Newsroom Stories

The Sixth Annual Faculty and Staff Reception for St. Louis Dance Marathon begins at 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, in the Athletic Complex. Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton feels so strongly about this benefit for Children’s Miracle Network that he is donating $13 – in honor of the event’s 13th year – for every faculty and staff member who attends.

As part of the celebration of the 1853 founding of Washington University in St. Louis, two couples — George and Carol Bauer and Scott and Pyong Rudolph — will receive the Robert S. Brookings Award at this year’s Founders Day banquet. The gala takes place at 6:30 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 5, at the St. Louis Union Station Marriott. For ticket information, call (314) 935-6503.

Despite the separation of church and state, religion plays a significant role in political debate. Gregory P. Magarian, JD, free speech and election law expert and professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis, says that certain forms of religious argument pose a meaningful threat to democracy, but restricting these arguments would be an even larger threat to U.S. political culture.

When it comes to charitable giving, details matter. A new project by a marketing professor at Olin Business School at Washington University in St. Louis finds that when charitable organizations approach potential donors with a more detailed description of the charity, donors give more.

Wearing decorative contact lenses on Halloween — also known as fashion, color, cosmetic or theatre contact lenses — changes the look of the eyes, but the lenses don’t correct vision. If used incorrectly, they can impair vision and damage the eyes, according to an optometrist at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Washington University scientists have demonstrated a rigorous way to test the effects of probiotic bacteria on digestive health: they zeroed in on the community of microbes that naturally live in the intestine and help to digest foods our bodies can’t on their own.

A major U.S. study shows that annual chest X-rays to screen for lung cancer do not reduce the risk of dying from the disease, even in smokers or former smokers. More than 150,000 older Americans were involved in the clinical trial, funded by the National Cancer Institute, with about 16,000 enrolled at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. Results of the study will be published Nov. 2 in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Against a backdrop of harsh partisan political rancor, Steven S. Smith, PhD, the Kate M. Gregg Distinguished Professor of Social Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, will present a series of three lectures in November on “The Dysfunctional Senate.”

A cold, wet day wasn’t enough to keep Henry S. Webber, executive vice chancellor for administration, from riding his bicycle through a ribbon dedicating the new bicycle path through the Danforth Campus Oct. 19. Partners from the Great Rivers Greenway District, the City of St. Louis and St. Louis County, and Clayton and University City participated in the celebration. The ribbon-cutting event was part of Campus Sustainability Week.

From gleaming skyscrapers to humble market stalls, modern India is a world of crowded contradiction, a world of iPhones and ancient gods, of rickshaws and SUVs, of causal corruption and slumdog millionaires. In The Guru of Chai —  presented Nov. 4 and 5 as part of the Edison Ovations Series — Jacob Rajan, co-founder of New Zealand’s India Ink Theatre Company, gives voice to the world’s largest democracy through a series of indelible characters: the poor chaiwallah (tea seller), the lovelorn policeman, the protection racketeers, the abandoned girl whose singing stops crowds in their tracks.