Newsroom Stories

Spotify. Pandora. iTunes. YouTube. We are constantly bombarded with a seemingly limitless amount of new music in our daily lives. But why do we keep coming back to that one song or album we couldn’t get enough of in college? New research from Washington University’s Olin Business School shows that although consumers say they prefer to listen to unfamiliar music, their choices actually belie that preference.

Automatic federal budget cuts, known as the sequester, which began March 1, have had minimal impact on federal regulatory agencies, finds a new report on the U.S. budget for this fiscal year and next. The on-budget cost of regulation is detailed in a new report, Sequester’s Impact on Regulatory Agencies Modest: An Analysis of the U.S. Budget for Fiscal Years 2013 and 2014, published by Washington University in St. Louis and George Washington University.

The Peacock Loop Diner, a 24-hour diner from Joe Edwards, is coming to Washington University’s Loop development. The diner will feature an expansive menu of breakfast classics, diner staples, international favorites, salads, vegetarian dishes, desserts and a full bar. The diner and new grocery store, Global Foods Market, are two of the retail tenants for The Lofts of Washington University, the university’s $80 million retail and student apartment development.

Joe Edwards, owner of such Delmar Loop attractions as Blueberry Hill and The Pageant, announced today plans to open the Peacock Loop Diner, a new 24-hour restaurant, in Washington University’s Loop development. The restaurant will be located at 6261 Delmar Blvd. near Eastgate Avenue and is slated to open in August 2014.

Fumihiko Urano, MD, PhD, has been named the new Samuel E. Schechter Professor of Medicine at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Shown (from left) are Larry J. Shapiro, MD; Urano; and Victoria J. Fraser, MD.

An anchor tenant in WUSTL’s new Delmar Loop development will fulfill a long-time need along Delmar Boulevard: a grocery store, operated by Global Foods Market. The $80 million retail and student apartment complex under construction will be called The Lofts of Washington University. Another tenant will be the Peacock Loop Diner, operated by Joe Edwards, owner of Blueberry Hill.

Researchers have found that seeing well as we age depends, at least in part, on a recycling process in the eye that mops up cellular debris and recycles light-sensitive proteins. The findings suggest that disruptions in that process may harm vision and play a key role in the development of eye diseases related to aging. Inside the retinal pigment epithelium cells pictured are structures used for recycling (green) that engulf and digest spent parts of photoreceptor cells (red).

Children born with a complete absence of the external ear canal, even if only one ear is affected, are more likely than their peers to struggle in school, according to new research at the School of Medicine.

With the help of modern genetic technology and the resources of the International Rice GeneBank, which contains more than 112,000 different types of rice, evolutionary biologist Kenneth Olsen has been able to look back in time at the double domestication of rice (in Asia and in Africa) and its double “de-domestication” to form two weedy strains. Olsen predicts the introduction of pesticide-resistant rice will drive ever faster adaptation in weedy rice.

Parking and Transportation Services is working on enhancements to campus parking garages this summer and next. This summer’s focus is on the Millbrook and Snow Way Parking Facilities. Walls, ceilings and columns are being painted white to better reflect light, and blue paint will make emergency phones easier to spot from afar.