Leah Shaffer Journalist Profile

Articles

Tiny and toxic: Researchers track smaller air pollution particles across US skies

2 weeks ago | phys.org | Leah Shaffer |Andrew Zinin

Air pollution causes health problems and is attributable to some 50,000 annual deaths in the United States, but not all air pollutants pack the same punch. Scientists have tracked the scope of "PM 2.5" pollution over decades. PM 2.5 is a size of "particulate matter" that is less than 2.5 microns in diameter.
Project will study struggles facing those with disabilities

Feb 17, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Chris Woolston |Leah Shaffer

With the support of a prestigious early-career award from the American Psychological Foundation, Payton Rule, a first-year graduate student in psychological and brain sciences in Arts & Sciences at WashU, is embarking on a project that will explore the psychological well-being of people with disabilities, a population that sometimes feels left out in an able-centric world.
Clark to enhance safety of autonomous systems

Jan 29, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Shawn Ballard |Leah Shaffer

Ensuring the safety of autonomous systems, such as driverless cars, unmanned aerial vehicles and surgical robots, is a critical challenge in the growing field of automation. A new award supports work at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis to develop a framework that will allow these systems to maintain safety even in the face of sensor malfunctions, mechanical failures or deliberate cyberattacks. Andrew Clark, an associate professor in the Preston M.
Chen elected fellow of Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence

Jan 27, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Beth Miller |Leah Shaffer

Yixin Chen, a professor of computer science and engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, has been elected a fellow of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI). Fellows have made significant, sustained contributions over at least a 10-year period to the field of artificial intelligence. Chen is the first person from WashU to be elected as an AAAI fellow, one of the highest honors in the AI community.
WashU researchers map individual brain dynamics

Jan 27, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Shawn Ballard |Leah Shaffer

The complexity of the human brain — 86 billion neurons strong with more than 100 trillion connections — enables abstract thinking, language acquisition, advanced reasoning and problem-solving, and the capacity for creativity and social interaction. Understanding how differences in brain signaling and dynamics produce unique cognition and behavior in individuals has long been a goal of neuroscience research, yet many phenomena remain unexplained.
Novel learning method proposed for generative AI in challenging environments

Jan 22, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Shawn Ballard |Leah Shaffer

In the world of generative artificial intelligence, generative adversarial networks (GANs) are simultaneously forgers and detectives identifying forgeries. GANs use artificial neural networks to generate new data (the forger) and evaluate that data to determine if it’s real or fake (the detective). The forger and the detective train against each other until the GAN’s created data is indistinguishable from the real thing.
Self-management skill and sense of purpose go hand-in-hand, study suggests

Jan 17, 2025 | phys.org | Leah Shaffer

People who are goal-oriented tend to have better outcomes in life partly because having a "sense of purpose" is a skill that can yield positive results.
Engineering better sleep

Jan 15, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Shawn Ballard |Leah Shaffer

Complex biological networks control a range of functions including the sleep cycle. Though scientists have ever-increasing volumes of data about the effects these complex systems produce, fully describing them mathematically has proven difficult. Without a firm understanding, effective interventions for chronic sleep disorders continue to be elusive, leaving more than 50 million Americans suffering.
May the force not be with you

Jan 13, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Beth Miller |Leah Shaffer

In mechanobiology, cells’ forces have been considered fundamental to their enhanced function, including fast migration. But a group of researchers in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis has found that cells can generate and use lower force yet move faster than cells generating and using higher forces, turning the age-old assumption of force on its head.
WashU engineer reaffirms century-old modern theory of lift

Jan 9, 2025 | source.washu.edu | Shawn Ballard |Leah Shaffer

In response to a splashy but mathematically dubious paper that suggested long-established theories of lift were fundamentally incomplete, David Peters, the McDonnell Douglas Professor of Engineering in the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, developed a fresh approach to reaffirm classical airfoil theory. Despite the turbulence in theoretical aerodynamics, the fundamental principles ensuring your safe and smooth flight remain robust and reliable.