Arts & Sciences

Constant blood flow shields the brain from cold, limiting the effects of any attempt to cool the brain.Attempts to cool the brain to reduce injury from stroke and other head trauma may face a significant obstacle: current cooling devices can’t penetrate very deeply into the brain. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have shown that blood flow in the brain creates a “cold shielding” effect and have developed a method for calculating brain temperature that may be used to improve brain cooling techniques.

David Kilper / WUSTL PhotoLars Angenent with an earlier model of his microbial fuel cell. An advance in the design has increased the power output by a factor of 10. Hopes are that the fuel cell can be scaled up even more and function as a viable energy form.In the midst of the worldwide energy crisis, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis have been continuing their work on a microbial fuel cell that generates electricity from wastewater. Advances in the design of this fuel cell in the last year have increased the power output by a factor of 10 and future designs, already in the minds of the researchers, hope to multiply that power output by 10 times again. If that goal can be achieved, the fuel cell could be scaled up for use in food and agricultural industries to generate electrical power – all with the wastewater that today goes right down the drain.

Richards has observed the inheritance of epigenetic factors in plants.Eric Richards, Ph.D., professor of biology at Washington University in St. Louis, writing in the May issue of Nature Reviews Genetics, analyzes recent and past research in epigenetics and the history of evolution and proposes that epigenetics should be considered a form of soft inheritance, citing examples in both the plant and mammalian kingdoms.

In the Thoroughman laboratory, volunteers play games on a computer screeen using a robotic arm so that Thoroughman and his colleagues can study how people learn motor skills.Central to being human is the ability to adapt: We learn from our mistakes. Previous theories of learning have assumed that the size of learning naturally scales with the size of the mistake. But now biomedical engineers at Washington University in St. Louis have shown that people can use alternative strategies: Learning does not necessarily scale proportionally with error.

Study groups help students more easily grasp the material from their classes.Studying in groups helps students learn more effectively. More than 20 years of academic research has consistently demonstrated that fact. But what exactly is it about studying with other people that makes it so effective? Through painstaking research, an expert in creativity and everyday conversation at Washington University in St. Louis has identified two patterns of group dynamics that show why group study is optimal. The research is published in the June 2005 Linguistics and Education journal.

The piece will receive its world première July 27 at Le Festival de Radio France et Montpellier.

Nanette Tarbouni, director of admissions, received this year’s Dean’s Award for her support, service and commitment to the academic enterprise.

Gas tax relief?With voters clamoring for relief from skyrocketing prices at the gas pump, politicians are floating a wide range of quick-fix solutions, many of which could cause more problems than they solve, suggests Paul Rothstein, a specialist in the economics of public spending at Washington University in St. Louis. More…

The answer to a 50-year-old question has been found by scientists at the School of Medicine. The question: Is it possible to accurately measure the intrinsic filling function of the heart?

In its 43rd season of summer shows, the orchestra will highlight composers and young artists from Missouri and Illinois.