Arts & Sciences

Image courtesy of Karin Peyer, 2001*Postosuchus*, the “alligator on stilts,’ was quite a mover in its day.How much different do the bones of similar animals have to be for the classification of a new species? That is the question that drove Stephanie Novak, a new doctoral candidate in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences at Washington University in St. Louis, to develop a novel model to determine classification of a new species. Novak presented details of her model at the annual meeting of the Geological Society of America, held Nov.2-5 in Seattle.

Courtesy of Monterey Bay Area Research InstituteA fish on the ocean floor off California gazes at a sight no human has seen first-hand: a modified Raman spectrometer gathering data on a carbon dioxide sample.In collaboration with oceanographers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), a team of geologists at Washington University in St. Louis is using a rare instrument on the ocean floor just west of California. One of their earliest projects was to see if it’s possible to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it on the ocean floor. It’s the first deployment of the Raman spectrometer on the ocean floor.

A new book by botanists at Washington University in St. Louis enlightens both consumers of natural products and herbs and traditional physicians. Medical Botany, Plants Affecting Human Health, is the second edition of a 1977 book, Medical Botany, published by Walter Lewis, Ph.D., professor emeritus of biology, and Memory Elvin-Lewis, Ph.D., professor of microbiology and ethnobotany in biomedicine in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

Image courtesy of Cindy LustigParts of the brain involved in a “resting network” show large differences between young adults, older adults, and people with Alzheimer’s disease.Researchers tracking the ebb and flow of cognitive function in the human brain have discovered surprising differences in the ability of younger and older adults to shut down a brain network normally active during periods of passive daydreaming. The differences, which are especially pronounced in people with dementia, may provide a clear and powerful new method for diagnosing individuals in the very early stages of Alzheimer’s disease.

WeidenbaumThe economic power of American businesses is playing a key role in the war on terrorism: helping cut off the flow of money to terrorist groups, producing anti-terrorist equipment, screening employees and visitors entering company facilities, manufacturing the medicines to respond to biological and chemical attacks, and making the weapons used by our armed forces in the fight. Nevertheless, such responses often raise the cost of production and act like a new tax on private enterprise, suggests Washington University in St. Louis economist Murray Weidenbaum.

December/January Culture & Living Tip Sheet

One of the team’s earliest projects was to see if it’s possible to capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and store it on the ocean floor.

Mark Tansey, detail, *Four Forbidden Senses (Taste, Sound, Smell, Touch)* (1982), Oil on four canvas panelsThe art world of the 1980s was a place of artistic diversity and aesthetic contention. In January, the Gallery of Art at Washington University in St. Louis will revisit those years with American Art of the 1980s: Selections From the Broad Collections, which includes 14 large-scale paintings and sculptures by 11 celebrated and sometimes controversial figures.

The Washington University Opera will present Stephen Paulus’ one-act opera The Village Singer at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Dec. 12 and 13, in the University’s Karl Umrath Lounge.

Washington University’s Department of Music in Arts & Sciences will present its annual sing-along of George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 14, in Graham Chapel.