Arts & Sciences

Nearly 100 years after the discovery of cosmic rays, a new type of gamma-ray telescope is finally allowing physicists to make images of cosmic-ray nurseries.

Human guinea pigs do their homework before volunteering for high-paying clinical trials. New research shows that people equate large payments for participation in medical research with increased levels of risk. And when they perceive studies to be risky, potential participants spend more time learning about the risks and nature of the study. Findings published this month in Social Science and Medicine, suggest there is a “mismatch” between current research guidelines for setting compensation levels and the assumptions participants make about the levels of pay and risk.

Richard M. Hazelton, Ph.D., professor emeritus of English in Arts & Sciences, died Friday, Nov. 13, 2009, of pneumonia at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis. He was 91.

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, in Graham Chapel. John Stewart, director of vocal activities, directs the program.

Pierre-Augustin Caron de Beaumarchais (1732-99) was one of the great self-made men of 18th century Europe, a watchmaker who rose through the ranks of French nobility. Yet Beaumarchais is probably best remembered for his semi-autobiographical Figaro plays, two of which — The Marriage of Figaro (1778) and The Barber of Seville (1773) — would form the basis for celebrated operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-91) and Gioacchino Rossini (1792-1868), respectively.

A group at Washington University recently tackled a simple circuit in the visual processing area of a chicken’s brain that detects motion in its field of view — with surprising results.

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6, in Graham Chapel. John Stewart, director of vocal activities, directs the program.

Richard M. Hazelton, Ph.D., professor emeritus of English in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, died Friday, Nov. 13, 2009. He was 91.

Washington University Dance Theatre (WUDT), the annual showcase of professionally choreographed works performed by student dancers, will present Transmotion, its 2009 concert, Dec. 4 to 6 in Edison Theatre. Performances — sponsored by the Performing Arts Department (PAD) in Arts & Sciences — will feature more than three dozen student dancers, selected by audition, in seven original works by faculty and guest choreographers. Pieces range from ballet and contemporary dance to works drawing on Chinese and Native American traditions.

In a study published in the journal PLoS ONE, a team of researchers, including Herman Pontzer, Ph.D., assistant professor of anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has found strong evidence that many dinosaur species likely were warm-blooded.