Perspectives

Writer and illustrator D.B. Dowd, a professor of design at the WashU Sam Fox School, discusses in a Q&A his latest book, “Reading Pictures: A History of Illustration,” which traces illustration from early print to modern digital media.

Ian Bogost writes about a ransomware attack took down a popular university-course-management software right in the middle of finals.

Ramesh Agarwal, of WashU McKelvey Engineering, takes part in a podcast to discuss carbon capture — how it works, why it’s important to fight climate change and the challenges ahead.

There is still time for the government to act to make Trump Accounts a successful driver of generational wealth for American families, write Jin Huang and Stephen Roll.

In the latest episode of the “Ideas Matter” podcast, WashU’s Sandro Galea leads a discussion about whether the scientific community’s response to the pandemic fell short of the reasoned pursuit of truth.

Imagine a place where every home has paraphernalia for distilling spirits, where there is a toast for nearly any occasion, and where your taxes – paid in grain, not cash – are deposited straight into a communal still. Welcome to Nubri, writes Geoff Childs.

The best way to keep children safe — and reduce investigations — is not to go upstream. Rather, we must train and support our child protection agencies to protect endangered children the first time a concerned relative, teacher or other community member calls the hotline, writes Sarah Font.

We can follow a path that is costly, punitive, and misaligned with science. Or we can proactively invest in approaches like the Teen Center of Excellence that produce healthy young adults who can transition into the workforce and contribute to the economic viability of the state of Missouri, writes Dennis W. Boyd Jr.

Diplomacy and love involve making the other person want to stay. Anxiety can disguise itself as desire for a short time, but not in the long run, writes Liberty Vittert.

Mechanical engineer Amit Pathak, at WashU McKelvey Engineering, joins a podcast to explain his research, which focuses on mechanobiology, or how cells respond to their environment. The work has applications in cancer’s spread, wound healing and tissue engineering.