Newsroom Stories

Neurologists finally have an answer to one of the most important questions about Alzheimer’s disease: Do rising brain levels of a plaque-forming substance mean patients are making more of it or that they can no longer clear it from their brains as effectively? A new study by Randall Bateman, MD, assistant professor of neurology, shows clearance is impaired in Alzheimer’s patients.

The Los Angeles Guitar Quartet, a Grammy Award-winning ensemble known for its inventive, virtuoso transcriptions of concert masterworks, will present a special one-night-only St. Louis performance at 8 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 11. Sponsored by the Saint Louis Classical Guitar Society and Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences, the concert will take place in the E. Desmond Lee Concert Hall of the university’s 560 Music Center. 

The WikiLeaks controversy raises a number of important legal issues about national security and freedom of the press under U.S. law, says Neil Richards, JD, professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. Journalists and government officials have suggested that either WikiLeaks or The New York Times (NYT) might face legal liability for publishing the contents of diplomatic cables and other leaked documents. “In order to find either WikiLeaks/Julian Assange or the NYT liable, the government would need to prove two things — first that a law had been broken, and second that enforcement of the law was constitutional under the First Amendment,” Richards says.

Acclaimed fiction and nonfiction writer Francine Prose took time during her recent visit to speak with students and faculty over tea in the Ann W. Olin Women’s Building Formal Lounge Nov. 30. Prose was on campus to receive the 2010 Washington University International Humanities Medal, awarded biennially by the Center for the Humanities in Art & Sciences and the Washington University Libraries to a noted scholar, writer or artist who has made a significant and sustained contribution to the world of letters or the arts.

School of Medicine students showcase their artistic talents at the Dec. 2 coffeehouse at the Farrell Learning and Teaching Center. Medical students such as Kristen Danley gather a few times a year to sing, play piano and other instruments and read poetry.

The WUSTL Sustainability Awareness Committees have announced the winners of the university’s first Children’s Sustainability Art Contest. The contest was held this fall for WUSTL children attending kindergarten through eighth grade to raise awareness among university families of the importance of sustainable living.

Washington University Orthopedics has opened a spine center at its outpatient facility in Chesterfield, Mo., to provide comprehensive, specialized care to patients with spine injuries and disorders.  

The following are among the new faculty members at Washington University: Mark Anastasio, PhD; John Fortner, PhD; Paul Ramírez, PhD; Matthew Kerr, PhD; and Brent Williams, PhD.

The National Law Review has named Heejung Park, a master of laws student at Washington University in St. Louis School of Law, a winner of its student writing contest. Park, who is from Korea, is studying U.S. law.

Washington University is starting a Nanotechnology Undergraduate Education (NUE) program. The NUE program, which will take applicants in the fall of 2011, has two components. The first is a new minor in nanotechnology open to any undergraduate pursuing a major in engineering, biology, physics or chemistry. The second is a summer fellowship open to undergraduates to develop nanotechnology teaching modules for K-12 students.