Page 169 – The Source | Washington University in St. Louis

How to survive in a digital world

Privacy expert Neil Richards, the Koch Distinguished Professor of Law, says the path to surviving the “Information Revolution” is through both education and the law.

Campus & Community

An old illustration animates a new story

Author Randall Roberts found an illustrated holiday card (right) created by alumnus Lee Harrison in 1949 for Roberts’ great-grandmother, who served as housemother for Harrison’s fraternity (Juanita Baird, known as “Mother Baird,” and Lee Harrison are circled in the black-and-white photo). The original illustration was tucked into an oversized map book, which Roberts found in an old leather trunk (background left).

‘After years and years …,’ a forgotten Christmas card from the late 1940s reveals the early genius of an Emmy Award–winning alumnus and his admiration for Mother Baird, a fraternity housemother.

Engineering

Defending your voice against deepfakes

Computer scientists led by Ning Zhang at the McKelvey School of Engineering developed AntiFake, a tool to protect voice recordings from unauthorized speech synthesis.

Medicine

Researchers identify way to block alphavirus infection

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found an innovative way to block infection by a variety of alphaviruses, a group of mosquito-borne viruses that can cause joint and brain infections in people.

Climate & Environment

Separating out signals recorded at the seafloor

Research from Washington University in St. Louis shows that variations in pyrite sulfur isotopes may not represent global processes. A new microanalysis approach helps to separate out signals that reveal the relative influence of microbes and that of local climate.

Alzheimer's

Lowering a form of brain cholesterol reduces Alzheimer’s-like damage in mice

Researchers at the School of Medicine have found that a form of cholesterol known as cholesteryl esters builds up in the brains of mice with Alzheimer’s-like disease, and that clearing out the cholesteryl esters helps prevent brain damage and behavioral changes.

Anthropology & Archaeology

New tool to enable exploration of human-environment interactions

In a new Science Advances report, a team of researchers led by Michael Frachetti in Arts & Sciences is calling for a strengthened commitment to transdisciplinary collaboration to study past and present human-environmental interactions, which they say will advance our understanding of the complex, entangled histories.

Awards & Notables

WashU researchers among those ‘highly cited’

More than 50 Washington University in St. Louis researchers have been named to the Highly Cited Researchers 2023 list by Clarivate, an analytics company. The list identifies scientists who demonstrate exceptional influence in their fields, as reflected through their papers frequently cited by their peers.

Medicine

Long-COVID clinic expanding reach to vulnerable metro, rural communities

A collaboration led by the School of Medicine aims to advance long-COVID care in medically vulnerable and underserved communities in the St. Louis metropolitan region and in rural Missouri. The WashU team won a five-year federal grant totaling $4.5 million.

Obituaries

Harry Kisker, former dean of students, 81

Harry Kisker, a former vice provost and dean of students at Washington University in St. Louis for nearly two decades, died peacefully Nov. 14 in Los Angeles surrounded by family. He was 80. Kisker is credited with creating the vibrant undergraduate experience that continues at WashU today.