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Are Democratic lawmakers ‘jumping ship’ from Legislature?

Cornell Clayton
Cornell Clayton

Republicans might have followed Democrats to line up for statewide offices and Congress, too, if they had a shot at winning some of them, said Cornell Clayton, a political science professor at Washington State University.

Statewide elections already prove tough for Republicans to win… and divisive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump could increase statewide turnout even more than normal in Democrats’ favor, Clayton said.

“Republicans (in Washington) are going to be running in a headwind given who is running at the top of their ticket in the general election right now,” he said.

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$1.7M to counteract poor decision-making due to sleep loss

An interdisciplinary team of WSU researchers received a $1.7 million grant to develop and test cognitive flexibility training to combat the effects of sleep loss on decision-making under rapidly changing circumstances. Led by Hans Van Dongen, of the WSU Sleep and Performance Research Center, the team includes psychology researchers Paul Whitney and John Hinson.

John Hinson
John Hinson
Paul Whitney
Paul Whitney

The project aims to reduce decision-making errors that contribute to failed military missions, industrial accidents, workplace injuries, financial losses and other serious consequences.

Funding for the three-year project comes from the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs, a partnership between the U.S. Congress, military and public to fund groundbreaking, high-impact medical research.

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WSU News

It’s Time To Recognize What Many Mass Murderers Share In Common

Among researchers who work on predicting violence, domestic abuse is recognized as an important clue that a person may be a future risk to society.

Hamilton
Zachary Hamilton

“When you are trying to predict violent recidivism, you tend to find that domestic violence is one of the strongest predictors,” said Zachary Hamilton, a WSU assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology who studies risk assessment as director of the Washington State Institute for Criminal Justice.

He cited an analysis of criminal offenders in Washington state, which found that a felony domestic violence conviction was the single greatest predictor of future violent crime. » More …

If life can make it here, it can make it anywhere

If the origin of life is common on other worlds, the universe should be a cosmic zoo full of complex multicellular organisms.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Dirk Schulze-Makuch

Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a WSU astrobiologist, uses the evolution of Earth life as a model to predict what humans might find living on distant planets and moons in a new paper published in the journal Life.

The results of his collaborative work show that once life originates, the evolution of organisms functionally similar to plants or animals on Earth will naturally follow given enough time and a suitable environment.

“If the origin of life can occur rather easily, a percentage of organisms on other worlds will reach higher levels of animal- or plant-like complexity,” Schulze-Makuch said. “On the other hand, if the origin of life is a rare event, then chances are we live in a rather empty universe.”

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Archaeology News Network

Popular conservation writer receives WSU alumni award

Paul Johnsgard
Paul Johnsgard

Paul Johnsgard, an ornithologist, artist and emeritus professor at the University of Nebraska, was honored July 12 with the Washington State University Alumni Association Alumni Achievement Award in recognition of writing and teaching that has expanded public understanding of natural history, conservation and pressing environmental issues.

Johnsgard studied waterfowl ecology and earned a master’s of science degree in wildlife management from WSU in 1955.

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WSU News