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Where does the GOP go from here? McMorris Rodgers, one of just two House Republicans to rethink objection after Capitol siege, embodies a party in disarray

Just after midday Wednesday, Jan. 6, two-thirds of the House of Representatives’ 211 Republican members gathered in the House chamber planning to object to the legitimacy of November’s election results.

Cornell Clayton.
Clayton

Cornell Clayton, a professor of political science at Washington State University, said the congresswoman clearly knew the move carried political risk.

“There’s no question that she understands it’s going to upset some of her constituency,” Clayton said. “One of the roles of a representative is to represent the views and interests of your constituency, but another one … is to display principled leadership, even when your constituency wants to believe things that are not true.”

“There’s nothing wrong with the change of course,” Clayton said. “When the facts on the ground change, you should change your mind. The real problem was her original calculation, which I think was an opportunistic one, to go ahead and launch a challenge when she knew she was aiding and abetting a president who was engaged in an effort to overturn an American election.”

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The Spokesman-Review

Researchers identify biomarkers in sperm for paternal offspring autism susceptibility

Biomarkers in human sperm have been identified that can indicate a propensity to father children with autism spectrum disorder. These biomarkers are epigenetic, meaning they involve changes to molecular factors that regulate genome activity such as gene expression independent of DNA sequence, and can be passed down to future generations.

Michael Skinner.
Skinner

“We can now potentially use this to assess whether a man is going to pass autism on to his children. It is also a major step toward identifying what factors might promote autism,” said Michael Skinner, Professor of Biological Sciences, Washington State University and Corresponding Author.

“We found out years ago that environmental factors can alter the germline, the sperm or the egg, epigenetics,” said Skinner. “With this tool we could do larger population-based studies to see what kinds of environmental factors may induce these types with epigenetic changes.”

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Opinion: The similarities to the last invasion of the Capitol matter — so do the differences

By Lawrence Hatter, WSU associate professor of history

Lawrence Hatter.
Hatter

Americans are struggling to make sense of the chaotic scenes of armed insurrectionists rampaging through the halls of the Capitol on Wednesday. In such moments of crisis, it is only natural that we look to what we know. For some historians and pundits, that meant the parallels to the attempt by British forces to burn the building on Aug. 24, 1814.

Understanding both the similarities and differences between the two sieges is critical to properly safeguarding this citadel of democracy — and democracy itself — moving forward.

While security in the Capitol undoubtedly will be tightened and reinforced, truly protecting the building and its symbolism in our democracy requires addressing the root causes of the assault. That means holding leaders accountable for encouraging the insurrectionary attempt by deliberately lying to their followers about the outcome of the 2020 presidential election. Only buttressing security at the Capitol would represent a failure to recall that while the similarities to historical events are important, so too are the differences. It would leave the building — and our democracy — exposed to further assault.

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The Washington Post

Modeling the Creation of Cratons, Earth’s Secret Keepers

The continents, the solid blocks of land beneath our feet, weren’t always as strong as they’ve come to be. Now, scientists from Monash University in Australia have devised a new mechanism to explain how the roots of the continents—cratons—came to be. Using numerical models to simulate the conditions of Archean era Earth, the researchers’ findings, published in Nature, show that a strong base for the continents emerged from the melting and stretching of the cratonic lithospheric mantle.

Catherine 'Katie' Cooper
Cooper

Cratons form the base of continents and hold the title of the oldest existing portion of the lithosphere. They’re extremely thick and began to form up to 3 billion years ago, in the Archean eon. “They’re the secret keepers of the Earth,” said Catherine Cooper, an associate professor of geophysics in the School of the Environment at Washington State University in Pullman. Cooper was not involved in the new research. By studying cratons, scientists might learn how major components of Earth arose and how plate tectonics began. “If you can understand the role of the secret keepers within [Earth], then we can try to answer some of those questions better.”

As scientists gain a firmer grasp of the origins of cratons, they’re better able to understand processes that might be happening within other planets as well as the processes that helped form our own. “[Cratons] have kind of gone along for the ride, picking up all of Earth’s secrets for all this time,” said Cooper. “They’re such an intriguing scientific story.”

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EOS

Lawmakers are calling for a second impeachment trial for Trump. Here’s what that might look like

Two days after a pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol, lawmakers continue to call for the removal of the president, whether through invoking the 25th Amendment, resignation or impeachment.

Cornell Clayton.
Clayton

The constitution is “pretty bare bones” in terms of the impeachment process, said Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute of Public Policy and Public Service at Washington State University.

“Presumably Congress could hold hearings pretty quickly,” Clayton said. “You don’t necessarily need to hold extensive hearings.”

The biggest question right now is how the country should protect its democracy, Clayton said. Some say it’s better to move on completely, while others think Trump should be held accountable.

“Whenever someone incites insurrection, you need to hold them accountable, otherwise it becomes normalized,” Clayton said. “That’s very, very dangerous, and that’s how democracy ends.”

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The Spokesman-Review