Oregon native Linus Pauling had already won two Nobel prizes when he turned his genius to the chemical complexities of diet and health. Not content to rest on his laurels as a world-renowned chemist and international peace activist, Pauling plunged with characteristic ardor into the study of micronutrients, particularly vitamin C, in the late 1960s. [...]
Archive » January, 2008
January 23, 2008
First Line of Defense
Last fall’s announcement that virulent antibiotic-resistant staph infections had killed almost 19,000 patients in American hospitals and nursing homes in 2005 didn’t surprise George Allen. With colleagues David Bearden and Mark Christensen, the assistant professor in the OSU College of Pharmacy studies antibiotic effectiveness. He focuses on a class of broad-spectrum antibiotics known as fluoroquinolones, [...]
January 23, 2008
A Drink to Your (Bone?) Health
Moderate alcohol consumption in adults can have health benefits. It can reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, gallstones and maybe diabetes. Russell Turner, Gianni Maddalozzo and Urszula Iwaniec of OSU’s Bone Research Laboratory could add osteoporosis to that list. Studies with animals have found that the equivalent of five to 10 drinks per week [...]
January 23, 2008
Scientists to Bark Beetle: “No Vacancy”
You think it’s difficult to master a complex foreign language like Chinese or Greek? Try learning how to speak “bark beetle.” After about 30 years of study, researchers at OSU have done exactly that. Along with U.S. Forest Service colleagues, they’ve figured out what a particular pheromone is communicating to Douglas–fir bark beetles and now [...]
January 23, 2008
Invaders in the Dunes
Unnoticed by most beach–goers, a showdown is under way in Oregon’s coastal dunes, and the winner could pack increased risks for coastal property, especially during winter storms. OSU scientists have documented a slow but steady takeover by American beach grass (Ammophila breviligulata), an invasive species from the East Coast and Great Lakes. They have found [...]
January 23, 2008
Football as Product
(From 1970 to 1973, Michael Oriard played professional football with the Kansas City Chiefs. After completing his doctorate in American literature at Stanford, he joined the OSU English department in 1976.) To a short list of milestones marking the creation of the new NFL — May 7, 1982, when Al Davis won the right to [...]
January 23, 2008
Risk Versus Cost
The Politics of Safety
Why have years of expert warnings failed to mobilize citizens and their representatives to fully fund an overhaul of transportation infrastructure? Bill Lunch, chair of OSU’s Department of Political Science, has devoted decades to observing and analyzing Oregon’s political and public-policy scene. The professor, who is well-known to listeners of Oregon Public Broadcasting, recently shared [...]
January 23, 2008
Innovations to Market
Agriculture Tried Fizzy Fruit yet? Or the spicy hazelnut mix Oregon Dukkah? Scientists and entrepreneurs have developed these and other new products at the Food Innovation Center in Portland. Other OSU-inspired foods include surimi, oyster shooters, microbrew beers, Umatilla Russett potatoes, Shay apples, Cascade pears, and Clearfield, Stephens and SuperSoft wheat. Forestry New soy-based wood [...]
January 23, 2008
Breaking Through
Researchers take it to the marketplace
When Larry Plotkin took a buy-out package from Hewlett-Packard in 2005, he aimed to start a new business in the mid-Willamette Valley. He was familiar with OSU research on transparent transistors, algae-generated biodiesel and microbial fuel cells. “This is world-class stuff,” he says. And he felt that the potential for new products based on OSU [...]
