Newsroom Stories

​The popular arts and crafts store Hobby Lobby is seeking a religious exemption from covering certain forms of contraception it would be required to provide under the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act. The case is headed to the Supreme Court, with oral arguments set to begin this spring. “Granting the exemption would shift the cost of accommodating Hobby Lobby’s religious exercise to employees who do not share its beliefs,” argues Elizabeth Sepper, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Such cost-shifting violates the Establishment Clause.” Sepper is one of several experts who have authored an amicus curiae brief to the Supreme Court arguing the unconstitutionality of Hobby Lobby’s request.

Incarnadine is a fleshy hue, a blushing, pinkish crimson, akin to salmon or rust or rose, the color of pale sunsets, of angels’ robes, of water stained by blood. But blue is the color that dominates “Incarnadine” (2013), Mary Szybist’s second collection: the blues of bright skies and dark oceans, of pretty dresses and ominous clouds, of feathers and bubbles and bruises long past healing.

Laura Jean Bierut, MD, has been named the Alumni Endowed Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine. Her work focuses on the genetic and environmental influences that contribute to addiction and other psychiatric disorders.

Neurosurgeon Eric Leuthardt’s research often has been described as science fiction brought to life. But in his latest project, his experiences in the laboratory and the operating room have inspired him to write a futuristic thriller.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have identified a patient’s gender as a clear and simple guidepost to help health care providers anticipate some of the otherwise unpredictable effects of neurofibromatosis type 1, a childhood genetic disorder.

St. Louis is becoming widely recognized as a successful hub for startup businesses, with a wide range of groups and services that provide a support network for budding entrepreneurs. WUSTL students are getting a firsthand look at one of those resources this semester as they help formulate pricing strategies, marketing plans and competitive analysis for businesses working at T-REX in downtown St. Louis.

WUSTL geologist Philip Skemer has built a custom-made rock-formation appartus that traps a rock sample between tungsten carbide anvils about a quarter inch in diameter within a 100-ton hydraulic press and then twists the sample slowly from below. His target pressure is six giga-pascals, the pressure 250 kilometers down, to the base of the tectonic plates. He will use the apparatus to determine through experiment the mechanisms that lead mantle rocks to flow, dragging the tectonic plates with them.

For Kimberly Jade Norwood, Washington University professor of law and African & African American studies, the topic of her newly released book, Color Matters: Skin Tone Bias and the Myth of a Postracial America (Routledge, 2013), strikes close to home.

Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Sheryl WuDunn will present an Assembly Series address on “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide,” at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 11, in Graham Chapel on Washington University in St. Louis’ Danforth Campus. A booksigning will follow in the Women’s Building Formal Lounge. Both events are free and open to the public.

​In a world’s first, physicians at Siteman Cancer Center have begun treating patients using MRI-guided radiation therapy, a technology that allows tumors to be visualized during treatment. Shown is Wayne Kestler, 80, one of the first patients treated with the new technology.