Newsroom Stories

Inc. How to run a brainstorming session 11/30/2010 Keith Sawyer, a professor of psychology and education at Washington University in St. Louis, calls it “group genius,” or the idea that innovation requires cross-pollination from seemingly unrelated fields. In his book, he stresses that people in the group must have enough in common to share the […]

Competing against 130 teams from across the world, a team of six undergraduates from the School of Engineering & Applied Science at Washington University in St. Louis took silver in the foundational advance category of the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition this year. The  WUSTL team built a genetic sequence that once inserted in a yeast cell would signal whether the cell was growing with or without the sugar galactose by fluorescing either yellow or cyan.

Should weather conditions create potentially hazardous travel conditions, Washington University will evaluate the situation and take into consideration the safety of the faculty, staff and students as well as the services that must be provided despite the inclement weather.

Try to imagine an environmentally friendly science lab that reduces, reuses and recycles. That’s the challenge posed by the second annual Olin Sustainability Case Competition at Washington University in St. Louis. Students who devise the best plan for green labs will be seeing green — a $5,000 first prize — when the winners are announced in February.

Common Ground, a joint initiative of the Department of History, the Program in African and African American Studies and the Program in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, all in Arts & Sciences, will host five speakers over the remainder of the academic year. The first, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, PhD, will present Thursday, Dec. 2.

Reuters.com Shoulder surgery can curtail an NFL career 11/30/2010A problem shoulder might shorten the career of college athletes who are talented enough to get drafted by a professional football team, according to a new study. The study focused on college players drafted into National Football League (NFL) teams. By the time they were drafted, all […]

Washington University Dance Theatre, the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Living in the Momentum, its 2010 concert, Dec. 3, 4 and 5 in Edison Theatre. Performances — sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences — will feature more than 50 student dancers, selected by audition, in seven original works by faculty and guest choreographers.  

Students enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with friends Nov. 25 in College Hall in the new South 40 House on the Danforth Campus. From 11 a.m.-2 p.m. Thanksgiving day, WUSTL Dining Services offered a meal featuring turkey, stuffing, cornbread, sweet potatoes, green beans, pumpkin pie and more.

Neuroscientists using a new brain imaging technique could see an investigational drug for Parkinson’s disease get into a patient’s brain and affect blood flow in several key structures, an indicator the drug may be effective. In the future, similar brain scans could speed the development of new drugs and help clinicians learn whether established drugs are working.  

Technology Review Computers get help from the human brain 11/30/2010 Tapping into the processing power of the human brain could help computers with some tasks. Most brain-computer interface research is focused on harnessing conscious processes, says Eric Leuthardt, director of the Center for Innovation in Neuroscience and Technology at Washington University School of Medicine. “Reading […]