Arts & Sciences

The island of Madagascar off the coast of Africa was largely unexplored seismically until recently. The first broadband seismic images of the island help solve a longstanding mystery: why are there volcanoes far from any tectonic boundary?

Washington University Dance Theatre will present “Critical Mass,” its 2016 concert, Dec. 2-4 in Edison Theatre. The annual event will feature dozens of dancers, selected by audition, performing new and original choreography by seven faculty and visiting artists.

Plant scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have isolated an enzyme that controls the levels of two plant hormones simultaneously, linking the molecular pathways for growth and defense. Plant scientists have long known that distinct plant hormones can interact in complex ways, but how they do so has remained mysterious.

On Nov. 4-6, Washington University hosted Field of Dreams, the annual conference of the Math Alliance, an organization dedicated to increasing the number of traditionally underrepresented groups in doctoral programs in the mathematical sciences.

Striking racial divides in the 2016 election serve as a reminder that racially charged narratives still have a powerful hold on the American mindset. If the left is to compete in future elections, it must learn to tell competing narratives that build coalitions around racial justice, says political scholar Clarissa Hayward.

Gabriela González, the spokesperson for the  science collaboration that  detected gravitational waves in spacetime passing over Earth for the first time this year, will deliver the ninth annual Robert M. Walker Distinguished Lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 17. The talk, hosted by the McDonnell Center for the Space Sciences, will take place in Whitaker […]

How do we define ourselves? What traits do we admire, what talents do we cultivate? And what happens if we pick the wrong things? In “Thinking It,” playwright-in-residence Carter W. Lewis examines the intoxicating power of love as well as the choices — deliberate and otherwise — that shape who we are and who we become.

Sophia Hayes, professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, served on a committee that prepared a report and launched a website about the shortage of liquid helium and how both the government and scientific researchers can respond.

Donald Trump’s surprising success with Mormon, Catholic and evangelical Christian voters can best be explained by the deep distrust that these groups have for Hillary Clinton, suggests R. Marie Griffith, director of the John C. Danforth Center on Religion and Politics.

Donald Trump’s election has shocked many. But for Adia Harvey Wingfield, professor of sociology in Arts & Sciences, the candidate’s rhetoric has been all too familiar.