Arts & Sciences

A graduate student in earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis has combed the dinosaur fossil record from T. Rex to songbirds and has compiled the first quantitative analysis of the quality and congruence of that record.

A biography of St. Patrick is due out just in time for March 17.St. Patrick’s Day has become an excuse for Americans of all ethnic backgrounds to break out the green and head to their local parade or pub and imbibe in Irish beer and corned beef and cabbage. And just in time for this year’s celebration of St. Patrick’s feast day comes a book that will have many — even the true Irish — saying, “I didn’t know that” about Ireland’s beloved patron saint. Many of the stories about St. Patrick that have been passed down for generations, including the one about him ridding Ireland of its snakes, are false, says an expert in Celtic and classical studies at Washington University in St. Louis in a book being released in early March.

Scholars from around the world will come to the Hilltop Campus Feb. 12-14 for the symposium “Tennessee Williams: The Secret Year.”

His book is titled Islam, Law and Equality in Indonesia: An Anthropology of Public Reasoning.

The Lawrence Fields Group will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Lawrence Fields Group WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 12 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, […]

Dead Cat Bounce will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Dead Cat Bounce WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side of Brookings Quadrangle, near […]

Randy Holmes Hard Bop Heritage will perform for Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series from 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26. CALENDAR SUMMARY WHO: Randy Holmes Hard Bop Heritage WHAT: Washington University’s Jazz at Holmes Series WHEN: 8 to 10 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 26 WHERE: Holmes Lounge, Ridgley Hall, located on the west side […]

Public intellectuals — a class of specialists, all-purpose thinkers — will gather from 10-11:30 a.m. Feb. 12 in Graham Chapel at Washington University in St. Louis to have a “Conversation” about, well, public intellectuals. As part of the university’s yearlong 150th anniversary celebration, Arts & Sciences is sponsoring “Conversations,” a four-part series bringing some of the nation’s top scholars together to discuss key issues that will affect the future of the university, the community and the world.

McClatchyPoet and Essayist J.D. McClatchy will read from his work at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 19, for The Writing Program Reading Series at Washington University in St. Louis.

Photo by David KilperProfessor Losos displays lab mascot, Morton, an Australian-bearded dragon.As professor of biology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University, Losos uses lizards to integrate questions of ecology and evolution. He seeks to better understand how organisms survive in their present-day environments, how they’ve changed over time to fit into those environments, and how they’re continuing to change. “We can’t go back in time,” Losos says, “but we can see what happens today.” And, if one sees well enough, one can extrapolate back to understand how similar changes have occurred over millions of years.