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This is how mass deforestation is wiping out species around the world

Forests are critical to the Earth’s ecology. They capture and store carbon out of the atmosphere. They can alter the air quality and quantity of drinking water. And they provide the most habitat for the world’s terrestrial species.

Accelerated deforestation continue to threaten the jaguar habitat, especially when it occurs in corridors that connect conservation areas, according to a 2016 study published in the scientific journal Biological Conservation. Without the corridors to travel through, the populations can become isolated and lose genetic diversity, which could then affect the short and long-term survival of the species.

Daniel Thornton.
Thornton

There is a possibility that jaguars could reestablish a population in the United States through Mexico, which is the current northern edge of the range, Dan Thornton, assistant professor in the Washington State University School of the Environment and one of the authors of the study, told Washington State Magazine.

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Researchers use video conferencing app to study memory effects of high-potency cannabis

Even before the pandemic made Zoom ubiquitous, Washington State University researchers were using the video conferencing app to research a type of cannabis that is understudied: the kind people actually use.

For the study, published in Scientific Reports, researchers observed cannabis users over Zoom as they smoked high-potency cannabis flower or vaped concentrates they purchased themselves from cannabis dispensaries in Washington state, where recreational cannabis use is legal. They then gave the subjects a series of cognitive tests.

“Because of federal restrictions to researchers, it was just not possible to study the acute effects of these high-potency products. The general population in states where cannabis is legal has very easy access to a wide array of high- potency cannabis products, including extremely high-potency cannabis concentrates which can exceed 90% THC, and we’ve been limited to studying the whole plant with under 10% THC.”

Carrie Cuttler.
Cuttler

Carrie Cuttler, Lead Researcher and Psychologist, WSU.

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Ask Dr. Universe: How do mountains form?

When you walk around on land, you are walking on top of Earth’s rocky crust. Below the crust is another thick layer of rock. These layers form Earth’s tectonic plates and when those plates collide with each other, they often form mountains.

Julie Menard
Menard

To find out more about how mountains form, I visited my friend Julie Menard, a professor in environmental sciences at Washington State University who is very curious about geology.

“When the collision happens, one plate will not simply go on top of another,” she said. “The plates will just push against each other and over a long period of time a mountain will form.”

Menard told me that these tectonic plates are huge. The plates are about 77 miles thick, and they move very slowly—just about 2 to 3 inches a year. When the two plates come together, they push the rock upwards. It can take ten millions of years for the mountain to rise up.

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Five faculty receive inaugural awards from WSU President’s Teaching Academy

The Washington State University President’s Teaching Academy has named five faculty members from five colleges as inaugural recipients of two prestigious awards.

The Outstanding Publication in the Scholarship of Teaching in Higher Education Award is available to those who published on the topic in a peer-reviewed article within the past two years.

  • Elizabeth Canning.
    Canning

    Elizabeth Canning ($500), assistant professor in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Deptartment of Psychology, first author on the article “Feeling Like an Imposter: The Effect of Perceived Classroom Competition on the Daily Psychological Experiences of First-Generation College Students.” It was published in Social Psychological and Personality Science, 11(5), 647-657.

The WSU President’s Teaching Academy serves as the institution’s premier organization dedicated to teaching excellence. It is open to a select number of faculty with academic responsibility to the university who have records of sustained excellence in teaching and are recognized for their scholarship in teaching and learning. The newest members were installed in May 2020, bringing the membership total to 60.

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New insight into photosynthesis could help grow more resilient plants

A research team led by Washington State University has created a computer model to understand how plants store energy in the thylakoid membrane, a key structure to photosynthesis in plant leaves.

The team confirmed the accuracy of the mathematical model with lab experiments. Their work was recently published in the journal Nature Plants. Co-authors on the study include Hans-Henning Kunz, assistant professor of biological sciences at WSU.

Hans Henning-Kunz.
Kunz

Figuring out how plants make adjustments to changes in environmental conditions could improve understanding of how they perform in the field and help develop new plants that can withstand rising temperatures from climate change.

The findings could have broad implications and benefits in years to come, as the model is integrated with others to learn more about how exactly photosynthesis works.

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