Placing a bet with a few friends on the NCAA
basketball tournament this year? You might not enjoy the experience as
much as if you hadn’t laid down any money. “Predictions
have a negative effect on enjoyment when the outcome is relatively
uncertain,” as in the upcoming basketball tournament, says Stephen M.
Nowlis, PhD, the August A. Busch, Jr. Distinguished Professor in
Marketing at Olin Business School.
Yehuda Ben-Shahar and his team at Washington University in St. Louis have discovered that some mRNAs have a side job unrelated to making the protein they encode. They act as regulatory molecules as well, preventing other genes from making protein by marking their mRNA molecules for destruction.
As an employer, a community partner, and a driver of innovation, Washington University has long had a significant economic impact on the St. Louis region. A new report outlines and puts numbers behind key indicators of the university’s contributions.
Nothing in Adam Steltzner’s younger years pointed to his becoming NASA’s chief engineer for the highly delicate landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars. He flunked high school geometry and dropped out to join a rock band. On March 26, Steltzner will tell how “Curiosity Changed My Life” for the Assembly Series. His presentation, which will begin at 6 p.m. in Graham Chapel, is free and open to the public.
As big data moves to the forefront of the boardroom, how do businesses keep up and find qualified people to manage it all? Olin Business School aims to help solve this problem with the launch of its Master of Science in Customer Analytics degree, offered in partnership with IBM.
Gammon Earhart, PhD, a professor in the Program in Physical Therapy at the School of Medicine, works to restore movement to patients with Parkinson’s disease. Arguably her most significant contributions as a researcher have been her studies demonstrating the
benefits of tango dancing on patients with Parkinson’s. Freedom of movement, it turns out, has become a theme of sorts for Earhart — professionally and personally.
For decades, neuroscientist Richard Davidson, PhD, has been conducting research on the positive impact of contemplative practices such as meditation on the brain. The work may have important ramifications for treating mental disorders. Davidson was on campus this month to deliver the Witherspoon Memorial Lecture on Religion and Science for the Assembly Series and a talk for the Department of Psychology.
This week, WUSTL launches Our Washington, Together We Make a Difference, the faculty and staff component of Leading Together: The Campaign for Washington University. All employees are asked to contribute to the school, program or fund that matters most to them. The money will fund scholarships, endow professorships, build new facilities and support research.
Albert wanders Europe in a fugue state, across the French countryside to Prague, Vienna and Moscow. In “The Man Who Walked Away,” acclaimed novelist Maud Casey explores both Albert’s journeys and his relationship with the doctor who sought to reassemble his life.
