Arts & Sciences

Washington University’s Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers academic courses to learners 50 and over, has become the newest member of the national network of Osher Lifelong Learning Institutes, thanks to funding from the Bernard Osher Foundation.

Virtuoso pianist Nikolai Lugansky, praised for his “plush sound and plenty impetuosity” by The New York Times, will open Washington University’s third Great Artists Series Feb. 10 with works by Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin and Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Does this recent extreme cold snap spell bad news for mosquitoes and ticks this summer? Not necessarily. Researchers at Tyson Research Center, the environmental field station for Washington University in St. Louis, offer insight into how both insects are surviving the Polar Vortex that has gripped most of the Midwest and eastern United States.

Cindy Brantmeier, professor of applied linguistics and education, has designed a social reading program that employs online games to help adolescent refugees and immigrants. The results are promising — test scores have improved along with student confidence.

Children who have more conflict in relationships with their mothers during early years of elementary school may find it more difficult to find a sense of purpose in life as they reach adulthood, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Black Anthology returns Feb. 1 and 2 to Edison Theatre with its 30th anniversary show, “The Creation,” inspired by James Weldon Johnson’s Harlem Renaissance poem of the same name. Senior Ebby Offord said the show’s staying power reflects the transformative power of art and the persistent challenges that African-American students face.

Monique Williams, AB ’95, MD ’99, MSCI ’08, is a physician with expertise in geriatric medicine and an advocate for including underrepresented populations in medical studies.

Stephen Lockhart, MD, AB ’77, is an avid outdoorsman who makes sure future generations have the opportunity to explore nature.

A book by John Bowen, professor of anthropology and the Dunbar-Van Cleve Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, received an honorable mention for the 2019 Laura Shannon Prize in Contemporary European Studies.

Purple rice is a whole grain with high levels of antioxidants — and high levels of genetic diversity, thanks to traditional farming practices, according to new research from Washington University in St. Louis.