Page 237 – The Source | Washington University in St. Louis

Good smells, bad smells: It’s all in the insect brain

locust

Barani Raman and his lab at the McKelvey School of Engineering studied the behavior of the locusts and how the neurons in their brains responded to appealing and unappealing odors to learn more about how the brain encodes for preferences and how it learns.

Law

Trump indictment does not violate First Amendment

Donald Trump at 2016 rally.

Former President Donald Trump was indicted this month over his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election. He plans to fight the charges by claiming in part that the prosecution would violate his right to freedom of speech. Not so, says First Amendment expert Greg Magarian.

Fast ‘yes’ better for brain than slow ‘no’

Human brain model

Research from mechanical engineers Ruth Okamoto and Philip Bayly at the McKelvey School of Engineering finds that the brain’s vulnerability to head motion depends on the direction and frequency, not just impact strength.

Students

Brown students named ‘This is Public Health’ ambassadors

Hutson and Gershwin

Brown School students Kate Gershwin and Will Hutson have been named to the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health “This is Public Health” ambassador cohort.

Climate & Environment

Fanning the flames

View of wildfire smoke from plane

Research from Rajan Chakrabarty and Rohan Mishra at the McKelvey School of Engineering reveals an unexpected impact of wildfires on climate change.

Why pay transparency laws alone are not enough

Illustration of a magnifying glass examining a stack of money

Sociologist Jake Rosenfeld has a lot to say about the taboo subject of pay.

A long night of the scholarly mind

Martin Riker directs the new publishing concentration in the Department of English in Arts & Sciences. Here, he talks about fear, imagination and delivering The Guest Lecture.

Law

Forging a convention for crimes against humanity

Law professor and international criminal lawyer Leila Nadya Sadat explains why she’ll ‘never give up’ in the pursuit of a global treaty to prosecute mass crimes taking place in Ukraine and around the world.

Campus & Community

Into the forest

(Photo: Joe Angeles/Washington University)

For decades, Forest Park has enticed generations of WashU community members to step outside the university’s campuses and explore. Today, students and faculty are venturing deeper into the woods to learn about the biodiversity that teems there.

AI + Design

Kory Bieg, “Housing Blocks,” 2022. (Image courtesy of the artist)

WashU students and faculty are cutting through the hype and grappling with artificial intelligence.