Winter 2005
Hanging on by a whisker
What geology hath put asunder, biologists are are trying to join back
together. So far it's working, although the effort requires a different
measure of success than what's usually appled. » More ...
Biological sciences
Winter 2005
It’s Only a Model
Modelers don't always expect their models to be "right." But they do expect them to help explain our world. » More ...
Spring 2004
Mount St. Helens: The perfect laboratory
It is impossible to accept the immensity of Mount St. Helens and the
effect of its catastrophic 1980 eruption unless you are able to stand
beneath the enormous crater on the pumice plain and listen to John
Bishop talk about lupines. » More ...
Fall 2005
A life of science and beauty: 1953–2005
We were all stunned and saddened by the death, from an aneurysm, of Vincent Franceschi. The director of both the School of Biological Sciences and the Electron Microscopy Center, Franceschi built a rich and diverse career in his 52 years. As a plant cell biologist, he worked on structure-function relationships in plants. Microscopy was a major tool in his work, and the beauty that he recorded of the microscopic plant world will remind us of his skill and perception.
Click here for more on Franceschi.
Click here for an article by Franceschi about plant microscopyin … » More …
Fall 2005
Molecular Mata Hari
How to make cancer cells weapons of self-destruction. » More ...
Fall 2005
The Portals of Discovery
A WSU study shows that a toxin-induced disease state can be inherited by subsequent generations. » More ...
Summer 2005
Jell-O brains and boa constrictors draw kids to science
Fifth-graders from seven area school districts bustled into the CUB ballroom recently for the third annual Kids Judge! Neuroscience Fair. After the participants met with their brain team-neurons, dendrites, boutons, memory, synapses-they made a visit to the Jell-O brain station where they chose from a variety of anatomically correct flavored gelatin brains.
And then to work. Clipboards in hand, the children evaluated 14 educational models developed by Washington State University NEURO 430 students, faculty, and graduate students.
The projects focused on hands-on activities through which students could learn about the function and physiology of the brain. David M. Rector, assistant professor in the Department of … » More …
Spring 2005
Tough Microbes
They might not eat nails, exactly, but these tough little critters might hold the key to some heavy-duty environmental cleanup. » More ...
Spring 2005
New Zealand mud snails: A tiny gastropod is a major problem here—not there
They have already invaded the Snake River, Yellowstone National Park,
and lots of other sites. They can reach population densities greater
than 300,000 per square meter, carpeting stream beds and changing the
way nutrients cycle through the ecosystem. It was a little difficult,
though, to explain all of this to the gentleman who wanted to
confiscate my snails. » More ...
Fall 2009
Foiling an invasive
Sometimes, figuring something out only deepens the overall mystery.
Take Pseudomonas fluorescens D7, for example.
Ann Kennedy, a USDA-Agricultural Research Service soil microbiologist at Washington State University, has isolated these native bacteria as a perfectly natural way to fight cheatgrass, also known as downy brome, scientific name Bromus tectorum. Recently, she and her colleagues were awarded a large grant to test the effectiveness of Pseudomonas fluorescens D7 for controlling cheatgrass in rangeland.
Cheatgrass, which was introduced in the late 19th century as a forage crop, is an aggressive invader, a grass that has, according to WSU botanist » More …