Newsroom Stories

Babies born prematurely are surviving in increasing numbers, but many withstand complications of early birth only to suffer late-onset sepsis — life-threatening bloodstream infections that strike after infants reach 72 hours of age. The causes of late-onset sepsis have not been clear. But now, researchers at the School of Medicine led by Phillip I. Tarr, MD, and Barbara B. Warner, MD, have discovered that preterm babies’ guts harbor infectious microbes that can cause this condition.

What’s a long-awaited threat, born of outer space and a danger to life as we know it? Why, it’s “The Intergalactic Nemesis,” of course. Part old-time radio play and part multimedia graphic novel, this unique science fiction serial returns to St. Louis with the first two parts of a planned “Nemesis” trilogy.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with Washington University in St. Louis’ McDonnell scholars earlier this month. During a spring break trip to New York, McDonnell Academy scholars also met a former Federal Reserve chairman and other leaders in media, politics and finance.​

For the next several weeks, newly admitted students will tour campus, visit classes and learn more about WUSTL’s schools and programs.

​Graham Colditz, MD, DrPH, a disease-prevention expert at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will receive the 2014 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO)–American Cancer Society Award.​

Yehuda Ben-Shahar and his team at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that some mRNAs have a side job unrelated to making the protein they encode. They act as regulatory molecules as well, preventing other genes from making protein by marking their mRNA molecules for destruction.

As an employer, a community partner, and a driver of innovation, Washington University has long had a significant economic impact on the St. Louis region. A new report outlines  and puts numbers behind key indicators of the university’s contributions. ​

Nothing in Adam Steltzner’s younger years pointed to his becoming NASA’s chief engineer for the highly delicate landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. He flunked high school geometry and dropped out to join a rock band. On March 26, Steltzner will tell how “Curiosity Changed My Life” for the Assembly Series. His presentation, which will begin at 6 p.m. in Graham Chapel, is free and open to the public.

As big data moves to the forefront of the boardroom, how do businesses keep up and find qualified people to manage it all? Olin Business School aims to help solve this problem with the launch of its Master of Science in Customer Analytics degree, offered in partnership with IBM.

The St. Louis FameLab, a science communication competition sponsored by National Geographic and NASA, recently gave young scientists a chance to present their science to nonscientists in three minutes. Efforts such as this are becoming increasingly common as scientists try to reconnect with the public. Some universities now require three-minute video presentations for every thesis or dissertation — or even for every published journal article.