Arts & Sciences

Genes inherited from mothers (matrigenes) and fathers (patrigenes) usually work harmoniously in the offspring. However, kin selection theory predicts these genes may be in conflict in interactions among relatives in which they are unequally represented (half-siblings). In honey bees, patrigenes are predicted to favor daughters that lay eggs themselves rather than remaining sterile and rearing their half-sisters’ offspring. An experimental test bears out this prediction.

Daniel J. Leopold, PhD, research associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Dec. 10, 2015, after a battle with pancreatic cancer. He was 61.

Richard W. Davis, PhD, professor emeritus of history in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Friday, Dec. 25, 2015, in hospice care at Laclede Groves in St. Louis. He was 80.

L. Lewis Wall, MD, DPhil, has been named the inaugural Selina Okin Kim Conner Professor in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis. He was installed Oct. 21. Wall is also professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences and professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

Even before they can read, children as young as three years of age are beginning to understand how a written word is different than a simple drawing — a nuance that could provide an important early indicator for children who may need extra help with reading lessons, suggests new research from Washington University in St. Louis.

Six members of the Washington University in St. Louis faculty have been honored with 2015 Emerson Electric Co. “Excellence in Teaching” awards.

​New discoveries, a new campus, Star Wars economics and another presidential debate – these were among the most-read stories of 2015 at Washington University in St. Louis.​

The Moon was never a fully homogenized body like Earth, analysis of Moon rocks made by the Chinese rover, Yutu, suggests. The basalts the rover examined are a new type, chemically different from those retrieved by the Apollo and Luna missions 40 years ago.

Curious seismologists who looked at the recordings made by a seismic station four miles away from the “cook-off” of an ammunition holding area in Iraq in 2006 found they could distinguish, mortars, rockets, improvised explosive devices, helicopters and drones. Seismology is increasingly being used for investigative purposes, they said, not just to detect earthquakes.

Wishing family and friends a “Happy New Year” is all well and fine, but if you’re serious about spreading cheer in the New Year, consider passing along more specific advice from a psychologist who studies the science of happiness at Washington University in St. Louis.