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WSU Tri‑Cities students explore homelessness at Tri‑City Union Gospel Mission

Eyes were opened and hearts touched as students in a Washington State University Tri‑Cities psychology statistics course recently worked with homeless people at Tri‑City Union Gospel Mission.

Janet Peters.
Peters

Each semester, Janet Peters, clinical assistant professor of psychology, has her students work with a local service-based organization to provide them with real-world experience.

“These types of opportunities provide students with a practical look into how they can use statistics in psychology,” Peters said. “They’re also providing a service to a local organization who may not have the time to dig deep into their data and do this type of analysis.”

The students spent the semester analyzing data from the facility. determining factors that influence or relate to homelessness. Tri‑City Union Gospel Mission, in turn, can use the data to demonstrate to donors the need for its services, and educate the community.

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WSU Insider

Are you prepared? Earthquake threat should not be ignored in Central Washington

Stephen Reidel.
Reidel

Stephen Reidel likes to tell his geology students at Washington State University’s Tri-Cities campus some good and some bad news about earthquakes in the area.

The good news, he tells them, is that a magnitude 7.0 earthquake—like the one that devastated Mexico City last year—only happens around here once every 10,000 years.

“The bad news is that the last one was 10,000 years ago,” said Reidel, an adjunct professor at the school.

While earthquakes are not the biggest threat facing Central Washington—wildfires, floods and windstorms are more likely—they are still enough of a threat that Reidel and emergency planners want people to take it more seriously. Especially since when—not if—a big one hits, the government might not be able to help quickly.

While communities in western Washington, which are exposed to the threat of a tsunami from a quake off the coast, are taking major steps at earthquake preparations, eastern and central Washington residents, for the most part, appear to be lulled into a sense of false security, Reidel said, because of the infrequency of earthquakes.

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Yakima Herald

Interactive tour from WSU Vancouver explores Fort Vancouver’s history

Students in Creative Media and Digital Culture at Washington State University’s Vancouver campus came up with an innovative way to take in the area’s history.

The students used the world’s first wearable headset tablet to create an interactive walking tour of historic sites that’s voice activated and hands-free.

Dene Grigar.
Grigar

“Grading is going to be very easy,” said the students’ professor, Dene Grigar.

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KGW8

Is the Psychology of Deadly Force Ready for the Courts?

In the absence of rigorous science, psychologists disagree about using the neurobiology of stress to defend police officers who kill.

Defense attorneys and prosecutors alike have long relied on expert testimony by psychologists to help divine the complex soup of chemical hormones and electrical impulses that drive human behavior. But the use of psychology in the defense of police officer shootings is less common—in part because so few officers ever end up on trial. But when they are, testimony on the unique and stressful psychological tableau of police work has become a staple for the defense.

Some psychologists argue that while the biology of stress is well established, its connection to deadly force is far less clear. While officers can experience cognitive and perceptual impairments, like tunnel vision and dissociation, during deadly encounters, researchers ultimately know very little about what role they play in the decision to use deadly force. In the absence of rigorous science, psychologists are dubious of using the neurobiology of stress in defense of police officers who kill.

Lisa Fournier.
Fournier

Of course, everyone deserves a vigorous defense. “But the defense must also be rational,” said Lisa Fournier, professor of psychology at WSU and an editor at the American Journal of Psychology. That means expert witnesses should have no conflicts of interest, refrain from cherry-picking, and only cite peer-reviewed articles.

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UnDark
Scientific American

Dr. Universe: Why do we have five fingers and five toes?

While humans may be one of the few animals that can give a high five, they are one of many with five fingers and toes.

Humans are part of the primate family, which also includes monkeys, apes, and even lemurs. As a member of the family, you also have fingernails instead of claws and pads on your fingertips that help with your sense of touch.

Sian Ritchie.
Ritchie

We actually see a total of ten fingers and toes in a lot of other vertebrates – animals with backbones. Fossil evidence of some early vertebrates show that some creatures had six, seven, or even eight fingers. That’s what I found out from my friend Sian Ritchie, who teaches biology at Washington State University.

Ritchie told me how animals tend to keep the characteristics or traits that help them survive in an environment. These are called adaptations. They may also over time lose some traits, like a finger or two.

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Dr. Universe