News highlights for September 7, 2010

The Telegraph (UK) Comet impact did not cause mammoths to die out, say scientists 9/5/2010 Scientists recently put forward the idea that a comet was behind the extinctions after tiny crystals of carbon, known as nanodiamonds, were found in 12,900 year old sediment layers. But scientists now claim to have disproved the controversial theory after […]

Gene scan helps identify cause of inherited blindness

Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have scanned the entire genome of mice for genes that help build photoreceptors, the light-sensing cells of the eye. The results have already helped researchers identify the gene that causes a form of retinitis pigmentosa, a type of inherited blindness in humans.

Urban renewal

Born and raised in Chicago, Carol Camp Yeakey, PhD, knew from an early age that cities would play a commanding role in her life.

No reluctant readers

Marshall Klimasewiski (far right), director of the Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, leads a lively discussion in Eliot Hall Aug. 30 of The Reluctant Fundamentalist, the Freshman Reading Program book for this year.

Notables

Of note Bruce Backus, assistant vice chancellor for environmental health and safety, was named president-elect of the Campus Safety Health and Environmental Management Association (CSHEMA) at the CSHEMA conference in Baltimore in July. CSHEMA is dedicated to continual improvement of environmental health and safety at colleges and universities and provides information-sharing opportunities, continuing education and […]

News highlights for September 3, 2010

Inside School Research How about teaching with the test, rather than to it? 09/03/2010 The Department of Education just handed out $330 million in grants to two state coalitions to design the “next-generation” tests of students’ readiness for college and careers. In the latest issue of the Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, […]

A more robust, reliable Internet

A computer scientist at Washington University in St. Louis is part of a collaborative team that is one of four project teams chosen by the National Science Foundation (NSF) to pursue ways to build a more robust, secure and reliable Internet. Patrick Crowley, PhD, associate professor of computer science & engineering and researchers from nine other institutions received one of NSF’s “Future Internet Architecture” program awards to create a new Internet architecture.

News highlights for September 2, 2010

Agence France Presse (AFP) Females more prone to knee injury in football: Study 9/1/2010 “Kicking like a girl” is a real phenomenon and may explain why females are more likely to suffer knee injuries in sports such as football, suggests a new study led by WUSTL orthopedic surgeon Robert Brophy. Researchers found significant differences in […]