Reflecting on St. Louis contributions in honor of King

The university will hold its 35th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Commemoration at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 17. Arts & Sciences’ John Baugh will deliver the virtual keynote address. The School of Medicine will host a week of programs and service opportunities, including a talk by Jonathan Metzl, author of “Dying of Whiteness.”

Racial equity in Alzheimer’s research focus of $7M in grants

Two research teams at Washington University — one led by Joyce Balls-Berry; the other led by Darrell Hudson and Ganesh Babulal — have received grants totaling $7 million to advance racial equity in Alzheimer’s disease research.

The ‘surprisingly simple’ arithmetic of smell

Research from the lab of Barani Raman at the McKelvey School of Engineering finds in locusts that the presence of smell can be determined by simply adding and subtracting the presence of certain neurons.

WashU Expert on a filibuster carve-out

A voting rights filibuster “carve-out” — or making an exception to the 60-vote threshold to overcome a legislative filibuster — would help to preserve the core democratic principle of majority rule, says constitutional law expert Gregory Magarian.

Research Wire

A team at the McKelvey School of Engineering found that conduction of heat plays a larger role than previously thought in the dynamics of droplets on smooth surfaces that repel water. Results are published in the journal Experimental Thermal and Fluid Science.

Notables

Justin Rustenhoven, a postdoctoral researcher at the School of Medicine, has been named a finalist for the Eppendorf & Science Prize for Neurobiology.

Announcements

Midwest Climate Collaborative kicks off Jan. 28

Washington University is a founding member of the Midwest Climate Collaborative, which will be officially introduced during an online summit Jan. 28.

Announcements

Blood drives scheduled

Members of the university community are urged to participate in upcoming blood drives to help restore the blood supply. The next one is Wednesday, Jan. 19, on the Medical Campus.