Summer 2021
Buoy, what a life
A World War II relic becomes an oven at the Washington State University Bread Lab. » More ...
Small Grains
Fall 2020
Renaissance of an ancient grain
Chefs looking for new flavors are discovering spelt, including new varieties developed at Washington State University. » More ...
Spring 2019
Giving rust a rest
Ubiquitous in wheat-growing regions, stripe rust spores can ride the wind for miles upon miles and, when conditions are right, it grows quickly, sucking water and nutrients out of the leaves and crippling wheat’s ability to produce healthy seeds. Washington State University wheat breeders research and develop new wheat varieties resistant to rust. » More ...
Fall 2018
Modernist Bread
By Nathan Myhrvold and Francisco Migoya
The Cooking Lab: 2017
For millennia, bread baking has been more craft than science. Even the current trend in artisan bread rejects much of what modern science has wrought: the advances of manufactured yeast, dough conditioners, added preservatives and the overall industrialization of wheat and bread production.
“The bread zeitgeist is about being ancient, primitive, natural, and pretty much anything but modern,” writes Nathan Myhrvold in his recent 2,642-page … » More …
Spring 2016
Green for all seasons
The quirks of Pullman weather can make gardening tough. It was only a few years ago that it snowed in June. But in the greenhouses scattered around campus, researchers and students can keep growing and studying plants in adverse weather. Even visitors to campus can enjoy vegetables, holiday poinsettias, and flowers long before they’ll thrive on the Palouse.
The latest addition to the greenhouses on campus, a two-story building that resembles a glass apartment complex with glowing sodium lights, sits behind the Lewis Alumni Centre. The research facility allows scientists to raise up to three generations of wheat, barley, and other grains every year, says … » More …
Winter 2015
Ancients among us
Safeguarding our future
The arid soil on the mile-high Hopi Mesa trickles through clenched fingers like sand. If you visit this isolated corner of northeastern Arizona, you might find it hard to believe it is home to one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas.
For more than 2,000 years, the Hopi and their ancestors have carved a living out of the rough terrain. They survived drought, famine, war, and a fluctuating climate that drove many of their ancient southwestern neighbors elsewhere in search of more fertile lands.
One key to the Hopi’s longevity is a variety of drought-tolerant corn they have adapted over the … » More …
Fall 2015
How do you make the best chocolate chip cookies in the universe?
Dr. Universe visits the wheat quality lab to learn about the properties of flour. » More ...