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B.C. logging threatens ‘probably one of the most intact ecosystems’ in the Northwest

Seattle Mayor Jenny Durkan, in a rare step earlier this month, wrote British Columbia Premier John Horgan with “grave concern,” admonishing his government for not consulting with the city on a B.C. logging project some 125 miles away from Seattle at the headwaters of the Skagit River.

Jennifer McIntyre.
Jennifer McIntyre

Among the host of problem issues raised by the project is introduction of metals, particularly copper, that are toxic to salmon. Copper dissolved in water can interact with the gills of salmon and prevent proper breathing or cause dangerous ion imbalances in their bodies, said Jen McIntyre, an assistant professor at Washington State University’s School of Environment.

Even low concentrations of dissolved copper can impair neurons, damaging salmons’ sense of touch and ability to smell. That can prevent them from finding food, evading predators or making their way to spawning ground, McIntyre said.

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Bellingham Herald

Viewing the ordinary with new eyes

Avantika Bawa.
Avantika Bawa

Sporting a Portland Trail Blazers jersey, artist and Washington State University Vancouver associate professor of fine arts Avantika Bawa is talking about her new solo show at the Portland Art Museum.

The show, which opens Aug. 18, includes almost two dozen drawings of the Veterans Memorial Coliseum where the Blazers won their most recent championship … in 1977.

The drawings are inspired by Bawa’s fascination—her “obsession,” as she says—with the coliseum. “Some people find it extremely boring, but I chose to take this building and put it on a pedestal and worship it like a mad person.”

The result is a suite of drawings that are intricate and, while certainly architectural, are also poetic, urging the viewer to blaze a trail alongside the artist in order to see the building in a new way.

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WSU Insider

Environmentally-Caused Disease Crisis? Pesticide Damage to DNA Found ‘Programmed’ Into Future Generations

Dr. Paul Winchester, medical director of the Neonatal and Intensive Care Unit at St. Francis Hospital in Indianapolis, investigated the higher numbers of birth defects he noticed in Indiana versus in Colorado. His research zeroed in on the herbicide atrazine, one of the most widely used herbicides in the U.S. and the most commonly detected pesticide in U.S. drinking water.

Michael Skinner portrait.
Michael Skinner

Winchester and several other researchers including Michael Skinner, professor of biology at Washington State University’s Center for Reproductive Biology, conducted a study to see if there was a link between atrazine in drinking water and birth defects.

Studies have found that atrazine is an endocrine disruptor, a substance that can alter the human hormonal system. Atrazine was banned by the European Union because of its persistent groundwater contamination.

In their study, Winchester and his team found that concentrations of atrazine in drinking water were highest in May and June when farmers sprayed their fields with the herbicide. They also found that birth defects peaked during the same months indicating a close correlation.

“We plotted water concentrations and birth defects, and they fit like a hat,” Winchester said.

Their study, which was funded by the Gerber Foundation, was published in 2017 on PLOS One.

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EcoWatch

A Macaw Breeding Center Supplied Prehistoric Americans with Prized Plumage

New evidence shows for the first time that the North American Southwest was home to a smattering of scarlet macaw breeding centers as early as 900 AD. Prized by the prehistoric residents of New Mexico’s Chaco Canyon for their religious and cultural significance, macaws appear to have been raised in one of the first sustainable systems of non-agricultural animal husbandry in this region, a nod to the sophistication of early residents of the American Southwest.

Brightly colored scarlet macaws are native to the tropics. So how’d they end up in New Mexico? (Flickr/Nina Hale in Smithsonian Magazine).“It’s in [native peoples’] social memory how important macaws were,” says Erin Smith, a doctoral candidate in anthropology at Washington State University. “Even at points in history when trade relationships broke down, they were a significant part of the culture.”

The presence of an early aviary indicates that villages of this era were already starting to specialize in sectors of business: Raising macaws served one purpose and one purpose alone—but met growing demand for a highly valuable commodity.

“For a long time, people doubted there were these intense connections [between such distant locales],” says Smith. “This paper is providing solid DNA evidence of these connections, and how complex and dynamic these relationships were.”

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Smithsonian Magazine

GOP to weaponize Pelosi and ‘San Francisco values’ in key California House races

Rep. Nancy Pelosi has starred in roughly one in every five Republican-made House campaign ads across the country this year, usually as a device to tar a fellow Democrat running in a conservative area as beholden to her “liberal San Francisco values.”

Some who study such things, however, say there’s no proof anti-Pelosi ads persuade voters who are on the fence.

Travis Ridout.
Travis Ridout

“I have not seen any research like that,” said Travis Ridout, a professor of political science at Washington State University and co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project.

“I suspect that these ads are less designed to appeal to the independent voters than to get their base to turn out,” Ridout said. “A lot of these candidates have decided that they are for Trump and this is their way to win: Get their voters out and the heck with the middle.”

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San Francisco Chronicle