A team of WashU scientists has simulated smoldering wildfires in the lab in order to study the effects of their smoke on the atmosphere. Black carbon, or soot, has already been identified as a major agent in atmospheric warming, but less is known about the effects of an organic particulate matter in smoke called brown […]
Multiple countries announced at the U.N. climate talks that they are committing to phase out coal as an energy source by 2030. But WashU Expert Pratim Biswas warns that a one-size-fits-all approach isn’t the most effective response to climate change. All U.N. countries need to take a holistic approach to energy choices, especially developing nations, […]
This fall, Nancy Y. Reynolds and Anne-Marie McManus launched the Mellon Sawyer Seminar, “Grounding the Ecocritical: Materializing Wastelands and Living on in the Middle East.” “Wastelands” refers to places with material and environmental degradation, ruin, and decay, as well as the social and natural life that inhabits them. “Ecocriticism” is the study of the relationship […]
Derek Hoeferlin, associate professor of architecture in the Sam Fox School of Design & Visual Arts, along with research assistants Jess Vanecek and Rob Birch, both master’s degree candidates in the Sam Fox School, has won first prize in the inaugural Designing Resilience in Asia International Open Competition. Sponsored by the School of Design and […]
Three WashU 2017 grads share their vision for a world where the environment and the economy are healthy. Sustainability advocates Nick Annin, Elise Fabbro and Nicola Salzman all participated in the International Climate Negotiation Seminar, an advanced Environmental Studies course is for students who will represent Washington University at the United Nations COP (Conference of […]
Washington University anthropologist Michael Frachetti is leading groundbreaking research on an ancient city in Uzbekistan. Lost and abandoned for a thousand years, the medieval city of Tashbulak lies buried beneath an isolated pasture high in the mountains. Before being discovered by Frachetti and his Uzbek co-investigator, Farhod Maksudov, in 2011, the well-preserved site was unknown […]
A team of students from Sam Fox School and the School of Engineering & Applied Science are preparing for Solar Decathalon 2017. Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy, the biennial competition challenges university teams from around the world to design and build full-size, solar-powered houses. Winners will be selected on the basis of design […]
As we push the limits of agriculture to feed more people in a warmer world, we do not understand how plants sense temperature. In a surprising turn of events, scientists at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and Washington University in St. Louis have just learned that plant light sensors also respond to temperature. […]
Leaders of developing countries might have a more crucial task — to enhance the public awareness of the environmental crisis the world is facing, and to provide alternative solutions for industry
Taylor Blevin, undergraduate student, had the opportunity to travel to Paris for the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.