Justin Phillip Reed, a 2015 graduate of the MFA Writing Program in Arts & Sciences, has won the 2018 National Book Award for Poetry. The award is generally considered among the world’s most prestigious literary prizes.

School of Medicine scientists have identified rogue cells – namely brain and muscle cells – lurking in kidney organoids, an indication that the “recipes” used to coax stem cells into becoming kidney cells inadvertently are churning out other cell types. The researchers also demonstrated they could prevent most of those wayward cells from forming, an approach that could be adopted by scientists working with other organoids, such as those of the brain, lung or heart.

Slow-motion collisions of tectonic plates under the ocean drag about three times more water down into the deep Earth than previously estimated, according to a first-of-its-kind seismic study that spans the Mariana Trench. The work has important implications for the global water cycle, according to Douglas A. Wiens in Arts & Sciences.

The Parking and Transportation team at Washington University in St. Louis is providing important alerts and reminders to the campus community and an update on future plans, including focus groups, vehicle storage options and a new shuttle service.

Washington University’s newly launched Cordell Institute for Policy in Medicine & Law has signed on as one of the early signatories of French President Emanuel Macron’s “Paris Call for Trust and Security in Cyberspace,” announced Nov. 12 as part of the peace forum commemorating 100 years since the ending of World War I.

Ovarian cancer claims the lives of more than 14,000 women in the U.S. each year, ranking fifth among cancer deaths in women. A multidisciplinary team at Washington University has found an innovative way to use sound and light to diagnose ovarian tumors, which may lead to a promising new diagnostic imaging technique to improve current standard of care.

Hiro is young and successful in New York, a world away from her old Kentucky home. But when her little sister decides to marry — at age 22, to a born-again Christian she just met — Hiro responds, determined to stop the wedding. Washington University’s Ron Himes will direct “Kentucky” Nov. 15-18 in the A.E. Hotchner Studio Theatre.

Students created sculptures, paintings, books, musical compositions and works of fiction that reimagined Frankenstein’s monster for the Monster Challenge. Sponsored by the Frankenstein Bicentennial, the contest celebrates Mary Shelley’s novel and its enduring legacy. Their work is now on view in Olin Library’s Gingko Room.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has updated its concussion recommendations to support children and teens engaging in light physical activity and returning to school as they recover. The School of Medicine’s Mark Halstead, MD, was lead author of the report, which also advises against complete removal of electronic devices.

In the largest genetic study of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers at the School of Medicine and the University of California, San Francisco, have found that genes that increase risk of cardiovascular disease also heighten the risk for Alzheimer’s.