Research Magazine

Historians aren't known for interdisciplinary collaborations. But Paul Hirt is getting environmental historians out into the field and working with anthropologists, ecologists and geographers. He hopes to increase their understanding of the complex interactions between humans and the landscape. --by Adelheid Fischer

The sky islands borderlands of the Southwest is a unique area harboring such a broad range of life that Conservation International has designated it a hotspot of global diversity. Once sparsely settled, the sky islands borderlands are now undergoing economic, ecological, and social upheavals. Environmental historian Paul Hirt is looking at the region's past to help citizens, businesses and governments manage its present and future. --by Adelheid Fischer

Being full of beans might not be such a bad thing. ASU nutritionists say that eating a half-cup of the legumes each day may just keep the doctor away. --by Melissa Crytzer Fry

Major league baseball players like Derek Jeter make actions like catching a fly ball look effortless. But if you want to understand the complexity underlying these moves, try teaching them to a robot. By combining expertise in engineering and psychology, ASU researchers have created Catchbot, a baseball-playing robot. In the process, they have learned a lot about how people perceive and respond to a moving target. --by Skip Derra

"Beowulf is an existential poem. It offers insight into a whole social structure," explains Robert Bjork, director of the Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies. "But it also takes you into the existence of the individual. And it's a poem without real resolution." Bjork thinks the poem should be viewed as a retrospective nostalgic look at a pagan past through a sympathetic, Christian present. --by Sheilah Britton

Do TV shows like CSI taint jurors' perceptions of forensic evidence? For years, legal professionals and the mass media have claimed that a "CSI effect" is influencing jury trials. But these claims aren't backed up by real data. In fact, new research from ASU indicates that watching CSI doesn't make people any more or less likely to convict. --by Diane Boudreau

Anyone who watches television in the United States might logically conclude that this is a nation plagued by allergies, depression and arthritis. Ads for medicines to address such conditions make it seem as though ailment sufferers outnumber the healthy. But, it wasn't always so. --by Carrie Barnett

A series of microscopic time-lapse images show microtubules in the fungus Neurospora crassa. The image is part of a collection created by ASU cell biologist Robert Roberson. The collection has appeared in multiple galleries throughout the Phoenix area.

Cell nuclei appear like spindles along the filaments of the cytoskeleton during cell division. This image is part of a collection created by ASU cell biologist Robert Roberson. The collection has appeared in multiple galleries throughout the Phoenix area.

Consumers seem to believe that a disgusting product--such as diapers or cat litter--somehow taints the products near it, according to studies of customer behavior. This sense of "product contamination" can hurt retail sales. -- by Carrie Barnett