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Breakthroughs in Science has moved to the Oregon State University Blog page.  To keep following us, visit http://blogs.oregonstate.edu/breakthroughsinscience/

Bringing research together

Bringing research together.
Mike McInally, Corvallis Gazette-Times

New Linus Pauling Science Center will unite work in one facility

Sometime later this year, the director of the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University will cross over a threshold he’s been working toward for nearly 15 years.

It’s a literal threshold: One day soon, Balz Frei will walk into the Linus Pauling Science Center, the new home for the institute, and “we will have for the first time everybody in the institute under a single roof.”

Read the full article here.

Holding Out Hope

Holding Out Hope: A tenacious scientist’s quest for the causes of Lou Gehrig’s disease

David Stauth
terra Magazine

Doctors do not know for sure what causes ALS. They don’t know how to slow its progression. They certainly don’t know how to cure it. Researchers debate among themselves and trade theories in science literature. Dedicated doctors, nurses, therapists, aides and especially family members work to reduce suffering and treat symptoms, but the disease is debilitating, progressive and terminal.

In the middle of this quandary is Joe Beckman, an Oregon State University professor of biochemistry, holder of the Ava Helen Pauling Chair in the Linus Pauling Institute and director of the widely recognized OSU Environmental Health Sciences Center.

Lionfish Outcompete the Natives on Coral Reefs

To get more information about the F.A.  Gilfillan Memorial Award Lecturer Mark Hixon and his research on Lionfish, please read Nick Houtman’s story Lionfish Outcompete the Natives on Coral Reefs in terra magazine.

Dr. Mark Hixon to give Gilfillan Memorial Award Lecture, Thursday, May 5th

A Slippery Slope

A Slippery Slope: Warm rains and glacial melting trigger dangerous debris flows

MELTING MOUNTAIN glaciers and warming rains drive debris flows, torrents of mud and rock that have damaged roads, closed recreational facilities and led to millions of dollars in clean-up costs in the Northwest. Climate change is likely to increase risks in the future. WITH FUNDING from the National Science Foundation, OSU geologists Anne Nolin and Stephen Lancaster work with U.S. Forest Service hydrologist Gordon Grant to understand the debris-flow causes and to map vulnerable areas in the Cascades.

Lee Sherman, terra Magazine

Brook receives Google fellowship for science communication

Brook receives Google fellowship for science communication | News & Research Communications | Oregon State University.

 

Thinking Like a Physicist « Terra Magazine

Thinking Like a Physicist « Terra Magazine.

New Zealand earthquake damage illustrates risks from crustal faults

New Zealand earthquake damage illustrates risks from crustal faults | News & Research Communications | Oregon State University.

Even though this earthquake was weaker than last year’s event, it was much shallower; was situated directly under Christchurch; hit during the lunch hour when more people were exposed to damage; and shook sediments that were prone to “liquefaction,” which can magnify the damage done by the ground shaking.

Robert Yeats, a professor emeritus of geology at Oregon State University, who is an international earthquake expert and researcher on both New Zealand and U.S. seismic risks, says that same description nicely fits many major cities and towns in Washington, Oregon, California and British Columbia.

“The latest New Zealand earthquake hit an area that wasn’t even known to have a fault prior to last September, it’s one that had not moved in thousands of years,” Yeats said. “But when you combine the shallow depth, proximity to a major city and soil characteristics, it was capable of immense damage.

Surprise in Sargasso

Surprise in Sargasso

Lee Sherman, terra Magazine

Microbes are masters of adaptation.

In some of Earth’s most extreme environments — Antarc- tica’s frigid ice fields, Yellowstone’s sulfuric hot springs, Crater Lake’s lightless depths, the oceans’ deep-sea basalts — Stephen Giovannoni has discovered thriving communities of bacteria. As the holder of the Emile F. Pernot Distinguished Professorship in Microbiology, he has discovered some of the most abundant life forms on the planet.