Professor Maureen Schmitter-Edgecombe is one of three interdisciplinary researchers examining the potential of applying human judgment to smart-home data to detect behavioral patterns. The project brings together WSU colleagues in psychology, computer science, and nursing, and seeks to determine whether applied technology can help people stay in their homes longer.
WSU scientists have discovered that different species of salmon have varying reactions to polluted stormwater runoff. In a recent paper published in the journal Environmental Pollution, scientists found that coho salmon became sick and nearly died, within just a few hours of exposure to polluted stormwater. But chum salmon showed no signs of ill-effects after prolonged […]
A new National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) grant catalyzes a year of discussion and planning at Washington State University aimed at creating a national model for connecting graduate education in the humanities to rural and underserved populations. Funded by the NEH’s NextGen Ph.D. program, the grant will bring together more than 20 faculty, staff, […]
In a first-of-its-kind study, Washington State University scientists examined how peoples’ self-reported levels of stress, anxiety and depression were affected by smoking different strains and quantities of cannabis at home. Their work, published this month in the Journal of Affective Disorders, suggests smoking cannabis can significantly reduce short-term levels of depression, anxiety, and stress but […]
Embracing the ‘power of partnerships,’ the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Washington State University announced the formation of the WSU-PNNL Institutes — a collection of three joint institutes that will advance science and technology in nuclear science and technology, advanced grid and bioproducts. In a ceremony on April 3 at WSU Tri-Cities, […]
Luana Lins, a postdoctoral researcher in the School of Biological Sciences, is fresh off a month-long visit studying polar organisms as part of the National Science Foundation’s Training Program in Antarctica for Early-Career Scientists. When she wasn’t counting bacteria or extracting the DNA of pteropods, Lins was visited by penguins, watched whales, and toured the […]
Chemistry researchers at WSU have been awarded $1 million from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop molecular machines that self-replicate, producing pounds of 100-percent pure material. Their research is the first step towards a new paradigm in manufacturing where everything from smartphones to life-saving cancer drugs could be designed one atom at a time to […]
Dark personality traits such as narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy are socially aversive personality styles that are often confused because of their similarities. Using a quantitative technique called network analysis, WSU psychologists David Marcus and Jonathan Preszler, along with their colleague Virgil Zeigler-Hill at Oakland University, are investigating the behaviors that make up the common core of dark personality traits.
As weird animals go, the mangrove killifish is in a class of its own. It flourishes in both freshwater and water with twice as much salt as the ocean. It can live up to two months on land, breathing through its skin, before returning to the water with a series of spectacular 180-degree flips.
Washington State University researchers have discovered a genetic variation that predicts how well people perform certain mental tasks when they are sleep deprived. Their research shows that individuals with a particular variation of the DRD2 gene are resilient to the effects of sleep deprivation when completing tasks that require cognitive flexibility, the ability to make […]