Arts & Sciences

Below is a link to the Washington University news release about the U.S. News & World Report undergraduate rankings for 2004-05: http://news-info.wustl.edu/news/page/normal/3627.html To view a full listing of U.S. News magazine, book and Web-only rankings for 2004-05, please visit the U.S. News & World Report site: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php

“If all of the other defendants accept plea deals, and Vick does not, Vick will become the last man standing,” says Christopher A. Bracey, associate professor of law and of African and African-American studies at Washington University in St. Louis. “This means that he will not only bear the brunt of a focused prosecution, but one substantially assisted by his former co-defendants.” He is following the case and is available for interviews.

It’s no laughing matter that older adults have a tougher time understanding basic jokes than do younger adults. It’s partially due to a cognitive decline associated with age, according to University researchers Wingyun Mak, a graduate student in psychology in Arts & Sciences, and Brian Carpenter, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology.

Photo by David KilperBill Rosser, a biology teacher from Fayetteville, Ark., and Barbara Schaal, Ph.D., the Spencer T. Olin Professor of Biology in Arts & Sciences, gather aquatic invertebrates from a pond at Tyson Research Center during the ecology component of the inaugural Life Sciences for a Global Community summer institute, held at various parts of campus July 8-27.

Robert E. Blankenship, Ph.D., professor of biology and chemistry in Arts & Sciences, was installed as the first Lucille P. Markey Distinguished Professor March 6 in Holmes Lounge.

The coconut has been popular in lore and on palates for centuries, yet little is known about the history of this palm’s domestication and dispersal around the world. Now, Kenneth M. Olsen, Ph.D., assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is embarking on the task of understanding the plant’s history by exploring the genetics of the coconut.

Caves are in trouble, at least in St. Louis County, Missouri, says Robert Criss, Ph.D., professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, co-author of a scholarly paper that documents, archives and describes the status of all the known 127 caves found in the 508 square mile county.

Image courtesy of NASAThe Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) taking pictures of Mars.A software program developed by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis is allowing access to planetary data and early images from the most powerful spectral camera ever sent to Mars. The information is now available on NASA’s online planetary data archive.

GibsonA 2002 U.S. Supreme Court decision protecting the right of judicial candidates to speak freely about controversial issues opened the door for state judicial election campaigns to become increasingly nasty, bitter and politicized. However, the Court’s decision has not directly damaged the court system’s legitimacy in the eyes of citizens, suggests a new study from Washington University in St. Louis.

The next generation of consumers will be the true beneficiaries of the promise of genomics. But how will they make informed choices in a world resplendent with genomics products, including tools to predict disease and the engineered drugs to treat those diseases? The answer, says Sarah C.R. Elgin, Ph.D., WUSTL professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, is more genetics and genomics at every level of American education.