University News

Danforth University Center is LEED Gold certified
The William H. and Elizabeth Gray Danforth University Center has received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The LEED rating system is a third-party certification program and a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of environmentally friendly buildings. The Danforth University Center is the first LEED Gold and second LEED-certified building on the Danforth Campus.

Historic international justice meeting at WUSTL
At the 1904 World's Fair, the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), an international organization of national parliaments, met at the Hall of International Congresses to issue its appeal for world peace and to adopt a resolution calling for a second Hague Peace Conference. This resolution, adopted in what is now known as Ridgley Hall, ultimately led to the 1907 Hague Convention Respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land, one of the most important humanitarian law treaties of the past century. Building on this legacy, a distinguished group of international law experts from around the world will gather at the law school April 12-15 to begin work on a Specialized Convention on Crimes Against Humanity as part of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute's Crimes Against Humanity Initiative.

Larry Haskin honored with named crater on the moon
The home pages of the Washington University's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and the Lunar and Planetary Institute feature a picture of the late Larry Haskin, Ph.D., professor of earth and planetary sciences in Arts & Sciences from 1976 to 2005, and the moon with this caption: "Welcome home, Larry." Haskin, who devoted much of his distinguished career to studying the moon, has joined cosmological luminaries like Copernicus, Kepler, and Galileo with the naming of a crater in his honor.

Research

Less invasive glaucoma surgery allows faster return to normal activity
Surgeons at the Washington University Eye Center and Barnes-Jewish Hospital are among the first to use a new surgical device to treat glaucoma. Surgery with the device, called a Trabectome, is an outpatient procedure that takes less time to perform and offers a shorter recovery than traditional glaucoma surgery. The device reduces pressure in the eye without the need for the filtration or shunts used in traditional glaucoma surgery, allowing surgeons to remove tissue so fluid more easily drains out of the eye.

Technology identified could reduce the spread of rice virus
Building on plant virus research started more than 20 years ago, a biologist at Washington University and his colleague at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in St. Louis have discovered a technology that reduces infection by the virus that causes Rice Tungro Disease, a serious limiting factor for rice production in Asia.

People who exercise lower their risk of colon cancer
An ambitious new study has added considerable weight to the claim that exercise can lower the risk for colon cancer. Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine and Harvard University combined and analyzed several decades worth of data from past studies on how exercise affects colon cancer risk. They found that people who exercised the most were 24 percent less likely to develop the disease than those who exercised the least.