Arts & Sciences

Research from Washington University in St. Louis shows a nontrivial rate of children as young as 9 and 10 years old are thinking about suicide. How their families interact — or don’t — may play a role.

Heralded as a genetically modified crop with the potential to save millions of lives, Golden Rice has just been approved as safe for human and animal consumption by regulators in the Philippines. But a new study by Glenn Davis Stone, professor of sociocultural anthropology and environmental studies in Arts & Sciences, finds that most families affected by Vitamin A deficiency can’t grow Golden Rice themselves, and most commercial farmers won’t grow it either.

The Dred Scott Heritage Foundation has selected Sowande’ Mustakeem, associate professor of history and of African and African-American studies, both in Arts & Sciences, as a recipient of its 2020 Dred Scott Freedom Award.

Menstruation is considered taboo in Ethiopia, and girls often miss school or drop out because of their periods. Freweini Mebrahtu designed a solution — and, with support from St. Louis-based charity Dignity Period, founded by a Washington University faculty member, it has benefited nearly 800,000 girls and women. Mebrahtu was recently named CNN’s “Hero of the Year.”

Barbara G. Pickard, professor emerita of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Dec. 6, 2019, in St. Louis from complications related to hip surgery. She was 83.

Bhupal Dev, assistant professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, proposes a new way to leverage data from ultra-high energy neutrinos from large neutrino telescopes such as the IceCube Neutrino Observatory in Antarctica.

The Association for Psychological Science (APS) has named Thomas Rodebaugh, professor of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences, an APS Fellow.

Presolar grains — tiny bits of solid interstellar material formed before the sun was born — are sometimes found in primitive meteorites. But a noble gas analysis from physicists in Arts & Sciences reveals evidence of presolar grains in part of a meteorite where they are not expected to be found.

Singer. Writer. Performer. Visual artist. Over the course of her 45-year career, Patti Smith has established herself as one of the most prolific and influential artists of her generation. In fall 2020, Smith will receive the International Humanities Prize from Washington University in St. Louis.

Richard A. “Red” Watson, professor emeritus of philosophy in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Sept. 18, 2019, in Wellesley, Mass. He was 88.