Arts & Sciences

Male Bahamas mosquitofish (left) chasing a female (right).A biologist at Washington University in St. Louis has shown that for some fish species, females prefer males with larger sexual organs, and actually choose them for mating. That does not exclude males with an average-sized sex organ, called a gonopodium. These fish out-compete the larger-endowed males in a predator-laden environment because they have a faster burst speed than the males with larger genitalia, thus avoiding predators and staying in the mating game.

Washington University’s Kingsbury Ensemble will conclude its 2004-05 season with works of Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741) and Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) — today’s most popular composers of the Baroque era. The performance begins at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, May 15, in Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall. Tickets are $5 to $15.

Chemistry Professor Karen L. Wooley is principal investigator of a program that has received funding of $12.5 million for five years.

John Heuser, “Roddy” Roediger & Norman Schofield have been honored; the AAAS recognizes leadership in scholarship, business, the arts & public affairs.

The award was given for their outstanding academic performances and diversity of courses taken at the University.

Distinguished Alumni Award recipients are John Dubinsky, Flint Fowler, Henrietta Freedman, Diane Jacobsen & William Pollard; the Dean’s Medal goes to John Biggs.

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute has chosen the School of Medicine as one of four national research centers dedicated to the advancement of nanotechnology. The center, funded by a five-year, $12.5 grant, will be headed by WUSM chemist Karen Wooley. Read more in the following St. Louis Post-Dispatch article.

Washington University in St. Louis has been chosen as a Program of Excellence in Nanotechnology (PEN) by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Karen Wooley, Ph.D., Washington University professor of chemistry in Arts & Sciences, is principal investigator of the Program, which NHLBI is funding at $12.5 million for five years.

The Washington University Opera will present excerpts from four operas by Richard Strauss at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, May 6 and 7, in the University’s Karl Umrath Lounge.

The prize was first awarded in 1974 to recognize academic excellence and outstanding undergraduate achievement in research.