A tiny worm is wiggling its way toward our understanding of evolution and the genetics of aging. We know that mutations in DNA enable organisms to evolve. But how? Jeremy Northway, an undergraduate in the Oregon State University Honors College, is intent on using this worm, known as C. elegans, to find answers. Few animals [...]
Category » Healthy People
June 4, 2013
After the Quake
Saving lives is everybody's business
As an epidemiologist, Jeff Bethel understands the vital role of public health in saving lives after a natural disaster. Most at risk, he says, are vulnerable populations — migrant laborers and people who live alone or have chronic illnesses. “If you’re in your little bubble, you’re at higher risk,” says the assistant professor in the [...]
May 25, 2013
Oregon 9.0
When the next Big One comes, will we be ready?
Professor Scott Ashford has seen the consequences of “megathrust” quakes in Chile, Japan and New Zealand: buildings and bridges tilted and broken like toys, beachfront tourist towns reduced to rubble, pipelines squeezed out of the ground like toothpaste out of a tube, businesses closed or forced to relocate.
May 24, 2013
Of Texts and Textiles
Tapestries loom large in Renaissance literature and modern metaphor
For the rich and the royal, arras hangings were status symbols. They depicted ancient stories of valor and virtue. Often designed to inspire viewers to be braver and better, they also were instruments of political propaganda and puffery.
May 23, 2013
Aquatic Vigil
Labs go to extraordinary lengths for fish and other water dwellers
It boils down to a centuries-old debate among philosophers, scientists, veterinarians, farmers, ranchers, aquarists, and pet owners: What is our obligation to captive animals?
May 22, 2013
Online and Face-to-Face
Active learning combines technology and teamwork
The hallowed “sage on the stage” tradition is giving way to a more interactive process leavened by Wi-Fi and the Web.
May 22, 2013
Hmong Health Study Defies Expectations
More cancer screening, less male influence found
The risks are especially high among the Hmong, whose cervical cancer rates are some of the nation’s highest.
May 22, 2013
Ethical Evolution
The history of medicine owes a debt to animals
Barely a century has passed since Louis Pasteur developed a vaccination for rabies. Since then, scientists have discovered treatments for some of the worst human scourges: smallpox, tuberculosis, polio and influenza. Much of their success can be traced to experiments on animals under circumstances that would shock us today. Pasteur learned about rabies by infecting [...]
May 21, 2013
Nomads No More
Anthropology student listens to the voices of Mongolian herders
Pressure from encroaching modernization threatens traditional patterns of migration and collaboration in Inner Mongolia. Tom Conte, master’s student in anthropology, traveled there to learn about impacts on the grasslands and Mongolian culture.
May 15, 2013
A Preventable Disaster
Arsenic exposure could have long-lasting public health consequences
Fighting a war of independence should be turmoil enough for a small country, but in 1970, the people of Bangladesh also had to deal with a deadly cholera outbreak. This water-borne disease threatened the country’s plentiful surface water and put public health at risk. To solve this crisis, the government, together with international aid agencies, [...]
May 3, 2013
Learning to Fly
More parents provide support for their adult children
For many first-year college students, going to a new school represents “leaving the nest.” They are now responsible for housing, bills and their own education. But according to Heidi Igarashi , a research assistant at Oregon State University, most are still in their parents’ nest and will be for several more years. “Parents used to [...]
April 11, 2013
Four Oregon State students honored by Barry M. Goldwater Foundation
Three Oregon State University students have been awarded the prestigious Barry M. Goldwater Scholarship, an annual award given for the nation’s top undergraduate student research scholars in science, math and engineering by the federally endowed Goldwater Foundation. A fourth student has received an honorable mention, making this OSU’s most successful year ever in the annual [...]
February 14, 2013
Posture for the Planet
Green Yoga combines inner peace with ecological consciousness
For many people, yoga is a form of relaxation. But in India, the birthplace of the exercise, yoga is beginning to stretch beyond the boundaries of one’s self and into the ecological realm. A new movement called “Green Yoga” encourages men and women who practice yoga — called yogis and yoginis — to strive for [...]
February 2, 2013
A Place of Belonging
Once a child immigrant, Susana Rivera-Mills’ past became her future
It was tragic enough that Susana Rivera-Mills’ girlhood was visited by war. It was frightening enough to flee her hometown of San Salvador on a dark night bundled in the backseat of the family Fiat with her little brother Fabio. And yet, as improbable as it seems, the hardest part was still ahead.
February 2, 2013
Words to Live By
Language and culture meet identity
The early findings from Independence reveal a community that is holding onto Spanish for five and six generations.
