will.ferguson | CAS in the Media | Washington State University

^{CAS in the Media} _{Arts and Sciences Media Headlines}

Ultrasonic whistle in mice bypasses vocal cords

October 14, 2016 will.ferguson

Researchers at Washington State University Vancouver have discovered that mice make ultrasonic sounds by using their windpipes as whistles, avoiding the use of their vocal cords entirely. This has implications for studies of the human brain and speech.

Researchers have never seen an animal make sound this way, said Elena Mahrt, a WSU Vancouver biological sciences graduate student and lead author of a paper out this week in Current Biology. Mahrt, who defends her doctoral dissertation next month, did the research with Christine Portfors, associate professor in biological sciences, and researchers from the University of Washington, University of Southern Denmark and University of Cambridge.

Find out more

National Public Radio

WSU News

The Columbian

Knowledge Science Report

Daily Mail

LiveScience.com

Soybean nitrogen breakthrough could help feed the world

October 12, 2016 will.ferguson

Washington State University biologist Mechthild Tegeder has developed a way to dramatically increase the yield and quality of soybeans.

Her greenhouse-grown soybean plants fix twice as much nitrogen from the atmosphere as their natural counterparts, grow larger and produce up to 36 percent more seeds.

“The biggest implication of our research is that by ramping up the natural nitrogen allocation process we can increase the amount of food we produce without contributing to further agricultural pollution,” Tegeder said. “Eventually we would like to transfer what we have learned to other legumes and plants that humans grow for food.”

Find out more

Hydropower isn’t carbon neutral after all, WSU researchers say

October 12, 2016 will.ferguson

WSU researchers John Harrison and Bridget Deemer report in a new paper in BioScience that decomposing organic material in reservoirs of all sorts is an important sources of the greenhouse gas methane.

In their synthesis review of 100 research papers published on the topic since 2000, the researchers and their collaborators established that methane emissions were about 25 percent higher per acre than previously understood on a given reservoir. That was because the researchers looked not only at methane diffused from the surface of lakes, but at gas in bubbles rising to the surface.

Find out more

Seattle Times

Living smarter with sensor technology

September 23, 2016 will.ferguson

For many people approaching retirement, finding ways they can continue to live at home safely as they age is an issue, one for which two Washington State University professors at the university’s campus in Pullman have been seeking a solution.

For almost 10 years now, professors Diane Cook and Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe have been researching what’s called smart-home technology, a kind of sensor monitoring system that might help seniors stay independent longer. A study that’s part of that long-term effort currently is underway and is scheduled to wrap up next summer.

“I had done clinical work with older adults, working to develop ways for them to stay independent, and studying how cognitive decline affects everyday living,” says Schmitter-Edgecombe, a professor of psychology. “Diane had a similar goal, in finding a way for technology to help keep people independent in their homes.

Find out more

Spokane Business Journal

New way to assess chance of ‘life’ on other planets

September 23, 2016 will.ferguson

There is a greater chance of finding life on other planets by adopting a new system of searching, scientists claim. There are only two questions that matter, says an international working group of scientists who are examining the chances of finding life on other planets.

Astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch, from the Washington State University School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, says, “The first question is whether Earth-like conditions can be found on other worlds, since we know empirically that those conditions could harbour life. The second question is whether conditions exist on exoplanets that suggest the possibility of other forms of life, whether known to us or not.”

Find out more

Hunt News