Newsroom Stories

Why do we like fatty foods so much? We can blame our taste buds. In the first study to identify a human receptor that can taste fat, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis report that our tongues recognize and have an affinity for fat and that variations in a gene can make people more or less sensitive to the taste of fat in foods.

Ralph J. Cicerone, PhD, president of the National Academy of Sciences and chair of the National Research Council, will present a seminar on climate change at Washington University in St. Louis at 4 p.m. Monday, Jan. 23, in Room 300, Laboratory Sciences Building on the Danforth Campus.

Maurice Ravel’s Trio in A minor is among the most technically difficult works in the piano trio repertoire, demanding virtuosity on the part of all three players. Ludwig van Beethoven’s Trio in B-flat major, opus 97 — the “Archduke Trio” — is widely acknowledged as a masterpiece of the form. At 7:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan 22, Washington University’s Eliot Trio will present both works, along with Alexander Zemlinsky Trio in D minor, opus 3, for an intimate concert in Holmes Lounge.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous decision in Hosanna-Tabor v. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is an important victory for religious liberty says First Amendment expert John Inazu, JD, associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. “Hosanna-Tabor is a welcome reminder that the Court has not lost sight of ‘the text of the First Amendment itself, which gives special solicitude to the rights of religious organizations.’”

Researchers have discovered that a subtype of leukemia characterized by a poor prognosis is fueled by mutations in pathways distinctly different from a seemingly similar leukemia associated with a much better outcome.

Matthew MacEwan, an MD-PhD student at Washington University in St. Louis, recently started his own nanotechnology company, NanoMed LLC, aimed at revolutionizing the surgical mesh widely used in operating rooms worldwide.

The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts’ Public Lecture Series presents free weekly lectures by nationally and internationally recognized artists, architects, historians and critics. This spring, the Public Lecture Series — which begins Jan. 20 — will feature talks by Hungarian installation artist Balázs Kicsiny and by architect Craig Dykers, whose firm, Snøhetta, designed the National 911 Memorial Pavillion in New York. Other highlights will include lectures by landscape architect Michael Van Valkenburgh, New York illustrator Jessica Hische and art historian Susan Laxton.

Coors Light has surpassed Budweiser as the No. 2 beer by shipments in the United States, foretelling a downward trend for full-calorie lagers that will continue, says a strategy expert at Washington University in St. Louis.

The chemotherapy drugs required to push a common form of adult leukemia into remission may contribute to DNA damage that can lead to a relapse of the disease in some patients, findings of a new study suggest.

New findings from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project have helped identify the mechanism that makes the childhood eye tumor retinoblastoma so aggressive.