Summer 2019
Conserving Hanford’s visual history
Architect Harley Cowan photographs historic sites within the new Manhattan Project National Historical Park as part of a research fellowship in 2017. » More ...
Larry Clark ’94
Spring 2019
The world inside and out
The Spring 2019 issue's note from the editor explores themes of the world inside the soil and our bodies, and outside in nature as far as the Arctic. » More ...
Spring 2019
Stopping the blighters
Fire blight, a voracious bacterial infection, has plagued apple and pear trees for years, but weather conditions have worsened the severity of infestations in Washington state since 2015. That has spurred Washington State University researchers to seek resistant trees and Extension educators to help growers manage the disease. » More ...
Spring 2019
Soil Man
USDA-ARS and WSU scientist Jim Cook spent 40 years probing the jungle of soil microbiomes, and his lifetime of practical work on soil health helped numerous farmers and led to an honorary doctorate from WSU. » More ...
Spring 2019
What’s app?
Technology and smartphone apps made by nurses, therapists, doctors, and others tap into their knowledge, and enable self-monitoring and self-care for patients. They can also help health-care workers themselves. » More ...
Winter 2018
Patterns
Just the right combination of cold and moist conditions last winter blanketed the trees, buildings, and grounds of the WSU Pullman campus with a layer of hoarfrost. The tiny, icy spikes added a new and beautiful dimension, even drawing my eyes to a fresh look at the cougar statue outside the Lewis Alumni Centre. I walk past that leaping figure nearly every workday, and yet rarely look at it like I did that day.
Sometimes we need a new way to perceive the world around us, even those parts that are invisible. For example, cancerous tumors notoriously adapt and resist treatment as they invade our … » More …
Winter 2018
Bison
The day the bison herd swam across the river says it all.
About 80 of the legendary mammals, known for hardiness and stubbornness, decided to cross the half-mile wide Pend Oreille River in 1994—bulls, cows, and even calves—and all survived the crossing, recalls Ray Entz, natural resources director of the Kalispel Tribe of Indians in northeast Washington.
That same rugged strength of the wooly North American bovines—whether you call them bison or buffalo—helped the entire resilient species survive. Although bison are now the national mammal of the United States, they once balanced on the cliff of extinction … » More …
Winter 2018
On the straight, tall, and narrow
The straight, long rows of tall and thin loblolly pine grow very fast in the South’s flat lands, especially compared to the slow-growing Douglas fir on steep Pacific Northwest slopes.
It’s just one of many differences that Travis Keatley (’99 Forest Mgmt.) has witnessed as he manages more than seven million acres of timber across 11 states for Weyerhaeuser.
As vice president of southern timberlands for the timber, land, and forest products company, Keatley works out of Hot Springs, Arkansas, and travels from Florida to Virginia to Louisiana, and all states in between, as he oversees Weyerhaeuser’s … » More …
Winter 2018
A new dimension to fighting cancer
Any good strategist knows that an accurate map can win a battle. If your enemy is cancer, a chaotic and elusive foe that changes its environment, finding a new dimension to examine a tumor can make all the difference when developing treatments.
Like all scientists and doctors looking for ways to defeat cancer, Weimin Li wants to better understand how cancerous tumors grow and adapt. His innovative technology using 3-D tissue culture “scaffolds” delivers a far more relevant environment to research the deadly disease.
It’s a fight that Li has fought on many fronts. He spent seven years practicing oncology in China and witnessed … » More …
Fall 2018
Influence
Abraham Lincoln, when nominated for president in 1860, apologized for his lack of formal education. No apology was necessary from the articulate orator and voracious reader whose desire to learn and improve himself continued into his adulthood. Even without school, Lincoln had teachers, people who influenced his education. He moved to New Salem, Illinois, in his early 20s and studied grammar and debate under the tutelage of his mentor, remarkably named Mentor Graham, who wrote about Lincoln: “No one ever surpassed him in rapidly, quickly and well acquiring the rudiments and rules of English grammar.”
Gladys Cooper Jennings ’48 similarly served as a mentor … » More …