Who Knew WashU? 8.8.17

Question: Spring and summer are a key time to enjoy the Elizabeth Gray Danforth Butterfly Garden. Which university group developed the garden in 1996 and maintains it today?

Engineers work to fight pollution at home, globally

A group of Washington University aerosol scientists, engineers and administrators traveled to Asia this summer to address some of the important problems related to energy, environment and health that we face today. Here, four engineering faculty share their takeaways.

Bar talk

Co-hosted by Elizabeth Haswell, associate professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, Taproot is a new podcast that takes listeners behind the the curtain to reveal what it was really like to do the work so opaquely described in journal articles.

Crank the AC, cut in-car pollution

After conducting a new research approach using actual commutes, a group of engineers at Washington University in St. Louis discovered a simple shift in driving habits can help to reduce exposure to pollutants while out on the road.

‘Kader Attia: Reason’s Oxymorons’

What is the nature of the self? How do conceptions differ in Western and non-Western cultures? Can individual and collective traumas ever be “fixed,” or do certain wounds defy the notion of repair? In “Reason’s Oxymorons,” French-Algerian artist Kader Attia surveys how different cultures, societies and disciplines grapple with questions of loss and damage.

Drug trial shows promise for deadly neurological disorder

Results of a small clinical trial show promise for treating a rare neurodegenerative condition that typically kills those afflicted before they reach age 20. The disease, called Niemann-Pick type C (NPC), causes cholesterol to build up in neurons, leading to a gradual loss of brain function.