Locusts get a sensory assist from nanomaterials
Researchers from WashU McKelvey Engineering have developed a hybrid system that augments organisms including locusts to serve as sample collectors for chemical vapors. The work has implications for homeland security, environmental and industrial monitoring and healthcare.
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Perspectives
An Ode to Overhead Projectors
I still cherish the tactile quality of scribbling and scrawling my way through a lecture—the slow reveal of important concepts, the ease of annotating images, even the pen-stained hands, writes Eric Fournier.
Hendrix publishes ‘100 Things You Love to Draw’
Author and illustrator John Hendrix, at the Sam Fox School, has published a book designed for kids that encourages creativity and finding joy in making art.
‘Is technology making our lives less gratifying?’
WashU’s Ian Bogost, author most recently of “The Small Stuff,” chats with the “Life, Automated” podcast about how modern technology can optimize away “the sensory enchantment of everyday life.”
Videos
A scientist’s ‘a-ha moment’
Alex Quillin, PhD ’25, talks about the day she looked through the microscope and realized what she and her fellow students discovered.
Bookshelf
‘Michelangelo & Titian’
In his new book, “Michelangelo & Titian: A Tale of Rivalry & Genius,” WashU’s William Wallace explores a mutual admiration, and simmering competition, that unfolded over decades.