Arts & Sciences

Alian Wang in the laboratoryA large team of NASA scientists, led by earth and planetary scientists at Washington University in St. Louis, details the first solid set of evidence for water having existed on Mars at the Gusev crater, exploration site of the rover Spirit.

Spurred by concerns over China’s booming economy, the Bush administation plans to crank-up pressure on Chinese authorities to curtail the rampant theft of intellectual property — the black market in pirated films, software and equipment that costs American companies billions in lost sales. While anti-piracy rhetoric plays well in Washington, a new book on the “Politics of Piracy” in China suggests that external diplomatic pressure will have little effect on China’s ability to enforce international norms on copyrights, trademarks and patents. “The key to gaining enforcement of those laws lies at the local level,” says the book’s author, WUSTL China specialist Andrew Mertha.

Stewart Goldstein”Crossin’ Over”The St. Louis Black Repertory Company will open its 29th season with Crossin’ Over, an all-new musical production chronicling the history of Africans in America, at Edison Theatre Sept. 14-25.

Joe Angeles/WUSTL Photo Services”Private Jokes, Public Places”The Sam Fox School of Design & Visual arts will present a staged reading of Oren Safdie’s Private Jokes, Public Places — a biting academic satire set amidst an architectural design review — at 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 12, in the foyer of Givens Hall.

The Washington University Chamber Orchestra will launch the Department of Music in Arts & Sciences’ 2005-06 season with an homage to the great Swedish singer Jenny Lind Sept. 12.

An unveiling of six portraits will be held during a reception and a traveling exhibit from the Chemical Heritage Foundation will be on display.

The students participated in an eight-week course and also attended a “Frontiers in Integrative Biological Research” workshop.

In this book, the University College adjunct professor tracks the rise in popularity of the NFL since that title game in 1958.

Researchers have found that the areas of the brain that young people use when daydreaming are the same areas that fail in people with Alzheimer’s.

Marty SohlAlonzo King’s LINES BalletAcclaimed dancer/choreographer Alonzo King, founder and artistic director of Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet in San Francisco, will take part in a public panel discussion on “Understanding Dance as the Language We Embody” at 4 p.m. Thursday, Sept. 22. The talk comes as part of a residency sponsored by a grant from the National College Choreography Initiative. The grant will support a variety of workshops and master classes with both King and Arturo Fernandez, ballet master for LINES, Sept. 12-23.