[+] WINTER 2009
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Winter 2009
Connecting you to Washington State University, The State, The World

WSU Researcher

Researcher maps skills of Latino caregivers

Some Latino child care providers may not read and write well enough to fill out state licensing forms, says Cara Preuss, but that does not necessarily mean they're unable to care for children and help them learn. Read more

WSU Veterinary Researcher Develops New Cattle Tuberculosis Test

Dr. William Davis, professor in WSU’s Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology department, together with science and industry colleagues has developed an antibody-based test for bovine tuberculosis (bTB). The new multiplex antibody test is able to detect antibody activity to 25 antigens at one time, something that was previously not possible. Read more

New vineyard advances WSU viticulture research

WSU viticulture researchers have received contributions from the wine and grape industry to fund a new eight-acre research vineyard to be planted this spring near the Irrigated Agriculture Research and Extension Center in Prosser. Read more

Innovative trap could help growers customize solution to wheat pest

Aaron Esser, a WSU Lincoln-Adams County Extension educator, researches economically viable solutions to problems experienced by wheat producers. It may come as a surprise then that most of Aaron's time is spent with a pair of pantyhose. Wireworm, the larval form of the common click beetle, poses multiple problems for wheat producers. The worms hollow out the wheat, prevent germination and, patch by patch, can destroy an otherwise productive field. Read more

WSU Physicist Helps in Search to Make Gravitational Waves Visible

Einstein's general theory of relativity predicts them. And tiny movements in large objects confirm them. But scientists have still never actually seen gravitational waves. "I want to see them in the flesh," said Sukanta Bose, a faculty member in Washington State University's Physics and Astronomy Department. "Until we detect them, they are a belief, not yet turned into truth." Read more

WSU Vancouver Oyster Drill Research Receives Grant and Makes Breakthrough

Washington State University Vancouver biochemistry and biophysics professor Steve Sylvester has received a $36,500 grant from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife for his work on, "Identification of Chemoattractants and Pheromones of Oyster Drills." Read more

Water research plays critical role in Hanford cleanup

What do you do when hundreds of corroded tanks are leaking nuclear waste into the groundwater – with no permanent disposal site in the nation willing to store it for you? One idea is to convert that waste into glass logs. Read more

Speech processing research nets $700,000 from NSF

Christine Portfors, associate professor of biology at WSU Vancouver, has received a $700,000 grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) for her research in "Neural Encoding of Behaviorally Relevant Sounds." Read more

WSU and UI Food Science student product development teams taste sweet success

Two student food product development teams from the Washington State University and University of Idaho School of Food Science won awards at the Institute of Food Technologists Student Association competition in Anaheim last week. In an innovative effort to grow young people's enthusiasm about science, Yukiko Sakai's team won with Erupt-a-Cake. This all-natural, ready-to-bake chocolate cake sports an erupting volcano and gummy dinosaurs. Read more

Rhizobacteria wage war along thin brown line

Beneficial bacteria battle harmful bacteria, hungry fungi threaten to invade, nematodes devour them all. Dr. David Weller, research leader with the USDA Agricultural Research Service and member of Washington State University’s Department of Plant Pathology, studies the narrow band of soil along the roots – the thin brown line – called the rhizosphere where this war takes place. Read more

Submersible robot developed to explode, expand buried pipes

Engineers at WSU's Capital Planning and Development are testing a robotic technology with possible military and disaster rescue and recovery applications. The patent-pending robotic process blends a little bit of ingenuity from industrial metal cutting, video game technology, civil engineering and battle-bots to help repair underground sewer lines. Read more

Insights discovered into diabetic platelet mystery

WSU and other scientists are reporting the first detailed identification and analysis of a group of abnormal proteins in platelets from diabetic donors. The study could lead to screening tests to detect and monitor these so-called "high risk platelets," to help individuals with Type 2 diabetes. Read more

How Solid Is Concrete's Carbon Footprint?

WSU studies have shown that small quantities of CO2 later reabsorb into concrete, even decades after it is emplaced, when elements of the material combine with CO2 to form calcite. Read more

Work explores how authors spin straw-to-riches tale

Children's literature expert Jane Kelley examined the classic story of greedy Rumpelstiltskin in order to analyze how 12 modern writers updated the 300-year-old tale. Read more

Physicists take first steps to harness antimatter (video)

Although we won't see that story on tonight's six o'clock news, WSU engineering professor Kelvin Lynn is serious when he says it is possible to harness the power of antimatter. Read story and see video

Straight shot to a breakthrough? Don't count on it.

