“Blood-sucking” parasite decimating coastal mud shrimp (Oregonian) An Oregon State University researcher is tracking the apparent collapse of mud shrimp populations in coastal estuaries along the West Coast. An intimate look at the awakening giant (Oregonian) The sleeping giant is awake. And the world is shaking — but in its mostly Chinese-made shoes. “There’s always [...]

Higher ed institutions prepare to teach more with less (Oregonian) Oregon’s public colleges and universities are bracing for more students and less money in the next two years as the recession deepens and the state’s budget shrinks. Oregon State University is not planning to raise tuition this spring, said President Ed Ray. But he is [...]

Blue Whales (National Geographic) Bruce Mate, director of the Marine Mammal Institute at Oregon State University, is the world’s most inventive and prolific satellite-tagger of whales. Green expertise turns to gold (Oregonian) As in Oregon, job creation is No. 1 right now, says Hu Tao, a researcher for a Chinese think tank associated with the [...]

Washington century: Salmon (Seattle Post-Intelligencer) At the end of this century, will the Pacific Northwest’s salmon still be an icon? As an excellent report in Oregon State University’s Terra magazine puts it, salmon can rebound if the public and policymakers are willing to take strong enough measures. Rare fungal disease migrates to Oregon, Washington (Oregonian) [...]

Shop owners shut doors on their dreams (USA Today) The economy is forcing many other small businesses to close — including some owned by families for generations — shrinking shoppers’ options and eroding communities’ character. There are about 25 million family-owned businesses in the USA, ranging from Fortune 500 companies to mom-and-pop operations, says Robin [...]