Newsroom Stories

Hailed by some as the “end of race as we know it” and the beginning of a “post-racial” America, the 2008 election of Barack Obama sparked a measurable bump in feelings of political empowerment among black Americans. But those sentiments have faded considerably over the last year or so, according to a new analysis of political survey data, with the sharpest declines in perceived political power coming among blacks who identify themselves as conservatives or “born again” Christians.​

Two debates, three weeks. There’s not a whole of time or opportunity for the presidential candidates to reach undecided voters, adding weight to tomorrow’s debate. And as we’ve seen in the last two debates, it’s not so much what is being said as it is how the message is being delivered. That’s why President Barack Obama and Gov. Mitt Romney have a crucial meeting tomorrow night and experts at Washington University in St. Louis are ready to comment.

A molecule involved in asthma and allergies has now been shown to make mice resistant to skin cancer, according to Raphael Kopan, PhD, and his colleagues at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Rodney Jones has been named manager of Washington University in St. Louis’ Campus Store. Jones, who previously was assistant manager of the Campus Store, replaces former director Betsy Schneider, who retired in June.​

Scanning the DNA of two people with a rare disease has led scientists to identify the precise genetic error responsible for their disorder, which causes persistent lung, sinus and ear infections, male infertility, and sometimes a reversed orientation of major organs in the body. The defect affects hair-like structures called cilia that extend from many cells in the body.

Wayne M. Yokoyama, MD, and Charles F. Zorumski, MD, have been elected to the Institute of Medicine, a part of the National Academy of Sciences. Membership in the organization is one of the highest honors physician-scientists in the U.S. can receive.​

2012 graduate Elizabeth Phillips was named the 2012 NCAA Woman of the Year, as announced at a ceremony Sunday in Indianapolis. Phillips is the third NCAA Division III student-athlete to win the award, joining Ashley Jo Rowatt of Kenyon College (2003) and Laura Barito of Stevens Institute of Technology (2011).

The No. 5 women’s soccer team improved its overall record to 11-1-1 with a pair of home victories over New York University Oct. 12 and No. 20 Brandeis University Oct. 14. The Bears have a 3-0-1 mark in the University Athletic Association (UAA), and sit in a tie for first place with No. 1 Emory […]

The International Center for Advanced Renewable Energy and Sustainability (I-CARES) will celebrate its inaugural I-CARES day Friday, Oct. 19. The celebration will feature a talk by Peter H. Raven, former president of the Missouri Botanical Garden, on climate change and its impact on biodiversity, and a presentation by T.R. Kidder, professor and chair of anthropology, on the idea that we may be entering a new geological era, called the Anthropocene, in which humans are the primary geological change agents. There also will be activities for students, including a QR-code scavenger hunt.​

Four Arts & Sciences faculty at Washington University in St. Louis will explore the “politics, issues and theatrics” of this year’s presidential election during a 6 p.m. panel discussion
 Thursday, Oct. 18, in the Laboratory Sciences Building, Room 300. The event, which is part of the Arts & Sciences Connections Series, is free and open to the Washington University community. A
 5:30 p.m. reception in Lab Sciences’ Rettner Gallery will precede the discussion, titled “Decision 2012.”