Arts & Sciences

In the Aug. 28 issue of the journal Nature, a multi-institution research network called modENCODE (the Model Organism ENCylopedia Of DNA Elements) published three major papers that map and compare the genomes and epigenomes of humans and two model organisms, the fly, D. melanogaster, and the worm, C. elegans, in unprecedented detail. The fly and worm could serve as model organisms for screening drugs and micronutrients that might alter the epigenome, which is implicated in many diseases.

Only recently has it become possible to accurately “see” the structure of a liquid. Using X-rays and a high-tech apparatus that holds liquids without a container, a physicist at Washington University in St. Louis has compared the behavior of glass-forming liquids as they approach the glass transition. The results are the strongest demonstration yet that bulk properties like viscosity are linked to microscopic ones like structure.

D. Tab Rasmussen, PhD, professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, died Thursday, Aug. 7, 2014, after an accident at his home in Edwardsville, Ill. He was 56. Rasmussen was a highly recognized physical anthropologist specializing in paleontology and behavioral ecology, especially among primates.

Look. Listen. Inhale. Exhale. In “December,” David Marchant explores the fragmentary nature of memory and the rhythms of human breathing. On Sept. 4, 5 and 6, Marchant will present “December” as part of “Dance Close Up.” The intimate concert will showcase 10 new and original works by dance faculty in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis.

As the St. Louis community grapples with recent events in the nearby suburb of Ferguson, Mo., a number of Washington University in St. Louis faculty members are offering their expertise, commentary and insight in hopes of promoting constructive dialogue on a number of challenging issues.​​

Erica Majumder, a graduate student in chemistry, won a travel grant from the American Chemical Society International Office to attend the International Symposium in Chemical Education Research in Lima, Peru, in October.

Marisa Bass, PhD, assistant professor of art history and archaeology in Arts & Sciences, received a research seed grant from the Humanities Center to fund her research in Munich in August for her new project, “Forged by Misfortune: The Art of Joris Hoefnagel in the Wake of the Dutch Revolt.”

At recent Board of Trustees meetings, several faculty members were appointed with tenure, promoted with tenure or reinstated with tenure.

In the past 10 years an active-learning course, called “Active Physics,” has gradually displaced lecture-based introductory courses in physics at Washington University in St. Louis. But are active-learning techniques effective when they are scaled up to large classes? A comprehensive three-year evaluation suggests that “Active Physics” consistently produces more proficient and confident students than the lecture courses it is replacing.

In March 2010, the ice sheets in Antarctica vibrated a bit more than usual as a surface wave from an 8.8-magnitude earthquake in Chile 3,000 kilometers away passed through the ice. Powerful earthquakes were known to trigger secondary quakes along faults in land; this was the first observation of triggered quakes in the ice. Washington University in St. Louis seismologist Doug Wiens says the finding is one of several discoveries made possible by POLENET, an array of seismic stations that reaches for the first time into the interior of Antarctica.