Year: 2011

Ocean Views

Post author By Nick Houtman
Post date March 6, 2011

Technology extends our vision. We’ve always known that the ocean is a dynamic environment, but satellite-borne sensors, sonar, time-lapse video, moored buoys and autonomous gliders are revealing new details: fish, squid and whales in unexpected places; rumblings that foretell the creation of the seafloor; wind-driven surface currents; nitrogen-fixing microbes; circulating rings of water; shifting concentrations of chlorophyll that may signal plankton blooms.

Tags ARGUS, Drifter, Glider, Hydrophone, Marine Science & the Coast, Ocean Observing System, Satellite, Seismometer

Healthy Planet

Greenbelts Under Scrutiny

Post author By Nick Houtman
Post date March 2, 2011

Cities from Corvallis to London use greenbelts to preserve habitat and ease urban congestion. Who doesn’t want the benefits of city living with a backyard the size of New Jersey? Not all greenbelts, however, are created equal, and although some may save critical environmental features, others have failed to restrain urban sprawl.

Healthy People

A day in the life of Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana

Post author By Nick Houtman
Post date February 28, 2011

As clean-up crews frantically worked to minimize damage from the Deepwater Horizon well blowout in the Gulf of Mexico, Justin Bailie, a photographer from Seaside, Oregon, was documenting the impact on Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana.

Tags Louisiana, Marine Science & the Coast, Oil

Earth Healthy Planet

Listening Post

Post author By Nick Houtman
Post date February 23, 2011

In an underground bunker west of Corvallis, scientists monitor tremors around the world

Tags Earthquake, Environment and Natural Resources, geophysics, Nabelek, Seismology

Healthy Planet Innovation

Thinking Like a Physicist

Post author By Nick Houtman
Post date February 21, 2011

Walk into an upper-level college physics classroom almost anywhere in the country, and you’ll see students sitting down, listening to the professor and taking notes. Despite years of education research showing that students learn better by being active, the common curriculum for juniors and seniors in physics still emphasizes passivity. At Oregon State University, advanced physics instruction has already made the transition.