Newsroom Stories

Either physical therapy or arthroscopic surgery can relieve pain and improve mobility in patients with a torn meniscus and arthritis in the knee, according to researchers from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and six other centers. But the results are not simple because many of the patients assigned to physical therapy eventually had surgery.

With springtime temperatures and warm weather approaching, the inclination to spend time outdoors is a strong one – especially for children who have been cooped up all winter. But parents should be vigilant about sunscreen. And teenage girls might want to rethink springtime tanning and tanning beds. A new study out of the Brown School, led by senior author Kimberly J. Johnson, looks at the increase of melanoma in children and adolescents and what those trends might be telling us.

Washington University in St. Louis will host its 11th annual Relay For Life, the signature fundraising event for the American Cancer Society, from 6 p.m. Saturday, April 13, to 6 a.m. Sunday, April 14, on Francis Field. The 12-hour, overnight walk-a-thon is symbolic: cancer doesn’t sleep — and neither will participants working to combat the disease. The WUSTL event is entirely organized by the student-led Relay For Life Steering Committee.

Medical history, gender studies and comedy: Sarah Ruhl’s acclaimed In the Next Room (or the vibrator play) has it all. WUSTL’s Performing Arts Department will present an all-new staging of Ruhl’s Pulitzer and Tony-nominated play April 19-28 in Edison Theatre.

​Two prominent environmental thinkers and activists will address climate change, biodiversity and pollution during a lecture at 7 p.m. April 10 in Whitaker Hall Auditorium at Washington University in St. Louis. The lecture titled “To Hell in a Handbasket?: The Global Environment and Sustainability” is free and open to the public. The primary sponsors are University College — the adult, evening and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences — and the International Affairs program in University College.

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown they can coax cells to move toward a beam of light. The feat is a first step toward manipulating cells to control insulin secretion or heart rate using light.

More than 1,200 of the brightest and most innovative minds in the world gathered on the Washington University in St. Louis campus this past weekend for the sixth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative University. A complete story on the weekend will appear in tomorrow’s Record, but the WUSTL News Tumblr blog was updated throughout the weekend. Read about the weekend as it unfolded at wustlviewcgiu.tumblr.com/.

The Congress of the South 40 held its annual Residential College Olympics on the South 40 Swamp on Saturday, March 30. The day began with a 5K run and included other fun games including tug-of-war matches. ​​

The sixth annual Clinton Global Initiative University (CGI U) was held on the Washington University in St. Louis Campus April 5-7, bringing more than 1,200 students from 75 countries and all 50 states to exchange ideas and solutions to effect real, soluble change to pressing global issues. The weekend was a whirlwind exchange of ideas and inspirations, but now is when the real work begins: Making change happen. For the participants – 200 of whom were WUSTL students – CGI U gave them a much-needed boost. ​

Andrew Katims has been selected to be the recipient of the 2013 Harrison D. Stalker Award given each year by the Department of Biology.  The award is given to the graduating senior in biology whose undergraduate career was marked by outstanding scientific scholarship as well as contributions to the university in areas of artistic expression and/or community service.