Arts & Sciences

Photo by David KilperThat clover necklace you make for your child could be a ring of poison. That’s because some clovers have evolved genes that help the plant produce cyanide — to protect itself against herbivores such as snails, slugs and voles. Kenneth Olsen, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is looking at the genetics of a wide variety of white clover plants to determine why some plants do and some plants don’t make cyanide. Ecology and geography play important roles.

Is that clover necklace you make for your child poison? It could be. Kenneth Olsen, Ph.D., Washington University assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is looking at the genetics of a wide variety of white clover plants to determine why some plants do and some plants don’t make cyanide. Ecology and geography play important roles.

Soprano Jennifer Jakob will perform an intimate Liederabend for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers. The program will include songs by Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.

On Wednesday, Oct. 17, the documentary “Thin” will be shown at 7 p.m. in McDonnell Hall, Room 162, followed by a panel discussion with health professionals. The film is a comprehensive and honest profile of four women struggling with their affliction at an eating disorders treatment center.

Marxism in China, taboo images in Tibet and war, sex work and memory in 20th-century Japan will be among topics discussed as WUSTL welcomes the 56th annual Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs to the Danforth Campus Oct. 19-21. The conference is sponsored by the East Asian Studies Program in Arts & Sciences.

Photo by David KilperLarry A.Taber, Ph.D., (left) the Dennis and Barbara Kessler Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Philip Bayly, Ph.D., the Hughes Professor of Mechanical Engineering, employ a microindentation device to measure the mechanical properties of embryonic hearts and brains. The researchers are examining mechanical and developmental processes that occur in the folding of the brain’s surface, or cortex, which gives the higher mammalian brain more surface area (and more intellectual capacity) than a brain of comparable volume with a smooth surface.

Image courtesy of the BBCWhat good is longevity if you end up looking like this? WUSTL biologist Stan Braude, working on a book about the critters, says the naked mole rat is being studied for its tendency to live a long life.Who would have thought that the secrets to long life might exist in the naked, wrinkled body of one of the world’s ugliest animals? Probably not many, but current research may be leading seekers of the Fountain of Youth to a strange little beast — the naked mole rat.

Jennifer JakobSoprano Jennifer Jakob will perform an intimate Liederabend for the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences. Literally translated as “evening of song,” Liederabend is a German term referring to a recital given by a singer and pianist, particularly of works by 19th-century Austrian or German composers. The program will include songs by Hugo Wolf, Johannes Brahms, Franz Schubert, Robert Schumann and Richard Strauss.

It’s been almost 100 years since Oxford University Press published the collected works of Edmund Spenser. A Washington University English professor and a team of Arts & Sciences undergraduate and graduate students are involved in a major project to publish a new edition for Oxford University Press — which will be complemented by an even more substantial digital archive.

Marxism in China, taboo images in Tibet and war, sex work and memory in 20th century Japan will be among topics discussed as Washington University welcomes the 56th Annual Midwest Conference on Asian Affairs to St. Louis, Oct, 19-21. Program includes pre-conference workshop for K-12 teachers on Oct. 13