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A Message to the EU: Address the Spiralling Public Health Crisis by Banning Glyphosate

The herbicide glyphosate – the most widely used herbicide on the planet – is authorised for use in the EU until December 2022. The EU is currently assessing whether its licence should be renewed.

Washington State University (WSU) researchers have found a variety of diseases and other health problems in the second- and third-generation offspring of rats exposed to glyphosate. In the first study of its kind, the researchers saw descendants of exposed rats developing prostate, kidney and ovarian diseases, obesity and birth abnormalities.

Michael Skinner.
Skinner

Michael Skinner, a WSU professor of biological sciences, and his colleagues exposed pregnant rats to the herbicide between their eighth and 14th days of gestation. The dose – half the amount expected to show no adverse effect – produced no apparent ill effects on either the parents or the first generation of offspring.

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Counter Punch
Before It’s News

“Immaterial” exhibit showcases three artists diverse works

Io Palmer.
Palmer

The “Immaterial” exhibit, featuring works from Yvette Cummings, Mica Lilith Smith and Io Palmer, is on view at the McCormick Gallery at Midland College.

Each artist’s work differs in subject and appearance, but they express powerful and compelling ideas through physical material. The exhibition highlights physical substances from patterned fabric and paint to bobby pins and furniture as a way to look deeper into the immaterial realms of individual experience and cultural narrative, according to the press release.

Palmer is an associate professor of fine arts at Washington State University in Pullman, Wash. Through depiction of cleaning products, laborers’ garments and various other industrial and domestic forms, Palmer’s works explore the complex issue of class, capitalism and societal excess. Trained originally as a ceramicist, Palmer uses a variety of processes and materials including fabric, steel, sound and wood.
The exhibit is one view through Sept. 30. Gallery hours are 8 a.m. to 10 p.m.  Monday through Thursday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Fridays. Admission is free.

'immaterial' art show promotional postcard containing 3 details of vibrant 2-D and textile artworks.

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mrt

WSU receives $3 million for graduate research to improve Columbia River

With a new National Science Foundation grant, Washington State University will prepare graduate students to tackle a difficult problem that is more than 1,200 miles long: the Columbia River.

The five-year, $3 million award will fund a research training program focused on the relationships among rivers, watersheds, and communities. The program is intended to transform graduate science education, creating a diverse workforce that will not just conduct research but also first engage with the many communities that depend on the Columbia for clean water and food.

Dylan Bugden.
Bugden
Erica Crespi.
Crespi
Alex Fremier.
Fremier

The training program will be run by WSU’s Center for Environmental Research, Education and Outreach or CEREO, which brings together hundreds of WSU faculty from multiple disciplines. CEREO’s interim director, Boll is a civil and environmental engineering professor, and his co-principal investigators on this project are Dylan Bugden in sociology, Erica Crespi from the School of Biological Sciences, Alexander Fremier from the School of Environment, and Zoe High Eagle Strong from the Nez Perce Tribe who directs the WSU Center for Native American Research and Collaboration.

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WSU Insider

 

Opinion: Evangelicals are one step closer to the ultimate prize: ending abortion in America

Matthew Avery Sutton.
Sutton

By Matthew Avery Sutton, professor and chair of history at WSU

Thanks to the supreme court’s refusal to act on a new Texas law, American evangelicals are now one step closer to achieving a goal they have pursued for generations: the end of legal abortion in the United States. They believe that stopping abortion is central to keeping the United States a holy and righteous nation, staving off the judgments of God, and surviving the coming apocalypse.

Abortion has not always been controversial among American Protestants. Since colonial times, most Protestants in the United States saw abortion as a legitimate form of birth control. They did not make a clear distinction between terminating a pregnancy and preventing one. Those who believed that contraception was an appropriate practice often had few qualms about abortion when the procedure was performed before “quickening” (the time when a woman begins to feel the fetus move).

This theology cultivates in believers a sense of urgency and certainty and a vision of the world defined in absolute terms. They believe that they are engaged in a zero-sum game of good-versus-evil. Anticipation of the end of time gives evangelicals motivation to act – to preach, to evangelize and to wage culture war.

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The Guardian

‘You belong’

Melissa Parkhurst.
Parkhurst

Melissa Parkhurst, an associate professor in the School of Music, delivered the faculty keynote address at the WSU Pullman convocation. She reflected on the past year and a half and collected her thoughts.

“These freshmen and sophomores have lived through challenges, uncertainty and now, in many cases, are traveling long distances from home where they’re not sure what to expect or what they’ll find,” Parkhurst said.  “I thought about that and how we should welcome them and help them realize that while they may at times feel all alone, there are so many ways WSU is here to support them.”

At WSU, Parkhurst has brought cultural literacy and awareness to thousands of students across the university. Her courses provide ethnically diverse musical experiences, with performances and lectures from guest artists and hands-on workshops.

Central to her work is the concept of “personhood”—that the people about whom she writes and teaches are complex human beings.

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WSU Insider