Tristram R. “T.R.” Kidder, the Edward S. and Tedi Macias Professor of Anthropology in Arts & Sciences, has long studied the changes that humans have wrought on the land. In 2014, he published the earliest known archaeological evidence for human construction of large-scale levees and other flood-control systems in China — arguing that ancient levees […]
Most of the plastic we use today is petroleum-based and nonbiodegradable, creating more waste to crowd oceans and landfills. To address this daunting problem, Arpita Bose, an assistant professor of biology in Arts & Sciences, and her laboratory have spearheaded research on bioplastics. Her lab is among the first in the world to use microbial electrosynthesis […]
“The Smog Project,” designed by Dubai-based architecture firm Znera Space, is an ambitious proposal to clean the air in Delhi, one of the world’s most polluted cities. The project proposes a series of 328 feet-high air filtration towers, each producing more than 353 million cubic feet of clean air per day. The towers would suck […]
New research by scientists at Washington University in St. Louis sheds light on what happens underground when CO2 is injected into basalt, illustrating precisely how effective the volcanic rock could be as an abatement agent for CO2 emissions. The research, led by Daniel Giammar, the Walter E. Browne Professor of Environmental Engineering in the School of […]
Washington University in St. Louis researchers have received a $3.9 million grant from the Department of Energy (DOE). The grant is to develop bacteria that manufacture renewable biofuels — energy sources made from plants or microbes. Researchers at the School of Medicine and the School of Engineering & Applied Science are seeking to make biofuels whose production would […]
Biofuels could hold the key to greener, more environmentally sound energy, transportation, and product options. Scientists have already figured out how to engineer microbes’ metabolic pathways, turning them into tiny biofuel manufacturers. Now new research from Fuzhong Zhang, associate professor at the School of Engineering & Applied Science, further refines the process, joining together the […]
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 […]
In less than fifty years, global animal populations have declined by more than half. Extinction threatens one in five wild plant species, putting at risk supplies of food and medicines. Reversing this alarming trend will be critical to man’s survival. Washington University, the Missouri Botanical Garden and the Saint Louis Zoo are joining forces to […]
The Washington University in St. Louis Forums are designed to showcase top Washington University faculty members and to address global issues in ways that are accessible to a broad audience. Keynote addresses will be given by Dr. Pratim Biswas on energy choices, Dr. William Powderly on the public health consequences of the choices, and Dr. […]