Tyson designated an Earth Observatory

Tyson designated an Earth Observatory

A 60-acre plot in Washington University in St. Louis’ Tyson Research Center has been named a Forest Global Earth Observatory, or ForestGEO. The oak-hickory forest in the rolling foothills of the Ozarks joins a network of 51 long-term forest study sites in 23 countries, including eight others in the United States. Together, the forests, containing roughly 8,500 species and 4.5 million individual trees, comprise the largest, systematically studied network of forest-ecology plots in the world.

University College Preview Night Dec. 12

University College — the professional and continuing education division in Arts & Sciences — is hosting Preview Night for the spring 2014 semester at 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 12, in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, on the Danforth Campus. Doors open at 6 p.m.; a light dinner will be served.

Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Brahms Dec. 9

The hope was to repair a friendship. The result was a masterwork. On Dec. 9, the St. Louis Symphony’s Bjorn Ranheim and Shawn Weil will join the Washington University Symphony Orchestra for a performance of Johannes Brahms’ “Double Concerto in A for Violin and Cello.”​

Listeners can distinguish voices of tall versus short people, study finds

A new study by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis, University of California, Los Angeles, and Indiana University found that listeners can accurately determine the relative heights of speakers just by listening to them talk. The key clue may be contained in a particular type of sound produced in the lower airways of the lungs, known as a subglottal resonance.

Handel’s Messiah Sunday, Dec. 15

It is perhaps the most beloved work of holiday music. The debut was almost prevented by Jonathan Swift. But on Dec. 15, the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah (1741) in Graham Chapel.

Washington University among top Fulbright producers

Washington University in St. Louis has been recognized as one of the top institutions in the nation for producing Fulbright students for 2013-14. Twelve Fulbright grants were awarded to current or recent WUSTL students for this academic year to fund various international educational exchange endeavors.
Scientists stitch up photosynthetic megacomplex

Scientists stitch up photosynthetic megacomplex

In Science, scientists at Washington University in St. Louis report on a new technique that allowed them to extract a photosynthetic megacomplex consisting of a light antenna and two reaction centers from the membrane of a cyanobacterium. This is the first time an entire complex has been isolated and studied as a functioning whole.

Marc Copland, Gary Peacock and Joey Baron

As a young saxophonist in the early 1970s, Marc Copeland experimented with modern and electric harmonies but grew dissatisfied with his instrument. He quit the sax and, a decade later, re-emerged as a jazz pianist, renowned for his dexterous lyricism. On Friday, Dec. 6, Copland will join acclaimed bassist Gary Peacock and drummer Joey Baron for a performance in WUSTL’s 560 Music Center.
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