the ampersand

Piarulli receives early-career research award

Electric fish — and humans — pause before communicating key points

Biologist Bruce Carlson in Arts & Sciences draws parallels between human language and electric communication in fish. His new research published in Current Biology reveals an underlying mechanism for how pauses allow neurons in the midbrain to recover from stimulation.

Made in the shade for fun in the sun

A new study from the laboratory of Rick Vierstra in the Department of Biology helps explain how proteins called phytochromes respond to light intensity and temperature, thus enabling land plants to colonize the planet many millions of year ago.

How racial violence affects Black Americans’ mental health

Black Americans experience an increase in poor mental health days during weeks when two or more incidents of anti-Black violence occur and when national interest surrounding the events is higher, according to new research involving a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis

Study: Scant evidence that ‘wood overuse’ at Cahokia caused local flooding, subsequent collapse

Arts & Sciences archaeologists excavated around earthen mounds and analyzed sediment cores to test a persistent theory about the collapse of Cahokia, the pre-Columbian Native American city once home to more than 15,000 people.