Arts & Sciences

Water. It is the source of life, the indispensible molecule, the elemental force that carves rivers, topples mountains, nurtures crops and extinguishes flame. In “Scattered,” Motionhouse Dance Theatre combines daring movement, mid-air acrobatics and state-of-the-art projection technology to capture the might, majesty and savagery of water.

Washington University in St Louis chemist Timothy Wencewicz says we’ll stay ahead of antibiotic resistance only if we find drugs with new scaffolds, or core chemical structures. One promising candidate, an antibiotic made by a bacterium than infects plants, caught his attention because it contains an “enchanted ring,” the beta-lactam ring that is found in penicillin. In this drug candidate, however, it acts against a different target than the penicillins.

Roger Tsien, one of three chemists who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2008 for the discovery and development of green fluorescent protein, will give the Leopold Marcus lecture at Washington University in St. Louis. His talk, “Fluorescent Molecules for Fun and Profit,” is intended for a general audience and will take place at 4 p.m. Wednesday, March 12, in the Laboratory Sciences Building, Room 300. The talk is free and open to the public.

Eric Lundgren’s debut novel, “The Facades,” has been praised by The New Yorker as “hardboiled existentialism.” Marni Ludwig’s debut collection of poetry, “Pinwheel,” was chosen by Jean Valentine for the 2012 New Issues Poetry Prize. On Thursday, March 6, these two recent alumni will return to campus for a free public reading.

In Brave Genius, biologist Sean Carroll, PhD, AB ’79, moves beyond science and into World War II history, the French Resistance, philosophy and Cold War politics to tell the story of two Nobel Prize winners, biologist Jacques Monod and writer Albert Camus.

Members of the Washington University community follow their research goals to the corners of the world.

Experts weigh in on the definition and context of a popular term.

Jean Allman, PhD, the J.H. Hexter Professor in the Humanities in Arts & Sciences and chair of the Department of History, recently was named director of WUSTL’s Center for the Humanities. Allman shares some thoughts on the center’s ever-growing importance and role in highlighting the rich diversity of the humanities.

Schubert borrowed from Beethoven. Public Enemy sampled Isaac Hayes. Ice Cube quoted Kool and the Gang while Brahms let drop with “Variations on a Theme from Haydn.” Hip-hop and classical music: perhaps not as different as you think. Old news to Wilner “Wil-B” Baptiste and Kevin “Kev Marcus” Sylvester, a.k.a. Black Violin.

WUSTL High School Summer Experiences offers students from the United States and around the world a chance to experience all facets of college life in both for-credit and noncredit options. Programs range from one to five weeks, with both residential and commuter options.