CAS in the Media | Washington State University

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Study of ancient dogs in the Americas yields insights into human, dog migration

January 9, 2015

A new study conducted in part by Washington State University researchers Brian Kemp and Timothy Kohler suggests that dogs may have first successfully migrated to the Americas only about 10,000 years ago, thousands of years after the first human migrants crossed a land bridge from Siberia to North America.

The study looked at the genetic characteristics of 84 individual dogs from more than a dozen sites in North and South America, and is the largest analysis so far of ancient dogs in the Americas.

Unlike their wild wolf predecessors, ancient dogs learned to tolerate human company and generally benefited from the association: They gained access to new food sources, enjoyed the safety of human encampments and, eventually, traveled the world with their two-legged masters.

Find out more:

Science Daily

Discovery News

Pianist Jeffrey Savage to perform in Tri-Cities

January 8, 2015

As a professor of music at WSU, Jeffrey Savage doesn’t limit his talent to the Pullman campus.

He’s performed at such prestigious New York City venues as Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and the Juilliard Theater.

And on Jan. 17, the accomplished pianist brings his talents to the Tri-Cities for a Camerata Musica concert in the Battelle Auditorium in Richland.

The concert will be an all-Beethoven event.

New online minors in American Indian Studies, Film Studies offered this spring

January 7, 2015

“The new online American Indian Studies minor will help students expand their knowledge, abilities, and interests in Native American history, culture, politics, and contemporary issues,” said Professor Michael Holloman, who helped create the program.

The Film Studies minor explores how cinema both reflects and influences the facts, ideas, and activities of any given society, said Ana María Rodríguez-Vivaldi, CAS associate dean and professor of Spanish and Film Studies.

Find out more

Smart Home Project records movement, behavior

January 5, 2015

If anyone ever noticed, which is unlikely, it appears that Linda Moulder and Jerry White have smoke detectors in every room of their home and a few other peculiar places—inside the refrigerator, for instance.

Visitors are much more interested in watching the cat wait for her automatic food dispenser to activate.

Yet to a cross-disciplinary team of WSU researchers, the 30 or so gadgets on the ceilings and walls are perhaps the future to helping the aging live safely and independently in their homes as long as possible. The technology that can keep tabs on mental and physical well-being could also ease the job of caregivers (often adult children who are still working and raising families), perhaps boosting their mental health and decreasing burnout.

This is critically important as the population ages and more people want to remain at home, avoiding nursing homes and other care facilities.

Learn more about this smart research by the Department of Psychology and the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science

Science Fiction Becomes Reality For Species Surveys

December 24, 2014

Imagine how cool it would be to detect rare or invasive species, study biodiversity or to estimate fish abundance with just a scoop of air or a dip of water. It’d be like science fiction come true. Well, science fiction is indeed becoming reality through a new sampling technology called environmental DNA.

Environmental DNA can be used in two ways. One is to identify the suite of creatures around a place. The other is to confirm the presence or absence of a specific critter, typically an invasive or endangered species.

Caren Goldberg runs the new eDNA lab at Washington State University in Pullman. She’s one of the first biologists in the Northwest to take the tool from demonstration experiments to practical application.

“It is extremely useful for species that are really hard to find,” says Goldberg.

Goldberg sees potential to get answers more efficiently, safely and with less destruction compared to traditional survey techniques such as electrofishing, snorkeling or netting.

Learn more