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Ask Dr. Universe: If snakes smell with their tongues, what do they do with their noses?

Snakes have an amazing sense of smell. They can use their tongues to pick up on all kinds of scents in the air.

Whenever we smell something in the air, we are actually sniffing tiny building blocks called molecules. These molecules are what make up the scents of everything around us—things like baked bread, fresh-cut grass, and warm cookies.

If you were a snake, you might sniff out the scent of a slug or mouse. You’d use your tongue to pull the molecules from the air into your mouth.

Then those molecules would reach a part of the roof of your mouth called the Jacobson’s organ. This organ helps de-code the molecules into smells. The smell might help you find some prey or let you know to slither away from a predator.

M. Rockwell "Rocky" Parker.
Parker

I learned all about snakes from my friend Rocky Parker. He earned his master’s degree in biological sciences at Washington State University and is currently an assistant professor at James Madison University in Virginia. He is very curious about how snakes use their senses.

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Dr. Universe

Meet the Winner of Katmai National Park’s Fat Bear Week 2019

Every fall for the past five years, Katmai National Park and Preserve in Alaska has celebrated Fat Bear Week: a chance, as NPR explained, for people around the world to vote March-Madness style on which coastal brown bear has gotten the chunkiest while gorging themselves in preparation for winter hibernation.

In Canada’s British Columbia, meanwhile, a wildlife photographer snapped a picture of emaciated bears this fall struggling to find food amidst one of the area’s lowest-ever salmon runs.

While the Katmai bears are lucky in comparison, the climate crisis has still affected them. That’s because the salmon were delayed this fall due to drought, which meant that bears and fish didn’t arrive along the Brooks River until mid-September, two weeks later than normal.

Joy Erlenbach.
Erlenbach

“I’ve been out there before, when a [salmon] run was delayed by a week, and the bears start getting anxious,” Joy Erlenbach, a Ph.D. candidate in environmental studies who works with Washington State University’s Bear Center, told The Verge. “It’s scary for the bears because they don’t know what’s happening. They just know the food they expect isn’t there, and it can affect their behavior.”

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Eco Watch

‘The Weight of Water’ screening at Kenworthy

The Disability Action Center NW will present the film “The Weight of Water” by Michael Brown at 7 p.m. Sunday at the Kenworthy Performing Arts Center, 508 S. Main St., Moscow, Idaho.

The film tells the story of a blind man, balancing the fear of drowning with a powerful desire to be free, who kayaks the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.

Buddy Levy.
Buddy Levy

Buddy Levy, local author and clinical professor in creative writing at Washington State University and a co-writer of the screenplay, will present the film and lead a question-and-answer session following the film.

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Moscow-Pullman Daily News

WSU tuba professor releases third solo album

WSU tuba professor Chris Dickey recently released his third solo album, titled “Inventions” under the Emeritus Recordings label. The album was recorded in the WSU Recording Studio by recording engineer David Bjur. Three fellow faculty in the School of Music, Karen Savage, Sarah Miller, and Martin King, joined Dickey for the project.

Chris Dickey holding a shiny brass tuba in front of a colorful tree.
Chris Dickey

“Inventions” represents Dickey’s ongoing commitment to inclusive programming in art music. The album demonstrates how composers with marginalized identities can be regularly incorporated into recital programs. The album is available on iTunes, Amazon, and CDBaby, and is streamed on Apple Music and Spotify. Samples of each track are available online.

In the spring, Dickey will embark on a Midwestern recital tour during which he will perform music from the album written by women, people of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals. His tour is funded by a WSU Arts and Humanities Fellowship.

WSU Insider

Facebook’s Updated Advertising Policy Could Enable Politicians to Spread Misinformation

Facebook’s updated advertising rules could allow politicians to post ads that contain falsehoods without violating any of the company’s terms.

Last week the social networking site altered and thinned out its rules on misinformation so that politicians and political parties are exempt from fact-checking requirements.

This change comes at the same time that President Donald Trump dramatically increased his spending on Facebook ads. Between September 25 and October 1 Trump spent $1,664,958 on political ads—far outspending any of his competitors, according to Facebook’s Ad Library.

Travis Ridout.
Ridout

Travis Ridout, professor of government and public policy at Washington State University, said that Facebook’s decision to limit the restrictions on political advertising is a way of staying out of the political cross hairs. “As soon as they start becoming the arbiters of what is true and what is not true,” he told Newsweek, “first of all they create a huge job for themselves, second of all they get attacked from politicians from both sides.”

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Newsweek
The Mercury News
Daily Democrat