More than 70 high school students spent their summer working with some of the top scientists in the greater St. Louis area. These aspiring student scientists conducted a wide range of research, studying everything from the mating activities of female water snakes to new methods for early cancer detection.

Aspiring scientists spent the morning of June 24 mentally kicking around topics like the molecular soccer ball and ethics in science. More than 70 high school students participating in the Students and Teachers as Research Scientists program at the University of Missouri-St. Louis listened to presentations given by UMSL Chancellor Tom George and Andrew Black, teaching professor of philosophy at UMSL. George, who also is a professor of chemistry and physics, discussed “The Saga of the Molecular Soccer Ball” and “Scientists as Administrators.”

If Big Bird could fly, he would have difficulty replacing his flight feathers each year. A University of Missouri-St. Louis ornithologist and his colleagues have examined the time required to grow flight feathers as a function of body size. In an article published in the latest PLoS Biology journal, Robert Ricklefs, Curators’ Professor of Biology at UMSL, along with Sievert Rohwer and other researchers at the Burke Museum at the University of Washington in Seattle, show that feather growth does not increase as rapidly as feather size, greatly prolonging the period of feather replacement in large birds.

Susan Brownell, chairperson and professor in the Department of Anthropology and Languages at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, received the Anthology Award in Sport History from the North America Society for Sport History. She was honored for the book, “The 1904 Anthropology Days and Olympic Games: Sport, Race, and American Imperialism,” which she edited.

Richard Wright (pictured), Curators’ Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, was named a fellow of the American Society of Criminology in May. The title is given to scholars who have achieved distinction in the field of criminology.

Robert Ricklefs, Curators’ Professor of Biology at the University of Missouri-St Louis, has been awarded the Humboldt Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The award recognizes his lifetime achievements in research and promotes international collaboration in the sciences.