Increases in federal transfers, money that the federal government sends to states to improve the well being of citizens, are strongly associated with a decrease in infant mortality rates, finds a new study from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis.

Being the Washington University Bear mascot is hard work, especially on a Division III campus where sports take second place to studying. But three new bears will be making their debut this season, including exchange student Priyanka Deodhar. “Being a mascot is the most American thing I can think of,” said Deodhar, who arrived this semester from France. The mascot will perform at the Bears football game at 1 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 22.

Over the past four years, The Divided City, an urban humanities initiative at Washington University in St. Louis, has supported dozens of projects exploring the effects of spatial segregation. This fall, the university will launch a second phase, The Divided City 2022, thanks to a $1 million grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

The question of what constitutes “naturalness” — and consumers’ attitudes about it — lies at the heart of Washington University in St. Louis research from lead author Sydney Scott, assistant professor of marketing in the Olin Business School.

Anyone who peruses relationship settings on social media knows that our interactions with other humans can be complicated, but a new study in Nature Scientific Reports suggests that researchers may be overlooking some of these same complexities in the social relations of our closest primate relatives, such as chimpanzees and macaques.

On the heels of the highly successful conclusion of Washington University in St. Louis’ $3.3-billion Leading Together capital campaign, the university has announced administrative changes in the organizational leadership of its alumni and development team.

The signs of stress, anxiety or depression in a student may be easy to spot. The hard part is knowing what to do next. Kognito At-Risk for Faculty & Staff, an online simulation tool, will help Washington University in St. Louis faculty and staff lead effective discussions with struggling students.

New research by Karen DeMatteo, a biologist in Arts & Sciences, finds three alternative explanations beyond errors in handler or dog training that can explain why dogs trained to identify scat for conservation purposes sometimes collect non-target scats.

Rather than social work practice being based solely on a therapist’s intuition and assumptions, social workers should consider a system of evaluation and measurement based on hard data, suggests a professor of social work at Washington University in St. Louis.

Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” is a thrilling adventure but also a prescient guidebook to the moral and ethical dilemmas of 20th and 21st century medicine. On Sept. 28-30, Washington University in St. Louis’ School of Medicine and College of Arts & Sciences will present a three-day forum exploring Shelley’s novel through the lens of contemporary medical practice.