For all the people who pass by an innocuous-looking hill on the Washington State University campus each day, with a quick turn of the head they will see proof that one wet winter day 18 years ago, a mass of Palouse mud broke loose and flowed toward Grimes Way.
“There’s always lots of oohing and aahing when kids see them and, as you can see, they get as close as they possibly can,” said WSU geologist Kurt Wilkie. He’s one of several scientists who give tours of the S. Elroy McCaw Fluorescent Mineral Display located on campus – and who sometimes must clean the viewing window of so many small hand and nose prints.
On display behind the glass, 150 rocks glow in brilliant yellows, purples, oranges and greens. Set against a dark background, they make up a nocturnal garden that captivates adult visitors as well, said Wilkie.
Read more in All that glitters.
Dirk Schulze-Makuch, a professor in the School of the Environment, explores the mysteries of methane on Mars in his latest post on the Smithsonian Air & Space blog, The Daily Planet.
Ellen Preece wants to know if microcystins, liver-damaging toxins produced by algal blooms in freshwater lakes, accumulate in Puget Sound seafood.
She’s not the only one who wants to know. Preece, a doctoral student in the WSU School of the Environment, is helping the Washington Department of Health determine whether seafood accumulates enough microsystins to be a health concern for populations who rely on locally harvested seafood to meet their protein needs.
Awarded annually since 2007, the prize goes to an outstanding, environmentally knowledgeable graduate student from an underrepresented community who has demonstrated an exceptional capacity for leadership as well as scholarship. This is the third year in a row the honor has gone to a WSU student.