WSU researchers have found both applied and basic research can lead to unexpected breakthroughs. Read more

Children commodified on adoption websites

WSU doctoral student and instructor Diane Carter is synthesizing earlier lines of research to expand understanding of how adopted children can become commodities in the international adoption process. Read more

Bring on the boron

Lai-Sheng Wang studies matter a few atoms at a time, especially boron. Why study boron? Read it at WSM online. Read more

Picture this

Physicist Doerte Blume is looking at the behavior of fermions and bosons in her research to understand the behavior of some of the tiniest fragments of matter. Read more

WSU Veterinary Cardiologist Discovers Gene for Heart Disease

Washington State University veterinary cardiologist Kathryn M. Meurs has discovered a mutant gene in the Boxer breed that causes a type of heart disease that can be fatal in animals and humans. Read more

Mapping the way to snow mold resistance

A genetic map being developed by scientists at WSU in collaboration with scientists at Japan’s National Agricultural Research Center on the northern island of Hokkaido may speed development of wheat varieties that are more resistant to snow mold. Read more

Organic Gardens May Yield More Nutrients

One of the hottest trends in gardening today is organic gardening which relies on natural processes to grow plants. There is now a growing consensus among scientists that organically grown fruits and vegetables may contain higher levels of nutrients than conventionally grown produce. Read more

Scientists receive grant to test weed-fighting bacteria

Scientists and land managers in Washington and Oregon have received a five-year, $500,000 grant from The Nature Conservancy to field test a bacteria that may give land managers a new tool to suppress cheatgrass and restore degraded rangeland. Read more

Girls catch up in prevalence of metabolic syndrome

New findings by WSU Professors Kenn Daratha and Ruth Bindler show that, while metabolic syndrome was on the rise among teens throughout the 1990s, the prevalence of metabolic syndrome in this group has remained stable over the period studied. Read more

WSU physicist discovers new atomic oscillation

WSU Professor Matt McCluskey has discovered a new type of atomic oscillation that could impact solid-state phenomena ranging from diffusion to electronic device performance. Read more

Reducing costly fruit rot

Chang-Lin Xiao, an associate professor of plant pathology and extension specialist at the Washington State University Tree Fruit Research and Extension Center in Wenatchee, has discovered three previously unknown fungal pathogens in the United States that cause apples and pears to rot in storage. Read more

Multilayer eco-friendly safeguards developed

John Brown, WSU professor, scientist and extension specialist, is leading an award-winning team that is revamping the pattern of insecticides used to protect poplar trees. Read more

Researchers explore schools as places to break the cycle of child trauma

Parental neglect, emotional abuse, physical abuse - one in three children in the United States is exposed to these types of experiences, which collectively are known as complex trauma. WSU researchers have been exploring ways to improve schools to deal with child trauma. Read more

Hunting for traits that strengthen tree fruit crops, economy

It takes the new science of bioinformatics to find the needle of knowledge in the haystack of information created by a genome map. In search of the needles that will guide tree-fruit breeders, WSU bioinformaticist Dorrie Main is combing through the haystack of the rosaceae family. Read more

NSF Funds Chemistry Undergraduate Research Summer Program at WSU

Chemist James Brozik, associate professor at Washington State University's College of Science, has been awarded a grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create a hands-on summer research experience for undergraduate students to learn more about how chemistry and biology are fundamentally interrelated. Read more

WSU Research Supported by Federal Omnibus Funding

A variety of Washington State University's agricultural research programs across the state, as well as the WSU College of Nursing and a groundbreaking methamphetamine treatment research program in Spokane, will benefit from allocations laid out in the $410 billion omnibus federal spending bill. Read more

WSU Astrobiologist Updates Book on the Search for Life Beyond Earth

The search for life on other worlds goes on, and Dirk Schulze-Makuch has a lot to say about how we should go about it. Read more

Sleep Creeps Up: No Top-Down Control for Sleep and Wakefulness, WSU Scientists Find

Feeling sleepy? That's because parts of your brain are actually asleep, according to a new theoretical paper by sleep scientists at Washington State University. Read more

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WSU News The latest headlines from Washington State University.

Mon, Nov 23 2009 | 4:54 PM

Eagles Grant Awarded for Cancer Research

Mon, Nov 23 2009 | 9:43 AM

WSU ?Innovators' Series to Focus on Food-Borne Illness Research

Fri, Nov 20 2009 | 11:24 AM

WSU Regents Approve Creation of University College

Thu, Nov 19 2009 | 2:12 PM

School of Music Presents Holiday Concert

Thu, Nov 19 2009 | 1:26 PM

WSU Wind Symphony, Symphonic Band to Join Pullman Community Band in Concert

[ MORE @ WSU News Service and WSU Today ]