February 1, 2013
Corps of Discovery
Mastering the natural history of Oregon's storied lands and waters - and passing it on
Just as some babies are born with special gifts for music or math, Harvard’s Howard Gardner argues, others come into the world with an exceptional sensitivity to nature. The Oregon Master Naturalist program was designed to tap into this devotion to the land and build a statewide corps of expert volunteers.
January 31, 2013
Concord Elementary School
Where vegetables sprout (and kids, too)
Amid the chaos, the kids are learning about the art of gardening.
January 31, 2013
Rimrock Ranch
Where steelhead will swim again
Guiding tours for the Deschutes Land Trust has been, for years, an outgrowth of Mary Crow’s passion for the land.
January 29, 2013
Oregon State University In Asia
Scientific partnerships flourish across the region
For growth in research and educational opportunities, Oregon State University faculty and students increasingly look west. Connections to Asia are expanding. They encompass a wide range of activities including academic conferences, student exchanges and faculty collaborations. They focus on business, engineering, pharmaceuticals, agriculture, wood science, music and more. The university’s growing international influence is fueled [...]
January 24, 2013
Volunteers for Science
Citizens contribute valuable data
I get to call myself a scientist because I’ve got a Ph.D. in oceanography, but is that a prerequisite? No. Before there were “scientists,” even “ordinary people” did science. They learned to grow crops and domesticate animals. They associated the heavens with the seasons and events on Earth. Keen insight into plant properties, animal behavior [...]
January 23, 2013
Twice the Rice
Adding vitamin B1 may boost nutrition and immunity
A new breed of rice could fend off crop-damaging diseases and improve human health at the same time.
January 23, 2013
The Hidden Dangers of Flame Retardants
Chemicals may harm brain development in young children
Your old sofa, as comfy as it is, could be a hazard to your children’s health.
January 23, 2013
Sex in Play
From dolls to sports, sexualized culture affects youth
It takes media savvy and strong role models to promote healthy development in the face of what the American Psychological Association calls “the massive exposure to portrayals that sexualize women and girls and teach girls that women are sexual objects.”
January 18, 2013
Student Researcher Aims to Give Kids a Boost in School
Sara says, "jump!"
Playing games may be fun and exciting for young children, but researchers have found they also can be academically beneficial. Human Development and Family Studies Ph.D. student Sara Schmitt is finding out just how much. “One of the primary studies I’ve been involved in here at Oregon State is trying to develop a screening tool [...]
October 12, 2012
The Ethic of Care
Respect for animals guides their treatment in teaching and research
The three rats snoozing in Cage 57 don’t know it, but they could someday help save thousands of human lives. Snuggled in their EcoFresh bedding, the rodents are digesting a meal that may hold clues to preventing colon cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer deaths in the United States. On their cage, equipped with HEPA [...]
October 12, 2012
High Grades for Animal Care
Accreditation panel praised Oregon State's laboratory-animal standards and practices
In awarding full accreditation to Oregon State University in March, AAALAC offered the following remarks to Rick Spinrad, vice president for research. “The Council commends you and your staff for providing and maintaining an excellent program of laboratory animal care and use.” Especially noteworthy, the council said, was the high level of administrative commitment to [...]
October 12, 2012
Doctor at the Top
How lambs, preemies, “death cap” mushrooms and research pigs steered a stellar career
A human life can pivot on the quirkiest of convergences. In the life of Helen Diggs, it was the accidental nexus of five unfortunate hikers, a bagful of poisonous mushrooms and a few heroic pigs that set change in motion. It all started early one morning in 1988 when Diggs, then a young veterinarian, heard [...]
October 12, 2012
A Whole Lot of Seriousness
With lives on the line, there’s no room for nonchalance
“Nothing is more important in an animal study than the animal itself,” says Steve Durkee. His tone is reminiscent of Moses handing down the stone tablets. Just like Moses, Durkee is not kidding around. The righteous idealism that fed Durkee’s Greenpeace activism in his “younger, wilder days” still beats in his chest as administrator of [...]
October 12, 2012
Ten Discoveries at Oregon State
With the help of animals, Oregon State scientists have made important discoveries in human health (see The Ethic of Care). “These findings would not have been possible relying only on cell cultures or experimenting with yeast and bacteria,” says pharmacy researcher Mark Leid. His lab created and used genetically modified mice to discover important roles [...]
October 12, 2012
Staph Attack
Vitamin therapy shows promise in treating "superbug"
Deadly staph infections may have a potent new foe: Vitamin B3. Megadoses of the vitamin can help the immune system fight the superbug MRSA (methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus), researchers at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, OSU’s Linus Pauling Institute and other institutions have found. The findings could lead to new treatment options for health officials who have [...]
