Newsroom Stories

WUSTL anthropologist Peter Benson’s new book, Tobacco Capitalism, examines the impact of the transformation of the U.S. tobacco industry on farmers, workers and the American public. The book reveals public health threats, the impact of off-shoring, and the immigration issues related to tobacco production, specifically in the rural, traditional tobacco-growing areas of North Carolina. “There are whole groups of people — farmers and farm workers — in our society who dedicate themselves to growing a crop that is vilified,” Benson says.

DNA sequences from tumor cells can be used to direct the immune system to attack cancer, according to Robert Schreiber, PhD, the Alumni Professor of Pathology and Immunology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The research, in mice, appears online Feb. 8 in Nature.

City Faces, an after-school art and tutoring program, is a stabilizing force for children living in St. Louis’ Clinton-Peabody public housing projects, an area riddled with drug and gang activity. On Monday, Feb. 13, faculty and staff will have a unique opportunity to view and support artwork created by children in the City Faces program. The art will be showcased during a 5:30 p.m. silent auction and gallery event in the Danforth University Center.

School of Medicine employees were focused on health Feb. 3 with the Health Happening health and wellness fair at the Eric P. Newman Education Center, where more than 40 vendors provided health information and free health screenings. In addition, employees who participated in the  Tread the Med “Be a Walk Star” 100-day walking campaign were honored at a reception in the McDonnell Pediatrics Building Atrium.

The Washington University Libraries have acquired the archives of internationally recognized artist Ernest Trova (1927-2009). Trova’s archives, which will be housed in WUSTL’s Modern Graphic History Library, provide researchers a glimpse into his life and his art-making process. 

Members of WU Style Step perform a rally scene during Black Anthology in Edison Theatre. Now in its 22nd year, the annual student-run production educates people about African-American culture and highlights important issues. This year’s production, “Lest We Forget,” focused on the tumultuous 1960s.

Facebook’s initial public offering (IPO) filing shows real numbers for profit and revenues, which are likely to drive a valuation that could be as high as $100 billion.This astronomical number does require some aggressive assumptions about future growth, but the high valuation may be more justified than for other internet companies, says Mark T. Leary, PhD, assistant professor of finance at Washington University’s Olin Business School.

Cheat on your wife. Betray your colleagues. The moral thing to do is whatever makes you feel good. When a beloved radio talk-show host dies, his son highjacks the station’s memorial broadcast to preach an inflammatory reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Self-Reliance. So begins Radio Free Emerson, a loose adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s The Wild Duck by contemporary playwright Paul Grellong.

Can’t get enough Elton John, Weego the dog, Matthew Broderick or babies in slingshots? Plan to relive all your favorite Super Bowl commercials during the annual SuperAd Bowl, sponsored by the Olin Marketing Association, at 6 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 9 in the Knight Executive Education Center.

New research from the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – Washington University Pediatric Cancer Genome Project (PCGP) shows that mutations linked to a rare, lethal childhood tumor of the brainstem play a unique role in other aggressive pediatric brain tumors. The findings offer important insight into a poorly understood tumor that kills more than 90 percent of patients within two years.