CAS in the Media | Washington State University

^{CAS in the Media} _{Arts and Sciences Media Headlines}

On Supreme Court, Does 9-0 Add Up to More Than 5-4?

August 13, 2014

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a remarkable number of unanimous decisions last term, and in their public remarks the justices seemed unanimous in saying that unanimity was a good thing. But is it?

Michael F. Salamone, a political scientist at WSU, has designed experiments to test whether the public is more apt to accept unanimous decisions than divided ones.

Related research citing Salamone’s work concluded that “the idea that 5-4 decisions pose a serious problem of credibility or legitimacy [for the court] remains an unproven hypothesis.” How hard, then, should the justices work to achieve unanimity?

Read more about Salamone’s research in the ABA Journal; also in the New York Times (subscription required).

The Ruling on Peyote that Helped Hobby Lobby Win

August 12, 2014

In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s controversial Hobby Lobby decision, Carolyn Long, associate professor of the School of Politics, Philosophy and Public Affairs at WSU Vancouver, explained the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA), the basis of the court’s ruling.

RFRA was adopted after a 1990 Supreme Court decision denied unemployment benefits to two Native American men who used peyote in a religious ritual.

Hear Professor Long on The Takeaway with John Hockenberry.

Microhabitats: Potential for oil cleanup, extraterrestrial life

August 11, 2014

Results from an environmental study of the world’s largest asphalt lake shine new light on how life on Earth can survive in even the most inhospitable environments.

Scientists already knew that microbes can thrive at the boundary where water and oil meet, but the discovery at Pitch Lake on the Caribbean island of Trinidad that they can live within the oil and were found to be actively degrading the oil opens up new possibilities for using them to clean up spills.

“We discovered that there are additional habitats where we have not looked at where life can occur and thrive,” says Dirk Schulze-Makuch, co-author of the study and a professor in the WSU School of the Environment.

The wiliness of these microbes suggests that life on other planets — at least at the microscopic level — may not be so far-fetched after all.

Read more about the research, results, and possibilities:

WSU News
Science Magazine
Discover Magazine
Nature
The Daily Galaxy
China Topix
The Times of India
Astrobiology.com
Mother Nature Network
Photos: Live Science

WSU Tri-Cities students hold charity costume walk

August 8, 2014

Students in the digital technology and culture (DTC) and fine arts programs at WSU Tri-Cities hosted a community walk to raise awareness and funds for My Friend’s Place, a local, nonprofit homeless shelter for at-risk youth.

Participants were encouraged to dress in costume and were treated to music and other festivities in Howard Amon Park.

Fine arts professors Doug Gast and Peter Christenson challenged their summer students to produce an event that artistically intervenes in the community at large while giving at-risk youth a voice.

“What is really exciting about this project is that we as students are able to use the skills we have learned in our summer courses and get involved in the community to have a positive impact,” said Joe Jensen, a DTC junior working on the event.

The skewed framing of an age-old conflict

August 7, 2014

Multiple studies on the bias of Western, and specifically American, media have been released in recent years, including one by WSU professor of English and researcher Susan Ross.

Her study, which examined more than a year’s worth of New York Times editorial coverage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, found most often Israelis were presented as victims and Palestinians as aggressors. Ross said she’s disappointed her study, now more than a decade old, is still largely accurate.

One explanation she offered is that this attitude was created in the United States during the past 70 years. Since the end of World War II, three generations of Americans have grown up with the belief that the preservation of Israel is all important, she said.

“It’s difficult to question Israeli practices or advocate for Palestinian causes,” Ross said.