Astronaut Scott Kelly spent 340 days aboard the International Space Station, beginning in March 2015, while his identical twin remained on Earth. That dynamic helped elucidate some of the molecular and physiological effects of significant stretches of time beyond the planet’s boundaries and helps illustrate the scientific value of state twin registries.

Kelly is the featured speaker at this year’s Washington State University-sponsored TwinFest, which is set for July 22 in Everett. It’s the first TwinFest gathering in the Evergreen State since the Washington State Twin Registry moved from University of Washington to WSU in 2015.

After collecting troves of samples and data on Kelly during his year in space and comparing them to his then-Earth-bound twin brother, Mark, who is also an astronaut and now a U.S. senator, dozens of researchers from prominent institutions nationwide published a landmark study in the journal Science in 2019.

Their findings related to how long stretches in space affect aging, cognition, and immunology, among numerous other aspects of the human body.

In a recent twin study co-authored by WSU biologist Michael Skinner, the researchers found that consistent exercise has the potential to change molecules within the human body that influence gene behaviors. Twin studies have also examined how environmental exposures such as pollution and area deprivation affect and shape the health of individuals.

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Despite the veins in a leaf appearing like a nervous system, our woody neighbors do not have a nervous system—but that doesn’t mean they can’t feel your touch upon their many hands.

Quite the contrary, scientists have established using sophisticated microscopy that plants register the beginning and end of every touch by sending slow waves of calcium signals to their cells.

Conducted at Washington State Univ., the scientists used 84 experiments from twelve members of tobacco and thale cress species that had been specially bred with calcium sensors.

Previous research has shown that when a pest like a caterpillar bites a plant leaf, it can initiate the plant’s defensive responses such as the release of chemicals that make leaves less tasty or even toxic to the pest. An earlier study also revealed that brushing a plant triggers calcium waves that activate different genes.

Using a glass rod the width of a human hair, they gently probed the leaves’ individual cells under a microscope to see what the response was.

“It is quite surprising how finely sensitive plants cells are—that they can discriminate when something is touching them. They sense the pressure, and when it is released, they sense the drop in pressure,” said Michael Knoblauch, WSU biological sciences professor and senior author of the study in the journal Nature Plants.

“It’s surprising that plants can do this in a very different way than animals, without nerve cells and at a really fine level.”

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During a recent visit to the Palouse, Washington State Governor Jay Inslee took a tour of the WSU Bear Research, Education and Conservation Center as well as the new Family Medicine Residency program at Pullman Regional Hospital.

Inslee, along with his granddaughter Zoe, met with scientists and other staff at the WSU Bear Center to discuss ongoing research, in particular the impacts of climate change on the bears and their ability to reliably find food.

Bear Center Director of Research Charles Robbins also shared with Inslee recent research on the ability of hibernating bears to reverse insulin resistance brought on by long periods of inactivity during hibernation, which has potential implications for our understanding of diabetes in humans.

“There is so much incredible research happening here at Washington State,” said Inslee.

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One of my roommates is a corn snake named Buddy. He’s not venomous. But he’s a very private individual and really likes his space.

Buddy and I talked about your question with my friend Blair Perry. He’s a biologist at Washington State University. He’s an expert on snakes and venom.

Perry told me antivenom doesn’t contain actual snake venom. It’s made with antibodies to snake venom.

Antibodies are proteins. They’re part of your immune system. They travel in your blood to fight germs or dangerous molecules—like those in venom—that could hurt you. Sometimes we get vaccines to boost our antibodies so they’re ready when something harmful shows up.

But that’s not enough for snake venom.

“With a snake bite, we get so many venom molecules injected all at once,” Perry said. “Plus, they act really, really fast. There’s not enough time for the body to produce those antibodies. Even if we had antibodies from a vaccine, it probably wouldn’t be enough to respond quickly and to a large enough degree.”

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