Newsroom Stories

Taking time off for the holidays? Think about what you can do to help Washington University School of Medicine save energy during your vacation.

msnbc
 Pluto may host an ocean
 12/21/2010 If a new computer model is correct, the dwarf planet Pluto harbors a sizeable pool of liquids beneath its thick, icy shell. Scientists are looking at Pluto’s surface for clues about the shape of its interior. “Pluto’s shape should reflect its construction,” said planetary scientist Bill McKinnon, with […]

Last year’s attempt to kill the Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico by pouring heavy mud down the well bore may have been defeated by an instability that led to turbulent mixing of the oil and the mud. Jonathan Katz, PhD, professor of physics at Washington University in St. Louis, had suggested a simple solution to the problem: cornstarch. Experiments described in an article published recently in Physical Review Letters suggest his solution might have worked.

The Telegraph (Calcutta, India) Share credit call to Bihar non-residents 12/18/2010 Hundreds of delegates participated in a two-day conclave to discuss the challenges of change in Bihar, India. M.J. Warsi, a professor in linguistics and culture of South Asia, Washington University, said, “I have a commitment towards my state. I want to open an institute […]

Sports updates for week of Dec. 20, 2010.

A WUSTL professor’s excavation of a “gold mine of archeology” in China has been ranked as one of the top 100 science stories of 2010 by Discover magazine.

Of note Barbara Kunkel, PhD, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, has received a three-year, $371,273 grant from the National Science Foundation for research titled “Modulation of Host Auxin Physiology by Pseudomonas Syringae.” Also receiving the grant was Libo Shan, PhD, of Texas A&M University. … Chenyang Lu, PhD, professor of computer science […]

BBC News Iapetus moon’s mighty ridge stirs debate 12/16/2010 The mountainous ridge that circles the equator on the Saturnian moon Iapetus is both weird and spectacular. No explanation for its existence has yet won total support, but a new study argues that the ridge could then have come from debris that once orbited the moon. […]

A new study by Gerald Andriole, MD, chief of urologic surgery at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, suggests the PSA test is more reliable in men taking dutasteride (Avodart®), a drug widely prescribed to shrink an enlarged prostate gland. Even a slight rise in PSA levels among men taking the drug was a stronger indicator of cancer than rising PSA levels in men taking a dummy pill.

Chicago has many iconic buildings, but perhaps none as instantly recognizable as Bertrand Goldberg’s Marina City. Now, in their critically acclaimed Marina City: Bertrand Goldberg’s Urban Vision, Igor Marjanović, assistant professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, and Katerina Rüedi Ray, director and professor of the School of Art at Bowling Green State University, present the first book-length history — a “building biography” — of this architectural landmark.