Birds of a feather better not together

Birds of a feather better not together

Diversity plays a key role in maintaining the stability of plant and animal life in an area. But it’s difficult to scale up smaller experiments to understand how changes will impact larger ecosystems. A new study of North American birds from biologists in Arts & Sciences reveals the importance of both total numbers and variation in species identities.
Stakes could not be higher in Supreme Court abortion case

Stakes could not be higher in Supreme Court abortion case

Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University in St. Louis, argues that it is time to put away uncompromising and extreme rhetoric and truly listen to one another to find solutions that honor both the sanctity of life and a woman’s right to choose. 
Tracking the migration of a naked mole rat

Tracking the migration of a naked mole rat

Stan Braude, a biologist in Arts & Sciences, published a new study in the African Journal of Ecology that considers the role of the moon in driving a particularly rare occurrence: the solo journey of a naked mole rat from one underground colony to start a new one.
Sanchez Prado appointed Library of Congress Kluge Chair

Sanchez Prado appointed Library of Congress Kluge Chair

The John W. Kluge Center at the U.S. Library of Congress has appointed Ignacio M. Sanchez Prado, the Jarvis Thurston and Mona Van Duyn Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, as the 2020 Kluge Chair in Countries and Cultures of the South.
Heroes, theater and suspensions of disbelief

Heroes, theater and suspensions of disbelief

Ten brave men board four wooden skiffs for a pioneering journey across the vast, uncharted American West. Except that sites they discover are well known to countless generations of native peoples. And the rivers they float are theatrical sets. And the men on the boats are not men.
Barch elected to head AAAS psychology section

Barch elected to head AAAS psychology section

Deanna Barch, professor and chair of psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences and the Gregory B. Couch Professor of Psychiatry at the School of Medicine, was chosen as the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s chair-elect of its Section on Psychology. She will begin her role as chair in February 2021.
Obituary: Alec Becker, student in Arts & Sciences, 18

Obituary: Alec Becker, student in Arts & Sciences, 18

Alec Becker, a first-year student in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died by suicide Thursday, Feb. 6, 2020, in his hometown of Dallas. He was 18. Becker only attended Washington University for the fall semester, but friends and faculty who had the opportunity to know Becker say he was thoughtful, warm and spirited. 
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