Newsroom Stories

Four Washington University in St. Louis researchers are being honored as outstanding scientists by the Academy of Science of St. Louis.

Women are underrepresented in the important fields of science, technology, engineering and math — minority women even more so. To help close the gender gap, Washington University will sponsor an innovate new charter school: the Hawthorn Leadership School for Girls, the first single-sex STEM charter school in St. Louis.

A new study provides details that will help scientists design better vaccines and drug treatments for Plasmodium vivax (P. vivax) a dangerous form of malaria common in India, Southeast Asia and South America.

Microbes set up their own markets, comparing bids for commodities, hoarding to obtain a better price, and generally behaving in ways more commonly associated with Wall Street than the microscopic world. This has led an international team of scientists, including two from Washington University in St. Louis, to ask which, if any, market features are specific to cognitive agents.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are studying whether fasting from food a few days a week provides some of the same health benefits as severely limiting calories every day of the week.

Unpaid internships are the norm in many industries. The Career Center’s summer stipends help students pay their bills while working an unpaid internship. The Career Center also awards grants to students who must travel to a job interview or would like to attend a Career Center Road Show.

Falling oil and gasoline prices have prompted some in Congress to debate about increasing the federal fuel tax, which helps fund highway and bridge construction, among other projects. Increasing the tax, which hasn’t been raised since 1993 and isn’t tied to inflation, to help offset revenue lost through lower prices at the pump may seem like a good idea in theory, but it’s much more difficult in practice, says tax law expert Adam Rosenzweig, JD, of Washington University in St. Louis.

The St. Louis region has experienced a sharp uptick in flu cases in recent weeks, according to Washington University physicians at Barnes-Jewish Hospital who say they are dealing with a severe flu outbreak that includes deaths from the illness. The deaths primarily were of otherwise healthy young and middle-aged adults not vaccinated against influenza, according to the physicians.

The history of the 20th century and the beginnings of the 21st have been scarred by incomprehensible violence and far-reaching political events. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will explore both the direct experience and lingering effects of historic upheavals with “In the Aftermath of Trauma: Contemporary Video Installations.”

Lithium-ion batteries, such as those used in electric vehicles, are in high demand, with a global market value expected to reach $33.1 billion in 2019. But their high price tags and short lives need to be addressed before they can be used in more consumer, energy and medical products. Venkat Subramanian, PhD, associate professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering, and his team are working to solve this problem by developing optimal charging profiles for the batteries.