Arts & Sciences

In “Raindropped,” playwright Scott Greenberg, a senior in Arts & Sciences, explores the idea of falling from grace, both figuratively and literally. This weekend, “Raindropped” and two other student plays will receive their world premiere staged readings as part of Washington University in St. Louis’ annual A.E. Hotchner New Play Festival.

Legendary saxophonist Freddie Washington will launch Washington University in St. Louis’ fall Jazz at Holmes series Thursday, Sept. 21. The series will include 10 performances by locally and nationally known musicians, including Italian guitarist Filippo Cosentino and the university’s director of jazz performance, William Lenihan (pictured).

In “Borgia Infami,” St. Louis composer Harold Blumenfeld (1923-2014) combines historical fact and dramatic legend to investigate the nature of power and how secrets echo across the generations. On Sept. 30 and Oct. 1, Winter Opera Saint Louis and the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present the world premiere of Blumenfeld’s two-act opera in Edison Theatre at Washington University in St. Louis.

Scientists at Washington University estimate that the number of metabolites present in a data set could be 90 percent smaller than previously estimated.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded an eight-year, $5.85 million grant to Gary Patti, associate professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, for research.

The tomb of a Maya ruler excavated this summer at the Classic Maya city of Waka in northern Guatemala is the oldest royal tomb yet to be discovered at the site, the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Guatemala has announced.

Douglas Wiens, the Robert S. Brookings Distinguished Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, and Patrick Shore, staff scientist and lecturer in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences, will collaborate with eight other institutions on a $4.5 million National Science Foundation study of a volatile volcano and earthquake zone on the sea floor off the Alaskan Peninsula.

Nancy Y. Reynolds and Anne-Marie McManus, both of Arts & Sciences, discuss the environmental humanities and their new Mellon Sawyer Seminar, “Grounding the Ecocritical.”

Washington University is joining forces with the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo to create the Living Earth Collaborative, a new academic center dedicated to advancing the study of biodiversity to help ensure the future of Earth’s species in their many forms.

Scat-sniffing research dogs are helping scientists map out a plan to save reclusive jaguars, pumas, bush dogs and other endangered carnivores in the increasingly fragmented forests of northeastern Argentina, according to a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.