Nature – Funded by the US National Science Foundation, the nearly US$2.5-million initiative is assessing how social and environmental factors influenced the populations of prehistoric Pueblo farmers from about 600 to 1300, says Tim Kohler, the VEP’s principal investigator and an archaeologist at Washington State University in Pullman. In one strand of research, the team drew on the rich history of archaeology in the region to compile a database of 18,000 prehistoric sites, which allowed them to measure the population and how it shifted over time1.
Oregon Public Broadcasting – Neighborhoods where non-English speaking Latinos live tend to have the most toxic air quality, according to new research out of Washington State University. Picture a U.S. map with clusters of flaming red dots laid over it. And the dots represent hot spots for cancer-causing air pollution. That’s one way to view Raoul Liévanos’ latest research findings. He’s an assistant professor of sociology at WSU. On this map, the Northwest looks relatively good. Most the hotspots are in the Northeast and California. But there are clusters around the Seattle and Portland metro areas.