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Breastfeeding mothers produce COVID‑19 antibodies

Breastfeeding women who have COVID-19 transfer milk-borne antibodies to their babies without passing along the SARS-CoV-2 virus, according to a new study.

Beatrice Caffé.
Caffé
Courtney Meehan.
Meehan

“The results indicate that it is safe for moms to continue to breastfeed during a COVID-19 infection with proper precautions,” said Courtney Meehan, a WSU anthropology professor and co-author on the study. published Feb. 9 in the journal mBio.

Meehan and WSU graduate student Beatrice Caffé were part of the multi-institutional research team led by University of Idaho nutrition researcher on the project.

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WSU Insider
KXLY
News Medical
Medical Xpress
romper

OUTDOORS: Study — Trapped Elwha River steelhead maintained genetic diversity during isolation

A recent study, with its roots going back to 2004, has showed promising news that Elwha River steelhead trapped for a century miles from the Strait of Juan de Fuca by the Elwha River dams have managed to maintain their natural genetic diversity during that time and are able to return to their old natural cycle of returning to the sea.

Alexandra Fraik.
Fraik

“The genetic diversity harbored behind the dams suggests that diversity was important for their natural resilience, or their ability to adapt to changes such as dam building or removal,” said Alexandra Fraik, a doctoral student at Washington State University. Fraik did the work as a National Science Foundation graduate research internship program fellow with NOAA.

“Additionally, we see recolonization of steelhead that appear to descend from populations that were both below and behind the Elwha River dams rapidly following dam removal,” Fraik said.

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Peninsula Daily News
NOAA Fisheries News

Dr. Universe: Do flying squirrels really fly?

Flying squirrels may not really fly, but they do have flaps of skin on their bodies that act like parachutes and help them glide through the air.

Todd Wilson with a pretty, tri-color shepherd or collie puppy.
Todd Wilson and his puppy

My friend Todd Wilson told me all about it. He’s a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon and graduate of Washington State University who researches Pacific Northwest ecosystems and the animals that call them home— including flying squirrels.

When flying squirrels are trying to avoid predators, like weasels, sometimes they will run to the top of a tree. The weasel might think the flying squirrel has nowhere else to run. That’s when the flying squirrel makes its move.

“The flying squirrel can just take off and glide,” Wilson said. “When they launch themselves from a tree, they can actually go quite a ways out, but they’re not actually flying.”

Of all the thousands of mammal species on our planets, bats are the only mammals that can truly fly.

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Ask Dr. Universe

Big name corporations more likely to commit fraud

Researchers from Washington State University, Pennsylvania State University, and Miami University examined the characteristics of more than 250 U.S. public corporations that were involved in financial securities fraud identified in Securities and Exchange Commission filings from 2005-2013. They were then compared to a control sample of firms that were not named in SEC fraud filings.

Jennifer Schwartz.
Schwartz

“Prestigious companies, those that are household names, were actually more prone to engage in financial fraud, which was very surprising,” said Jennifer Schwartz, WSU sociologist and lead author on the study. “We thought it would be companies that were struggling financially, that were nearing bankruptcy, but it was quite the opposite. It was the companies that thought they should be doing better than they were, the ones with strong growth imperatives—those were the firms that were most likely to cheat.”

“What these companies were doing was essentially fudging the numbers, lying to investors, other companies and the SEC,” said Schwartz. “Eventually, you have to make up for the money that was lost, that really never existed, so shareholders lose money, people lose retirement plans, people lose jobs. It’s very, very damaging.”

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Phys.org
WSU Insider
Fast Company
The Ladders

Advancing the power, tradition of poetry for social change

Allyson K. Pang.
Pang

When America’s first youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman, presents another of her original poems during Super Bowl LV events on Sunday, Washington State University student and campus civic poet of 2020 Allyson Pang will be among the millions of people cheering her on.

Like Gorman, Pang wants to use her education and creative writing skills to make the world a better place.

“In my poetry, I always want to inspire and motivate people,” said Pang, a 20-year-old junior from Honolulu, double-majoring in English and journalism.

Gorman’s stirring poetic recital at the U.S. presidential inauguration on Jan. 20 was a passionate call for social change, and her Super Bowl poem will spotlight three people the NFL is honoring for outstanding community leadership during the global pandemic.

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WSU Insider