Insect-eating plants have fascinated biologists for more than a century, but how plants evolved the ability to capture and consume live prey has largely remained a mystery. Biologist Ivan Radin in Arts & Sciences and collaborators investigated the molecular basis of plant carnivory in sundews and found evidence that it evolved from mechanisms plants use to defend themselves.
Geoscientist Rita Parai in Arts & Sciences uses noble gas isotopes to better understand the formation and evolution of planetary bodies. Her new modeling study published in PNAS shows that the deep mantle had low concentrations of volatiles like xenon and water when it formed, setting up an internal viscosity contrast with lasting impacts.
Dany Matar, a rising senior, has been named an Astronaut Scholar by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Astronaut Scholarships are awarded to juniors and seniors who are studying science, technology, engineering or mathematics with the intent to pursue research or advance their field upon completion of their final degree.
A research group led by Rohit Pappu in the McKelvey School of Engineering and Anthony Hyman at the Max Planck Institute have discovered a new, relevant level of structure in cells.
Research from the lab of Patrick Hill in psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences shows a link in older adults between social interactions and having a sense of purpose.
Washington University in St. Louis alumna and Emerita Trustee Joyce Buchheit and her husband, Chauncy Buchheit, have made an $845,000 gift to help the university attract more talented students from rural communities in Missouri and southern Illinois, announced Chancellor Andrew D. Martin.
Major Angela Coonce, a 24-year veteran of the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department and a champion of community policing, has been appointed chief of police for the Washington University in St. Louis Police Department, announced Shantay Bolton, executive vice chancellor and chief administrative officer. Coonce’s appointment is effective Aug. 1.
St. Louis has never known what to do with the River des Peres. Now a public art installation by Sam Fox School students is exploring the river’s key role in stormwater management as well as those moments of natural beauty that have improbably survived.
Jacob Schaefer III, the Charles Allen Thomas Emeritus Professor of Chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died June 27, 2022 in St. Louis. Schaefer was one of the world’s experts in solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR). He was 83 years old.
