School of Engineering’s Yasutaka Furukawa, PhD, combines 3-D computer vision of indoor scenes with the capabilities of Google Maps and Google Earth to create a unique, high-resolution, photorealistic mapping experience of indoor spaces. Though he is starting with spaces like the New York museum The Frick Collection, he intends to bring his technology to St. Louis — specifically to Washington University’s Danforth Campus.

Digoxin, a medication that has been used to treat heart failure, may be adaptable for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive, paralyzing disease, suggests new research at the School of Medicine.

Washington University School of Medicine recently teamed up with the Saint Louis Art Museum and the university’s Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum to scan some very unusual patients: three Egyptian mummies.

The Mr. and Mrs. Spencer T. Olin Fellowship Program for Women in Graduate Studies is celebrating its 40 years on Washington University’s campus during the 40th annual Olin Fellowship Conference, “How Climates Change,” Oct. 30-31. Jane Lubchenco, PhD, the first woman to head the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Association, will give the keynote address at 11 a.m. Friday, Oct. 31, in Graham Chapel.

In the digital age in which we live, monitoring, security breaches and hacks of sensitive data are all too common. It has been argued that privacy has no place in this big data environment and anything we put online can and probably will be seen by prying eyes. In a new paper, noted Washington University in St. Louis privacy law expert Neil M. Richards, JD, makes the case that when properly understood, privacy rules will be an essential and valuable part of our digital future.

H. Holden Thorp, PhD (left), provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs, was installated by Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton as the inaugural holder of the Rita Levi-Montalcini Distinguished University Professorship during a ceremony held Oct. 14 in Knight Hall’s Emerson Auditorium. Thorp’s installation address was titled “Back to the Future: Accomplishment and Aspiration at Washington University.” 

Climate change, water shortages and the loss of farmland to pollution and urban sprawl are making it increasingly difficult for farmers to feed the world’s growing population, agricultural scholars from four continents said this week at an international symposium held at Washington University in St. Louis.

The government of India’s Department of Biotechnology, Indian corporate leaders and Washington University in St. Louis have invested $2.5 million to launch the Indo-U.S. Advanced Bioenergy Consortium for Second Generation Biofuels (IUABC). The goal of the center is to increase biomass yield in plants and algae, enabling downstream commercial development for cost-effective, efficient and environmentally sustainable production of advanced biofuels.

School of Medicine scientists have described a way to convert human skin cells directly into a specific type of brain cell affected by Huntington’s disease, an ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Unlike other techniques that turn one cell type into another, this new process does not pass through a stem cell phase, avoiding the production of multiple cell types.