Getting ready for school on a snowy day can be quite a challenge for young children. In addition to eating breakfast, getting dressed and packing up workbooks, they have to remember extra things like boots, gloves, a hat, and a coat.
Undergraduate researcher Jenna (Eva) Caneva helped turn this real-life scenario into a simple cognition exercise to test the ability of 6-to-10-year-olds to follow instructions. » More …
In a cold, dimly blue-lit room, a strange human–animal hybrid paces before the entrance to a fiery red cave. When the “Huminal” senses a viewer approaching, it stops, turns its head to stare at the visitor and emits its own red-hot glow. The viewer must then decide how to respond to the apparent challenge: continue toward the creature or retreat.
The Huminal is an interactive, kinetic sculptural installation featuring an autonomous, mobile robot that senses and responds to changes in its environment. Created by an interdisciplinary team at Washington State University Tri-Cities, it incorporates research and techniques in fine arts, design, electrical and mechanical engineering, and robotics to provide a unique platform for exploring the relationship between humans and machines—and, it turns out, between artists and engineers, too. » More …
A new study by Washington State University psychology researchers reveals a dampened physiological response to stress in chronic cannabis users.
Using a nationally recognized procedure designed to provoke elevated levels of stress, Carrie Cuttler, clinical assistant professor of psychology, Ryan McLaughlin, assistant professor of integrative physiology and neuroscience, and colleagues in the WSU Department of Psychology examined levels of the stress hormone cortisol in both chronic cannabis users and non-users. » More …
WSU’s Center for Digital Scholarship and Curation recently received a $147,179 Digital Extension Grant from the American Council of Learned Societies to expand the Plateau Peoples’ Web Portal, a national archive of Native American cultural materials.
PULLMAN, Wash. – A graduation cap, winding stairs, prison bars, open books, a happy family, a dangling key — these and many other meaningful images play across a vibrant mural created by social-justice minded WSU students to convey a transformative message.
The 4-by-8-foot painting titled “CHANGE” outlines various life-course options and urges viewers to actively engage in transformation, particularly regarding youth justice in America. It is now on public display in WSU’s Compton Union Building. » More …
Do Americans want to use more renewable energy?
Yes they do – regardless of whether they’re Democrats or Republicans, according to new research by Washington State University sociologists.
Christine Horne, professor of sociology, and Emily Kennedy, assistant professor of sociology, published a study in the journal Energy Policy » More …
Washington State University students and faculty recently returned from a 10-day volunteer effort to help assess whether a health project designed to increase iron levels in the blood of rural Guatemalan people has been successful.
WSU participants worked hand in hand with Hearts in Motion (HIM), a nonprofit organization, on the medical service project.
“After my first year participating in HIM, I realized Guatemalan diets are primarily starch-based,” said Kathy Beerman, a WSU professor in the School of Biological Sciences and a veteran HIM volunteer. “This caused me to believe that many Guatemalans are probably faced with a lack of iron in their diets, and therefore at increased risk for iron deficiency anemia. That is when we started our research.”
Technology being developed at Washington State University provides a non-invasive approach for diagnosing prostate cancer and tracking the disease’s progression.
The innovative filter-like device isolates prostate cancer indicators from other cellular information in blood and urine. It could enable doctors to determine how cancer patients are responding to different treatments without needing to perform invasive biopsies. » More …
A meeting in a forest between a biologist and a mathematician could lead to thicker, faster growing trees.
“Mathematicians like translating biological processes into numbers,” said Andrei Smertenko, assistant professor in Washington State University’s Institute of Biological Chemistry. “I’m a biologist, and I want to help grow stronger, better trees.”
Breeding trees is a time-consuming and imprecise field, with breeders relying on a few genetic markers and what they can see. It takes years before they see the traits they’re looking for in a young tree. To help speed things up, » More …
The death last year of a woman in Reno, Nev., from an infection resistant to every type of antibiotic available in the U.S. highlights how serious the threat of antimicrobial resistance has become.
Washington State University scientists are addressing growing global concern about the spread of antimicrobial resistance in Africa, where the World Health Organization predicts that, by 2050, drug resistant tuberculosis and other bacteria could lead to the deaths of 4.15 million people each year. Their work identifying practices that lead to bacterial transmission could help save African lives and prevent the spread of antibiotic resistant bacteria to the U.S. and other parts of the globe. » More …