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Bacteria

Clock with microbes
Spring 2018

Do microbes dream of circadian sleep?

Anticipation is sweet. In anticipation of the blooming light, plants unfurl their leaves. For many marine creatures, rising to the sea surface as the moon rises is the anticipatory signal that food is available. In our gut, too, microbes anticipate dinnertime because microorganisms have internal clocks that sound the dinner bell.

“And here’s where it gets interesting,” says Hans Van Dongen, a professor of psychology at Washington State University Spokane and internationally known sleep expert.

“The biological clock those organisms have and the brain-based clock that humans have are not necessarily in sync. You notice this when you travel to another time zone. … » More …

Spring 2003

Drake enlivened the college experience

For 36 years Charles H. Drake was a popular, well-respected professor at Washington State University. His introductory class in bacteriology attracted many non-science majors, as well as students preparing for careers in health care.

“He was an extraordinary articulate lecturer, … the quintessential eccentric professor who enlivens the college experience for students and opens their minds through dedicated teaching and irreverent questioning of their comfortable ideas and beliefs,” recalls Martin Favero (’61 M.S. Bact., ’64 Ph.D. Bact.), San Clemente, California.

Drake retired in 1981. He was 86 when he died May 20, 2002 in Pullman.

He is credited with inaugurating Introductory Bacteriology (Bact. 101), which … » More …