Newsroom Stories

When she was a child “in the land Down Under,” Camilla Whittington’s dad decided it would be fun for them to go look for platypuses. These animals, found only in Australia, are technically mammals, yet they are like no other mammals around – sure, like all mammals, they produce milk for their babies, but they also lay eggs and have a bill like birds do, and, most oddly, the males shoot venom from spurs in their hind legs that causes pain even the strongest painkillers can’t alleviate.  

The bone-strengthening drug zoledronic acid (Zometa) can help fight metastatic breast cancer when given before surgery, suggests research at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. When the drug was given along with chemotherapy for three months before breast cancer surgery, it reduced the number of women who had tumor cells in their bone marrow at the time of surgery.

Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton will share findings from the recent report by the Committee on America’s Energy Future in a talk June 7 at the Kauffman Foundation Conference Center in Kansas City. Wrighton served as vice-chair of the Committee on America’s Energy Future, a group sponsored by the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering. He is a scientist, researcher and respected authority on global energy options. 

Film and photography are in many ways defined by the tensions between them: narrative vs. static, still vs. moving images. This summer, in conjunction with the exhibition Focus on Photography, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present a pair of feature-length films, Andy Warhol and In the Land of the War Canoes, that highlight connections between the two media.

Internationally acclaimed silversmith Heikki Seppä, professor emeritus in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Art’s College of Art, died Tuesday, May 18, at his home on Bainbridge Island, Wash. He was 83. One of the most innovative and influential silversmiths of the latter 20th century, Seppä helped introduce the technique of reticulation to the United States while also developing and popularizing new methods for shaping sheet metal into three-dimensional shell structures.

Only about one in three young women has received the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine to help prevent cervical cancer, according to a new report from researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The HPV vaccine prevents four strains of the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, two of which are found in about 70 percent of all women with cervical cancer. But the new data shows only 34 percent of girls ages 13 to 17 were being vaccinated in six states that were surveyed. 

Arts & Sciences recognized the achievements of six alumni during the 13th Annual Arts & Sciences Distinguished Alumni Awards Ceremony, held April 29 at the Ritz-Carlton, St. Louis. A new tradition was started this year with the addition of an awards dinner hosted by Gary S. Wihl, PhD, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Hortense and Tobias Lewin Distinguished Professor in the Humanities, and the Arts & Sciences National Council.

The employee 2009-10 U-Pass — allowing WUSTL faculty and staff free use of Metro, the region’s public transportation system — will expire June 30. Benefits-eligible employees may request a new U-Pass for the 2010-11 school year at the Parking & Transportation Services Web site, parking.wustl.edu/upass.htm.

Washington University Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton delivered a keynote address May 29 at the Shanghai Forum on global energy demands and energy options that are economically and environmentally sustainable. In addition to attending the forum, a summit focused on economic and political progress in Asia, Wrighton received an honorary doctorate from the Chinese Ministry of Education and Fudan University. 

Benjamin S. Carson Sr., MD, director of the Division of Pediatric Neurosurgery, professor of neurosurgery, of oncology, of plastic surgery and of pediatrics at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, spoke to School of Medicine graduates about “The World’s Most Valuable Possession” May 21 at the Ferrara Theatre at America’s Center.