Malaria infection harms wild African apes

bonobo
Scientists led by Emily Wroblewski, in Arts & Sciences, discovered that bonobo populations differ in a key immune trait depending on the presence of malaria infection. Infected populations have a higher frequency of an immune variant that protects against developing severe disease, a pattern that mirrors what is observed among human populations.

‘African Modernism in America’

In the years after World War II, a series of global shifts, including African decolonization and the U.S. civil rights movement, led artists to explore a new politics of form, synthesizing and integrating different visual and cultural traditions. This spring, the Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum will present “African Modernism in America,” the first traveling survey to examine the diverse aesthetic strategies, and complex relationships, between African artists and American artists, scholars, patrons and cultural organizations.

Gonzalez elected to lead NASPA

Anna Gonzalez
The National Association of Student Personnel Administrators board of directors has elected Anna Gonzalez, vice chancellor for student affairs at Washington University in St. Louis, as its next board chair.

Cells take on dual identities

Headshot of Amit Pathak, associate professor of mechanical engineering & materials science in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis,
Cells migrate to different tissues for a variety of reasons, including organ development, tissue repair and the spread of cancer. Researchers led by Amit Pathak at the McKelvey School of Engineering have found unexpected activity in the nucleus of healthy cells that provides new insight into cell mechanics.

A contemporary ‘Oresteia’

Can murder excuse murder? In “The Oresteia,” her adaptation of the epic Greek trilogy, contemporary playwright Ellen McLaughlin explores cycles of violence, the ironies of vengeance and the often-tangled search for justice.