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, [...]
Stories
May 15, 2013
A Preventable Disaster
Arsenic exposure could have long-lasting public health consequences
May 9, 2013
Connective Tissue
Finding hope where facts and values intersect
When Michael P. Nelson talks about his work, he mentions carcasses and cadavers to a startling degree — startling because Nelson is not a physician or a veterinarian or even a biologist. He’s a philosopher. So at first glance, necropsy seems an odd topic of discourse. But it starts to make sense when you notice [...]
May 3, 2013
Biochar video
Learn how biochar is made, sequesters carbon and protects water quality
Perry Morrow, student in the Oregon State University Water Resources Graduate Program, produced this video on biochar, the carbonized remains of plants. Turning low-value wood and other biomass into biochar sequesters carbon from the atmosphere for hundreds of years. The resulting material may also benefit water quality by absorbing pollutants such as copper, lead, zinc [...]
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 [...]
April 3, 2013
Yellowstone: One of the World’s Largest Calderas
Keep up on the latest research
The Yellowstone caldera is no typical volcano. Its elongated form measures about 35 miles by 45 miles, considerably larger than most. Yellowstone Lake stands at the center of the caldera and shows evidence of volcanic activity that has formed some of its arms. Yellowstone contains one of the world’s largest geothermal systems. The caldera has [...]
April 3, 2013
Researcher Profile: Adam Schultz
A professor of geology and geophysics, Adam Schultz received his Ph.D. at the University of Washington in 1986. He came to Oregon State University in 2003 and directs the National Geoelectromagnetic Facility, which loans geophysics equipment to scientists, industry and government. His research interests include geothermal systems, the Cascade volcanic arc, the Cascadia subduction zone [...]
April 3, 2013
Rethinking Yellowstone
The hotspot theory gets a makeover from the emerging science of magnetotellurics
A geological mystery lies beneath the majestic beauty of Yellowstone National Park. Once thought solved, the enigma continues to unfold through the lens of a young science known as magnetotellurics. As accepted theory goes, over the past 16 million years a rising plume of magma in the Earth’s mantle produced massive amounts of lava and [...]
February 27, 2013
Science that Breaks Your Heart
Coupling facts and morality to save our Earth
As a thinking community, we face a conundrum: Scientists uncover some of the empirical knowledge we need to save our planet and ourselves. Yet their devotion to neutrality — an unquestioned necessity in the lab — impedes their voices in the wider world.
February 26, 2013
Roots of Relationship
Under the pine needles lies one of the secrets to forest health
The summer is warm and sunny in Corvallis, but my travels draw me east. Over and past the Cascades is an open land where the cold sparkling waters of a river flow north, and the sweet smell of Ponderosa pine blends with the fresh scent of lodgepole — the Deschutes National Forest. My one-person tent [...]
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 8, 2013
SimCity for Your Greenhouse
USDA Gives Technology Award to Forestry Student
When Lee Buckingham’s dad brought home a broken HP computer, Lee took it apart and fixed it. He was 15 years old. Through high school and college, the Oregon State graduate student in Forest Engineering, Resources and Management fed his appetite for technology (“I like to build them from parts”) and taught himself to write [...]
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
10 Steps for Innovators
The journey from idea to innovation turns, twists and hits the occasional roadblock. Follow the progress of an Oregon State idea that is making the wood-products industry more sustainable. Research by wood-science professor Kaichang Li has enabled Columbia Forest Products, North America’s largest manufacturer of hardwood plywood, to switch from adhesives made with formaldehyde to [...]
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
Lake of the Woods
Where the wild things are
“The three key words in the mission of Oregon Master Naturalists are explore, connect, contribute.”
January 31, 2013
South Slough
Where the waters mix
Anne and Philip Matthews have explored every twist and tangle of the South Slough, which became the nation’s first national estuarine research reserve in the 1970s.
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 30, 2013
Caring for Cows
Humane treatment of livestock benefits industry as well as animals
Studies show that a stressed animal is more likely to be a sick, scrawny, infertile animal — hardly the formula for business success if you’re a rancher or dairyman.
January 30, 2013
An Ethical Tightrope
Learning to make delicate choices
Making ethical choices about animals can be a philosophical high-wire act — a precarious balance of practicality and principle. Weighing practical needs against “normative ethics” — right or wrong, good or bad, just or unjust — requires more than a handbook of do’s and don’ts. “The institutional protocols — the laws, regulations, policies — provide [...]
January 29, 2013
Documenting the Giants
Canopy science for old-growth forests
Forest scientist and Oregon State University alumnus Steve Sillett studies and climbs the largest trees in the world. Since 1987, he’s climbed more than 1,000 of these arboreal giants, many of which reach heights greater than 200 feet tall and diameters upwards of 20 feet. Sillett’s study of old-growth forests — and in particular redwood [...]
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
Normative Science
It is easy — and wrong — for scientists to become stealth policy advocates
Too often, however, scientific information presented to the public and decision-makers is infused with hidden policy preferences. Such science is termed normative, and it is a corruption of the practice of good science.
January 23, 2013
The Road to Ecosystem Safeguards
Unsnarling the regulatory tangle in transportation planning
“This new tool will help speed up transportation projects while beefing up environmental stewardship.”
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 Glove Goes Wireless
Student team wins national award for innovative design
A student-designed “wireless hand sensor” may not only help reduce hand and wrist injuries associated with repetitive motion but may have applications in robotics, medicine and computer gaming.
