Arts & Sciences

Researchers at Washington University in St. Louis are testing for elevated lead levels potentially kicked up in the destructive path of the 2025 tornado.

James Baldwin Review, the preeminent peer-reviewed journal dedicated to Baldwin’s life and legacy, which is co-edited by WashU’s Dwight A. McBride and Justin A. Joyce, has been named Best Special Issue of 2025 from the Council of Editors of Learned Journals.

Over the last few decades, Christianity in America has become synonymous with conservative causes. But it wasn’t always that way. As faith leaders join protesters in the Twin Cities, they’re showing the next generation of American young people that there are multiple ways to be a Christian, according to Ryan Burge, an expert in religion and politics at Washington University in St. Louis.

Ballaké Sissoko, one of the world’s great virtuosos of the 21-stringed West African kora, will be joined Feb. 1 by classically trained Cape Town guitarist Derek Gripper for an intimate recital as part of WashU’s Great Artists Series.

WashU faculty and students are invited to apply for the Penelope Biggs Travel Award for travel involving the study of Greco-Roman antiquity. Applications are due Feb. 15.

Researchers from Washington University in St. Louis find evidence that elevated stress exposure and its inflammatory correlates may contribute to Black-white racial disparities in mortality risk.

As part of WashU’s ongoing work to transform undergraduate STEM education and support low-income and first-generation STEM students, the Office of the Provost is launching the WashU STEM Exchange, a new community where STEM educators, advisers and researchers can share strategies and interventions and track outcomes. 

Senior Ella Elizabeth Johnson of Belmont, Mass., died Jan. 14 after a difficult struggle with mental health challenges. Johnson, 21, was studying psychological and brain sciences and Spanish in Arts & Sciences.

Countertenor Anthony Roth Costanzo is “a perfect musician” (Le Monde), at once “vocally brilliant and dramatically fearless” (New York Times). On Jan. 25, Costanzo will launch WashU’s 2026 Great Artists Series.

The markets essentially shrugged when the U.S. removed Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro in a special operation. But that could change if the U.S. follows through on other geopolitical threats, says political scientist Timm Betz at Washington University in St. Louis.