Baby brain growth mirrors changes from apes to humans
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Volvox genome sequenced
Scientists have sequenced the genome of the colonial alga, Volvox carteri, the journal Science announced. While the photosynthesizing colonial algae is fascinating in itself, knowing its genome may also help scientists engineer algae able to produce economic biofuels.
Notables
Five WUSTL undergraduate students who graduated in May have been named to the USA Today’s 2010 All-USA College Academic Team. Tegan Bukowski and Chase Sackett were named to the second team, Cameron Ball was named to the third team, and Emily Becker and Andrew Hoekzema were named as honorable mentions. … Han Kim, a rising […]
Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate
In the decades following the Second World War, European and American artists developed a wide range of strategies and approaches to abstract painting and sculpture. This summer, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present Gesture, Scrape, Combine, Calculate: Postwar Abstraction from the Permanent Collection, showcasing more than a dozen large-scale yet rarely seen works that span gestural and lyrical abstraction, color-field painting, hard-edge abstraction and assemblage.
Peterson, longtime professor of anatomy, 86
Roy R. Peterson, PhD, who taught anatomy to thousands of Washington University School of Medicine students over four decades, died Friday, July 2, 2010, of a brief illness from cancer. He was 86.
Federal suit against Arizona immigration law will ultimately succeed
The U.S. Justice Department lawsuit filed July 6 against Arizona’s controversial new immigration law will likely see partial success, according to a Washington University in St. Louis law professor. But he predicts the legal battle will extend beyond Arizona.
Math, science focus of two-week residential summer camp at WUSTL for St. Louis-area middle schoolers
Washington University is hosting its fourth ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp June 20-July 2 for 48 middle school students from St. Louis City, County and Metro East schools. The free two-week residential camp offers innovative programs to enhance middle school students’ science and math knowledge. Former NASA astronaut and camp namesake Bernard A. Harris Jr., MD, will visit the campers from 10 a.m. to noon June 30 in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall.
Substance use linked to company we keep
The saying “You are who you hang around with” seems especially true when it comes to alcohol, cigarette and drug use. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are reporting that people who hang out with marijuana, cigarette or alcohol users are not only more likely to do the same, but that exposure allows genetic tendencies for substance use to become more robust.
What plant genes tell us about crop domestication
Archeobotanists argue that plant domestication involved much trial and error in many different geographic regions over a long period of time. A genetic technique that allows domesticated and wild strains of the same plant to be compared shows that domestication requires only simple genetic changes. Yet the findings don’t contradict the archeobotanical data.
Reaching for the stars
Former astronaut and camp founder Bernard A. Harris Jr., MD, visits the ExxonMobil Bernard Harris Summer Science Camp held at Washington University June 20-July 2. Harris helped the 44 middle school campers from St. Louis-area schools with a hands-on engineering challenge. The free residential camp gives students the opportunity to get ahead in math and science, meet inspiring role models and experience college life.