Research Spotlight

Scientists Find ‘Painting Gene’ Influences Pattern, Evolution of Butterfly Wings
An international team of scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding how genetics and evolution work in concert to shape biodiversity by investigating the complex color patterns of butterfly wings.

New Study Describes How Surface Texture Can Help or Hinder Formation of Ice Crystals
A new study examining how ice forms from pure water found that the geometry of the surface that water is on can have an effect on whether or not it freezes, suggesting that surface geometry plays an important role in ice formation.
New Tool for Measuring Police and Law Enforcement Interactions Reflects Police-Based Discrimination Experiences of Black Men
Researchers have developed a new tool to catalog police and law enforcement interactions with black men, the Police and Law Enforcement (PLE) Scale, with the hope of documenting people’s experiences and perceptions of police-based discrimination.

GW Extremism Tracker: US Officials Charged 122 People with Offenses Related to the Islamic State Group Since March 2014
The number of charges related to the Islamic State group issued in the United States since March 2014 increased from 117 to 122, according to updated research from the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

Study Finds Bonobos May Be Better Representation of the Last Common Ancestor with Humans than Common Chimpanzees
A new study examining the muscular system of bonobos provides firsthand evidence that the rare great ape species may be more closely linked, anatomically, to human ancestors than common chimpanzees.
Study Finds Medical Providers Who Prescribe PrEP to Prevent HIV Don’t See Most Patients Increasing Risky Sexual Behavior
A new study examining medical provider attitudes toward prescribing PrEP to prevent HIV found that those who already prescribe it do not see widespread increases in risky sexual behavior among their patients as a result.

GW Extremism Tracker: US Officials Charged 117 People with Offenses Related to the Islamic State Group Since March 2014
The number of charges related to the Islamic State group issued in the United States since March 2014 increased from 115 to 117, according to updated research from the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

GW Extremism Tracker: US Officials Charged 115 People with Offenses Related to the Islamic State Group Since March 2014
The number of charges related to the Islamic State group issued in the United States since March 2014 increased from 114 to 115, according to updated research from the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.

Researchers Design Facial Recognition System as a Less Invasive Approach to Tracking Lemurs in the Wild
A team of researchers has developed a new computer-assisted recognition system that can identify individual lemurs in the wild by their facial characteristics and ultimately help to build a database for long-term research on lemur species.

GW Extremism Tracker: US Officials Charged 114 People with Offenses Related to the Islamic State Group Since March 2014
The number of charges related to the Islamic State group issued in the United States since March 2014 increased from 113 to 114, according to updated research from the George Washington University’s Program on Extremism.
Research Spotlight
Scientists Design Solar Cell that Captures Nearly All Energy of Solar Spectrum
Scientists have designed and constructed a prototype for a new solar cell that integrates multiple cells stacked into a single device capable of capturing nearly all of the energy in the solar spectrum.

GW Researchers Use Light to Control Human Heart Cells and Expedite Development of New Drugs
The research is outlined in a paper which published in Nature Communications on Tuesday.

Triceratops Gets A Cousin: Researchers Identify Another Horned Dinosaur Species
The findings were published in PLOS ONE on Dec. 9.