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Styrofoam-eating mealworms could be safe for dinner

Insects aren’t typically on American dinner menus. But in Asia, beetle larvae called mealworms have long been a useful, environmentally sustainable source of protein, and are growing in popularity as the world population grows.

Brendan Campbell.
Campbell

Brenden Campbell, a master’s student at Washington State University’s School of the Environment, won recognition from the Comparative Nutrition Society after virtually presenting research on a recently discovered ability in mealworms. In his undergraduate honors research project done in animal sciences, Campbell found that the larvae can safely eat polystyrene waste, discarded polymers better known by their trade name of Styrofoam.

“The initial Stanford experiment was an inspiration to me, and the reason I started this study,” Campbell said. “I wanted to look at this from a food angle and explore the possibilities.”

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Anthropologist Aaron Blackwell to lead new Human Biology program

Aaron Blackwell.
Blackwell

An expert in human evolution and immune function development, Aaron Blackwell, associate professor of anthropology, will direct the new Human Biology degree program at WSU, consisting primarily of courses in anthropology and biological sciences.

The College of Arts and Sciences launched the four-year, interdisciplinary bachelor of arts program this fall to help meet global demand for skilled professionals in health, social and environmental sciences and public policy. It melds approaches and content from social and biological sciences to provide students a vibrant understanding of the roles of culture, the dynamics of natural and social systems, and the biological attributes that shape human beings.

“The human biology degree is an opportunity to create bridges between evolutionary, medical, and cultural approaches to understanding human health,” Blackwell said. “Since the program builds on existing classes, the major is available for many continuing students, as well as new freshmen, and we expect to see the major grow quickly now that it is available.”

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Foley Institute bringing 2020 election lecture series online

The Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service is bringing its Fall 2020 lecture series online with political science professors and experts from across the country.

Cornell Clayton.
Clayton

“There are challenges of course – engaging with an audience who have to ask questions online and have it translated through me to the speakers – but we’ve also found it easier to bring people from across the country to our WSU audiences,” Cornell Clayton, director of the Foley Institute, said.

“With this series we knew that because it’s an election year people are going to be inundated with all of the events surrounding the horse race of the campaign,” Clayton said. “We’re less interested in that and more interested in providing academic and scholarship perspective on what’s going on within the campaigns and the election process.”

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Tasmanian devil research offers new insights for tackling cancer in humans

A rare, transmissible tumor has brought the iconic Tasmanian devil to the brink of extinction, but new research by scientists at Washington State University and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle indicates hope for the animals’ survival and possibly new treatment for human cancers.

The study, published in Genetics on Aug. 1, found a single genetic mutation that leads to reduced growth of a transmissible cancer in Tasmanian devils in the wild.

Andrew Storfer.
Andrew Storfer

“This gene is implicated in human prostate and colon cancers,” said Andrew Storfer, professor of biological sciences at WSU. “While the findings hold the most immediate promise to help save the world’s few remaining Tasmanian devils, these results could also someday translate to human health.”

The research team, led by Storfer and Mark Margres, now a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard University, studied the genomes of cases of devil facial tumor disease, or DFTD, that regressed spontaneously — that is, the cancer began disappearing on its own.

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Cancer Health

Small towns have highest risk of intimate partner violence

Despite common perceptions that big cities have more violence, women living in small towns are most at risk of violence from current or former spouses and partners, according to a recent study by Washington State University criminologist Kathryn DuBois.

“In criminology, we often have this urban bias. We assume big cities are the worst and paint other places as idyllic,” said DuBois, associate professor at WSU Vancouver. “We tend to think in a continuum from urban to suburban to rural, but for intimate partner violence, it’s actually the suburban areas that are the safest, and small towns that have the highest risk.”

The National Crime Victimization Survey collects information through a large sample of interviews about a range of personal crimes committed every year. Part of the intent of the survey is to uncover the “dark figure” of crime, DuBois said, those crimes that may not be reported to police.

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