A series of photographs by Washington State University professor Rafi Samizay on Afghanistan and its architecture will be on display from March 9 through April 11 at the WSU Museum of Art. Homes constructed from artillery shells. Military tanks used as foundations for bridges. Flower pots that were once parts of missiles. In Afghanistan, a generation of war has resulted in a strange new architecture, built from the implements of destruction. Also to be shown simultaneously will be “Piranesi: The Grandeur of Ancient Rome,” a collection of 52 prints by Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778), one of the masters of neoclassical etching. For more details on the Afghanistan exhibit, click on http://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=4385; for more on the combined shows, see https://wsunews.wsu.edu/detail.asp?StoryID=4387.
The Board of Regents of Washington State University will hold its regularly scheduled meeting at 9 a.m. March 12 at the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute (SIRTI) Boardroom 432, at 665 North Riverpoint Blvd. The meeting agenda is available at https://www.regents.wsu.edu/3-12-agenda.doc.
March 12 will be the last day of classes before spring break at WSU. Classes resume on March 22.
In the news
Life on Mars: The Mars rover Opportunity has found that Martian rocks were once soaked in water; that finding adds to the growing evidence that water once existed on the planet. Guy Worthey, assistant professor of astronomy at Washington State University, said we already knew about river channels, lake beds and subsurface water, and we had some intriguing pictures — one that looks exactly like a rock glacier (dirt and ice mixed together and slowly flowing downhill) and another at the base of a canyon that looks like water-deposited sediment that happened in the very recent past. The rovers now add major evidence for salts that can only be formed using liquid water as well as more circumstantial evidence like possible sedimentary layering and the presence of “gray hematite” that both point toward water having existed in large quantities in the past. Worthey said this shows that Mars was once warmer, with a thicker atmosphere. Did life exist there? Scientists don’t know, but the latest evidence certainly adds to the speculation. Worthey can be contacted at 509.335.4994 or gworthey@wsu.edu.
The campaign in Washington: Although Washington may not be on the short list of the states likely to be the most hotly contested in the upcoming election, Travis Ridout, an assistant professor of political science at WSU, believes it will get attention from the candidates. Ridout’s current research examines the impact of political campaigns – including candidate activities, paid media and news coverage – on voter learning and choice. Generally, Washington is listed as a “lean Democrat” state, Ridout said, with Democratic nominee Al Gore winning it by about 140,000 votes in 2000. Ridout said that if President George W. Bush wins Washington this year, it is likely to be part of a near-landslide for the incumbent. Still, Ridout said Bush may be motivated to spend time and some of his large campaign treasury in Washington as a way to force John Kerry, the likely Democratic nominee, to tap his own campaign funds to keep pace. Ridout is available at 509.335.2264 or tnridout@wsu.edu.
