Author: Mary Aegerter
20 article(s) found by this author.
Getting serious about biodiesel
Fall 2006
It's taken 25 years of basic research for work on plant-oil biochemistry to begin to pay off. And there's more work yet to do.
Categories: Biological sciences, Chemistry
Tags: Biodiesel, Biofuels
Cool,Soothing,Lucrative Mint
Spring 2006
If you drive through Central Washington's mint-growing country
in mid-summer, you're likely to be overwhelmed by the scent of mint
rising like an exhalation—at once delightful and inescapable—from
the surrounding fields. In fact, your senses m...
Categories: Agriculture, Area studies
Tags: Genetically modified foods, Food
Ann Christenson's Time Piece
Winter 2005
Bringing disparate images together into a unified whole seems to
come naturally to ceramic artist Ann Christenson, professor of fine
arts at Washington State University. It's particularly evident in
one of her most recent projects-a sundial.Christ...
Categories: Fine Arts
Tags: Time, Sundial
As you read this, thank your ion channels
Fall 2004
When Mike Varnum, assistant professor, Veterinary and
Comparative Anatomy, Pharmacology, and Physiology, visits the
aquarium, he looks at the sea creatures a bit differently than the
rest of us. What interests him most about a creature is not its
...
Categories: Health sciences
Tags: Reading, Eyes
A Quick Test for a Killer
Summer 2004
While Listeria monocytogenes accounts for only 1/100th of 1
percent of all food-borne illnesses in the United States, it's
responsible for a whopping 28 percent of annual deaths. Development of
a quick test for the pathogen promises to drastically reduce that
statistic.
Categories: Health sciences, Food
Tags: Genetics, Microbes, Diseases
A Vision Thing: Diagnostic tools and a vaccine for paratuberculosis
Summer 2004
Bill Davis, professor of veterinary microbiology and pathology
at Washington State University, exhibited true vision in the 1970s,
when he recognized the potential for veterinary science of
monoclonal antibody technology.Antibodies are proteins pr...
Categories: Veterinary medicine
Tags: Antibodies, Diseases
A bug-eat-bug world
Winter 2003
If you can put other insects to work eating the insects that are bothering you, everybody wins. Except the pests.
Categories: Agriculture, Biological sciences
Tags: Entomology, Pest management
Maybe it's not just in your head
Fall 2003
Imagine trying to lead your life while avoiding diesel exhaust, perfume, cleaning fluids, the myriad chemicals that give off gas from new cars, carpets, or treated woods and fabrics—and a whole lot of other things. That's exactly the case for the 10 million or so Americans who suffer from severe multiple chemical sensitivity (MCS).
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Biochemistry, Multiple chemical sensitivity
Minding her B's & T's
Summer 2003
In the fast paced world of immunological research, it's not your
p's and q's you have to mind, but your b's and t's. That's B cells
and T cells, two of the main players in the complex orchestra that
makes up your immune system. B. Paige Lawrence, ...
Categories: Biological sciences, Health sciences
Tags: Research, Immunology, Cells
A bizarre, slimy animal shows its stuff
Winter 2002
Without jaws, most vertebrates-including us-would be stuck
hanging around in the ocean or on the ground, unable to bite and
scooping up or filtering food. We'd also be smaller. Instead, we're
fearsome predators and herbivores, with big brains and ...
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Genetics, Evolution
A Matter of Survival
Winter 2002
One of the simplest truths of nature is that if a species is to survive, it must reproduce. faculty researchers explore reproduction's mysteries and threats.
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Reproductive biology
Ain't Misbehavin'
Fall 2002
If you're not the leader of your pack, you may want to give Catherine Ulibarri a call.
Categories: Veterinary medicine
Tags: Animal behavior
Small and smaller
Fall 2002
There’s a limit to how small a
piece of chocolate chip cookie you can have. At some point,
you’ll either have a piece of chocolate or a piece of cookie,
but not a piece of chocolate chip cookie.You run into the same problem if youâ...
Categories: Materials engineering
Tags: Nanotechnology
Keeping our food safe
Fall 2002
If you’re worried that our food supply might be the next target
of international terrorists, you probably needn’t be, says Barbara
Rasco, associate professor of food science and human nutrition.
Rasco’s research centers on bioterrorism and t...
Categories: Agriculture, Health sciences
Tags: Food-borne illness, Food
Is nothing sacred?
Summer 2002
Never heard of C4 photosynthesis? Now you have. It's rare, it's cool, it could help feed the world. And WSU plant scientists just rewrote the textbook on it.
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Photosynthesis
Sex, food, and death
Summer 2002
Remember that notorious scene from Alien? You know the
one. But instead of just one alien organism bursting out of its
host, picture hundreds, even thousands. That’s what happens when
Copidosoma floridanum wasps mature, says Laura Corley,
assis...
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Entomology
It came from outer space
Spring 2002
The dust on your mantelpiece may be more interesting than it
appears at first swipe. Some of it may be from outer space. While
that may not make much difference to your dust rag, some feel that
extraterrestrial dust might help explain the cyclical...
Categories: Earth sciences
Tags: Space dust
Curing what ails you
Winter 2001
IF GARY MEADOWS is right, popping
Prozac will do more for you
than relieve depression. Meadows’s
preliminary data suggest that fluoxetine,
the generic form of Prozac,
inhibits the growth of melanoma
tumors in mice. The Prozac project bega...
Categories: Biological sciences, Health sciences
Tags: Prozac, Melanoma, Cancer
Shanthi the elephant is due in December
Winter 2001
AS YOU MIGHT WELL IMAGINE,
artificially inseminating an elephant
is a touchy business. But,
says Janine Brown, artificial insemination
(AI) is an important tool,
because natural reproduction can
be difficult for captive elephants.
...
Categories: Breeding, Veterinary medicine
Tags: Zoology, Elephant
Asking for trouble
Winter 2001
Hunting may create cougar problemsIF THE COUGAR IS ANYTHING
like its fellow carnivore the grizzly,
then the method we’re using to try
to solve our current problems with
cougars may well aggravate rather
than alleviate them.Rob Wielgus,...
Categories: Biological sciences
Tags: Wildlife, Hunting, Cougars