“The cool thing about nuclear chemistry is that radioactive elements come in sets or suites,” said Nathalie Wall, WSU professor of radiochemistry. “If you find a specific suite of elements of different proportions, you can potentially tell where the material came from and what it’s been used for. So this is the ‘fingerprint’ we look for.”
Read more about Wall and forensic science in the Sept. 23 Rock Doc column.
An imposter molecule may be misleading doctors who monitor dopamine levels in their patients with Parkinson’s disease.
Washington State University Regents Professor Herbert Hill used a new, high-speed technology to discover a previously unknown compound in the brains of affected rats that looks just like dopamine on standard diagnostic tests.
The finding suggests that doctors who think they are measuring dopamine levels may actually be measuring levels of its “identical twin.”
The exhibition State of the Art: Discovering American Art Now opening Sept. 13 at Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Ark., will feature work by 102 artists from all over the country, including WSU fine arts alum (2001) Joel S. Allen.
The president and curator of Crystal Bridges interviewed Allen earlier this year as part of their search for the most compelling American art being created today.
Five of Allen’s sculptures from his ongoing series Hooked on Svelte will be included in State of the Art. He works with twine, yarn, wine corks, pill bottles, wood, copper, irrigation tubing, acrylic sheeting, paper pulp and rubber to create large-scale hanging fiber sculptures.
Allen works full-time as a practicing artist while also teaching part time at Colorado Mountain College in Steamboat Springs, and credits much of his success to the extraordinary faculty within the Department of Fine Arts, especially Professor Emeritus Jack Dollhausen.
With midterm elections weeks away, outside interest groups are pumping a record amount of anonymous “dark money” into television political ads, according to a WSU researcher who tracks national campaign advertising.
“I suspect the numbers will go up even more during the crucial weeks leading up to Nov. 4,” said WSU political scientist Travis Ridout, co-director of the Wesleyan Media Project, which recently released a report showing a surge of political spending, mostly on highly contested U.S. Congressional seats. (See Wesleyan Media Project)
Not only is a lot of money being spent on broadcast ads, but it’s frequently being done in secret, said Ridout. Unlike candidates and political action committees, dark money groups—those able to claim tax status as social welfare organizations—can keep individual contributors anonymous.
Find out more about the nature of dark money:
Native American attorney Walter Echo-Hawk will discuss “The Need for an American Land Ethic” in a free, public presentation about environmental challenges at 4:30 p.m. Sept. 17 at 101 Kimbrough Hall on the WSU Pullman campus.
A tribal judge, author, activist, and law professor, Echo-Hawk will discuss the role of indigenous peoples in helping nations form environmental ethics, and will explore the need for an American land and sea ethic to address the global environmental crisis.
“Long known as a leading advocate for Native American rights, Walter Echo-Hawk is now exploring ways in which the unique perspectives of indigenous communities can be brought bear in solving environmental issues around the globe,” said Cornell Clayton, director of the Thomas S. Foley Institute for Public Policy and Public Service, event co-sponsor. “It is both a great honor and a great opportunity to welcome him at WSU where our students, faculty, and community can engage directly with him.”