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WSU researcher tracks levels of microcystins

September 18, 2013

Ellen Preece wants to know if microcystins, liver-damaging toxins produced by algal blooms in freshwater lakes, accumulate in Puget Sound seafood.

She’s not the only one who wants to know. Preece, a doctoral student in the WSU School of the Environment, is helping the Washington Department of Health determine whether seafood accumulates enough microsystins to be a health concern for populations who rely on locally harvested seafood to meet their protein needs.

Number of female DUIs soaring across the country, statistics show

September 16, 2013

Associate Professor of Sociology Jennifer Schwartz told the Chicago Tribune that women are drinking about as much as in the past but are driving more. Women might also be more likely to be arrested since many states stiffened the legal definition of intoxication.

“They may be getting caught more often now for behavior they’ve always had,” Schwartz told the Tribune.

Work, stress and health

September 11, 2013

Psychology Professor Tahira Probst studies both job insecurity and the safety climate of organizations. She presented results of a recent study investigating the intersection of those two interests during the 10th International Conference on Occupational Stress and Health.

Three million work-related injuries and illnesses are reported in the United States each year, Probst said, but some studies have found more than three-quarters of workplace injuries go unreported. She hypothesized that when workers feel their jobs are insecure, they are less likely to report accidents and injuries.

The tractor beam has arrived

August 6, 2013

Phil Marston. Photo credit Robert Hubner — Phil Marston. Photo by Robert Hubner.

WSU physicist Phil Marston was intrigued by the way an acoustic beam is scattered by a sphere.

“Basically, it goes into the category of a problem you solve because it would be curious to see what the answer is and whether there is something there that you didn’t anticipate,” he says. “That was true.”

In the serpentine path from abstract musing to basic science to demonstrated phenomenon, he sowed the seeds for a small-scale but real-life tractor beam that could have applications in both nanotechnology and medicine.

Who’s packing? CPL rates in Washington counties

July 29, 2013

Mike Gaffney, a social science researcher at Washington State University, said he was surprised by the wide variation in concealed pistol license rates in counties across the state.

But, Gaffney added, there seems to be a correlation between population density and …

See the video about CPL rates and an interactive map at KING5.com