Anthropology’s Alyanak named Volkswagen postdoctoral fellow
Oguz Alyanak, an anthropology doctoral student in Arts & Sciences, has been selected for a Volkswagen Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship in the Humanities to support his research on the social lives of working-class Muslim men in Germany, France and other European countries.
Bartley wins Sprout Award for best book in environmental studies
A book by Tim Bartley, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences, has won the Harold and Margaret Sprout Award for best book from the International Studies Association’s Environmental Studies Section.
PAD presents ‘Florida’ April 11-14
The Performing Arts Department presents the world premiere of “Florida,” a new play by recent alumnus Lucas Marschke, April 11-14 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre. Workshopped last fall as part of the A. E. Hotchner Playwriting Festival, the play recounts a dysfunctional vacation for the ages.
Creating sustainable bioplastics from electricity-eating microbes
Researchers in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis have figured out how to feed electricity to microbes to grow truly green, biodegradable plastic, as reported in the Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotechnology.
Specialist enzymes make E. coli antibiotic resistant at low pH
New research from Arts & Sciences suggests that many “redundant” enzymes are actually specialists that ensure maximal growth across different environments. They also seem to increase resistance to antibiotics in conditions like those in the GI tract or urinary tract — raising concerns that current antibiotic susceptibility tests are inadequate.
Tidying up: A new way to direct trash to autophagy
Marie Kondo herself couldn’t do it any better. Now researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have uncovered a previously unknown structural feature of living cells that is critical to tidying up.
Rusted root: Weedy rice repeatedly evolves ‘cheater’ root traits
Researchers led by Kenneth M. Olsen in Arts & Sciences used a new imaging technique to reveal a takeover strategy that has worked for weedy rice over and over again: roots that minimize below-ground contact with other plants.
WashU Expert: New labor laws would strengthen unions, fight income inequalities
New legislation designed to reverse a decades-long decline in worker’s rights under the National Labor Relations Act could play a critical role in reducing the growing income gap between rich and poor in America, according to the recent congressional testimony of a sociologist from Washington University in St. Louis.
‘Featherweight oxygen’ discovery opens window on nuclear symmetry
Researchers in Arts & Sciences have discovered and characterized a new form of oxygen dubbed “featherweight oxygen” — the lightest-ever version of the familiar chemical element oxygen, with only three neutrons to its eight protons.
Schaal to conclude Arts & Sciences deanship
Barbara A. Schaal, dean of the faculty of Arts & Sciences and the Mary-Dell Chilton Distinguished Professor of Biology at Washington University in St. Louis, has announced her intention to step down as dean by the end of the 2019-20 academic year, according to Chancellor-elect Andrew D. Martin.
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