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Shift-work fatigue negatively impacts police officers’ tactical social interaction

Fatigue related to shift work affects the interactions that police officers have with the public, according to findings presented by WSU researchers in criminal justice and criminology at the SLEEP 2016 annual meeting.

Bryan Vila
Bryan Vila

These interactions can, in turn, influence the public’s trust in police, the researchers reported.

“Our results indicate that officers who work biologically normal day shifts perform much better than those on other shifts,” said professor Bryan Vila. “This suggests that better fatigue management might improve officers’ ability to deftly manage encounters with the public in ways that win cooperation and reduce the need for use of force.”

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Cooking the world’s oldest known curry

Why India is a nation of foodies

Had you been washed ashore four millennia ago on the banks of the now lost river of Saraswati and hitched a bullock cart ride to Farmana in the Ghaggar valley near modern-day Delhi, here’s what you might have eaten—a curry.

For in 2010, when advanced science met archaeology at an excavation site in Farmana—southeast of the largest Harappan city of Rakhigarhi—they made history, and it was edible.

Steven Webber
Steve Webber

Archaeologists Arunima Kashyap and Steve Webber, professor of anthropology at WSU Vancouver, used the method of starch analysis to trace the world’s first-known or “oldest” proto-curry of aubergine, ginger and turmeric from the pot shard of a bulbous handi (pot). » More …

Summer archaeology school will explore old riverfront site

New research on an old riverfront site will be a highlight of this summer’s Public Archaeology Field School at Fort Vancouver.

The annual sessions give college students hands-on experience in field research at archaeological sites. Results of the digs help fill in the archaeological record at the Fort Vancouver National Historic Site, where communities lived long before making contact with white explorers and traders. More recent occupants included the Hudson’s Bay Company and the U.S. Army. » More …

Moons of ‘Alien Jupiters’ – “Best Bets for Life Beyond Our Solar System”

Recently published research in astrophysics suggests that some moons of exoplanets — planets beyond our solar system — are the right size, in the right position and have sufficient water to support life.

Dirk Schulze-Makuch
Dirk Schulze-Makuch

WSU astrobiologist Dirk Schulze-Makuch responded to the research findings, saying: “Everyone right away tends to categorically exclude the possibility of life on Io.” Conditions on Io might have made it a friendlier habitat in the distant past. If life did ever develop on Io, there is a chance it might have survived to the present day, Schulze-Makuch suggested. » More …

Archaeologists Urge Obama to Protect Bears Ears

More than 700 archaeologists have signed a letter urging President Obama to protect the Bears Ears region in southeastern Utah.

William Lipe
William Lipe

A coalition of five tribal nations has proposed a 1.9 million-acre national monument to protect Bears Ears. The nations are the Hopi, Navajo, Ute Mountain Ute, Uintah and Ouray Ute, and Zuni.

“All these groups continue to see this area as important because: one, ancestors are buried there; two, it’s part of their history; three, they may visit the area to visit shrines, special places, and to collect medicinal herbs and plants that are important in religious ceremonies,” said Bill Lipe, a professor emeritus at Washington State University. » More …