Skip to main content Skip to navigation
CAS in the Media Arts and Sciences Media Headlines

Do Animals Fall in Love?

If love is life’s greatest mystery, then perhaps its second-greatest mystery is whether humans are alone in experiencing it. We talk about lovebirds and puppy love, but biologists are cautioned against anthropomorphizing their animal subjects and assigning human traits and meaning where they don’t belong. Instead, scientists scan brains, measure hormone production and conduct “speed dating for pandas,” all of which could help answer the question, “Do animals fall in love?” And if so, how, and why?

Meghan Martin.
Martin

When creating breeding programs for endangered animals, scientists “need to figure out how to make them fall in love, and it’s not as easy as turning on Marvin Gaye,” says Meghan Martin, an adjunct biology professor at Washington State University-Vancouver and director of the nonprofit PDX Wildlife. “We have to break their specific code.”

“The general assumption is that if given the chance to breed with the last panda on Earth, which is theoretically what’s happening, that all animals would do that,” says Martin. “But that is not the case. I have seen species go almost into extinction in the conservation breeding world” because the researchers tried to pair uninterested animals together.

Find out more

Discover
Head Topics

Washington State University Vancouver breaks ground on science building

Set to open to students in fall 2023, the building will serve as an instructional and research facility featuring lab space, classrooms and offices primarily for those studying life sciences such as biology and chemistry. It will also feature space for programs in nursing, psychology and medicine.

Along with Netzhammer, WSU President Kirk Schulz and a handful of state legislators spoke to articulate how education projects like this have been critical in recent years.

“Since the start of the pandemic, a lot of people have become curious about medicinal research and vaccines,” Schulz said. “Even though we planned this building way before that, I think the research that will be done in this building is even more relevant.”

Schulz said what began as an extension of Pullman’s campus has now blossomed into a beacon of pride that supports Southwest Washington’s rapidly growing community.

Find out more

The Spokesman-Review

WSU’s first Fulbright-Hays recipient is Ph.D. candidate Daphne Weber

Daphne Weber.
Weber

Washington State University anthropology doctoral candidate Daphne Weber is the institution’s first recipient of a Fulbright-Hays award, said April Seehafer, director of the Distinguished Scholarships Program.

With it, Weber will spend a year living with and interviewing Thai female monks, formally known as bhikkhuni. She will conduct extensive research for her Ph.D. dissertation on the healing effects of ordination. While female monks are recognized in East Asia, where people mostly practice Mahayana Buddhism, bhikkhuni are not officially recognized within the predominately Theravada tradition of Southeast Asia.

“Anthropology opened me up to the human condition and how variable it can be,” she said, hoping to one day host study abroad opportunities for others. “Everyone in the world brings something unique to the table. I’m thankful for the Fulbright-Hays so I can share the story of these incredible female monks. I’m honored to do that.”

Find out more

WSU Insider

Ask Dr. Universe: What makes leaves fall? Why do leaves fall in the fall?

Henry Adams.
Adams

You’re right, each year during the fall, we often see a lot of trees dropping their leaves. To find out exactly what happens when leaves fall, I talked to my friend Henry Adams, a researcher at Washington State University.

The chemical that helps a tree keep its leaves is called auxin. Meanwhile, a chemical called ethylene helps flowers open, fruit ripen and leaves fall.

“There are these two chemicals, and they are sort of fighting it out throughout the year,” Adams said.

Instead of continuing to make leaves that would otherwise just die during a frost, the trees store up some nutrients from their leaves in other parts of the tree before the winter. Then they drop their leaves. For some trees, it’s better just to have bare branches during the cold seasons. It will help them survive.

Find out more

Ask Dr. Universe

Michael Holloman selected to lead promotion of Native arts partnerships

Michael Holloman.
Holloman

Michael Holloman, associate professor of fine arts, recently was named coordinator of Native Arts Outreach and Education in the College of Arts and Sciences, with the goal of expanding arts-based experiences and learning among native and indigenous communities.

A member of the Colville/Coeur d’Alene Tribe, Holloman will work directly with the CAS Department of Fine Arts and School of Music, WSU’s Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art and Office of Tribal Relations, as well as a number of student organizations and the tribal signatories to WSU’s memorandum of understanding with native nations. With these groups, he will develop ongoing and future arts-based relationships and programming specifically focused on engaging a wide range of communities and individuals located in Washington, Idaho and beyond.

“The arts and culture for Native American communities are so intricately linked,” Holloman said. “How this finds its way into our contemporary world of the arts, particularly in the field of digital arts and design, is fluid and natural,” he said.

Find out more

WSU Insider