The Record

Targeted excavating leads to lost city

Using modern, high-tech analysis tools, anthropologist Michael Frachetti, of Arts & Sciences, is leading groundbreaking research on an ancient city high in the Uzbekistan mountains.

$10 million DNA sequencing effort aims to shed light on lung diseases

The McDonnell Genome Institute has received $10 million from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute to sequence the DNA of people from diverse ethnic backgrounds. The effort aims to identify the genetic roots of COPD and other lung disorders.

Detecting diluteness

Engineers at Washington University and Princeton University developed a new way to dive into the cell’s tiniest and most important components. What they found could lead to better understanding of diseases such as cancer and Huntington’s.

Pulling the tablecloth out from under essential metabolism

Most organisms share the biosynthetic pathways for making crucial nutrients because it is dangerous to tinker with them. But now a collaborative team of scientists has caught plants in the process of altering where and how cells make an essential amino acid.

New Danforth Campus thermostat setpoint policy rolls out

The Office of Sustainability is partnering with the Danforth Campus’ Facilities Planning & Management office to roll out a new thermostat setpoint policy, designed to take the chill out of campus office temperatures during the summer.

Interrogating the archive

Artist Kari Varner examines the resiliency of nature, the specificity of place and the limits of our own perceptions. Varner’s work is part of the annual MFA Thesis Exhibition, on view through Aug. 6 at the Kemper Art Museum.

From Ultra-Condensed Science: bacteria that eat electricity

Scientists have discovered microbes that eat electricity, and they’re very common. They’ve remained invisible so long because they don’t grow well in labs. Arts & Sciences’ Arpita Bose describes these fantastic bugs.