Terra+ Fall 2015

In the Eye of Antarctica
A marine mammal researcher documents an ecosystem that is as fragile and beautiful as it is harsh and unforgiving.

Most people being chased by an angry leopard seal would throttle up their boat and roar away as fast as possible. Not Ari Friedlaender. When one of the 600-pound, razor-toothed, penguin-eating predators charged his small inflatable one morning in the icy waters of Antarctica, the Oregon State University marine mammal researcher paused for a photo op. Read More

The Brain-Belly Connection
Fat and sugar cause bacterial changes that may be linked to loss of cognitive function. Read More

A Lost Diary, Revealed
Field notes, maps and sketches from Scottish explorer David Livingstone’s African explorations get new life online. Read More

This Year’s Drought: A Glimpse into the Future
The Pacific Northwest looks toward a hotter, drier climate in coming decades. Read More

Every day, breaking news from OSU researchers makes headlines around the world. Here’s a handful of recent examples:

The Last Love Song about writer Joan Didion — the first full-length biography ever written of the American literary icon — has furthered the reputation of OSU’s Tracy Daugherty as a “most intrepid and meticulous” biographer. See The Atlantic.

Soon you’ll be able to buy seaweed whose flavor (imagine bacon) is as appealing as its nutritional content, OSU researcher Chris Langdon revealed. See The New York Times.

When the 700-mile Cascadia fault line off the Pacific coast gives way, the resulting earthquake and tsunami will be catastrophic across the region, warns OSU seismologist Chris Goldfinger in a New Yorker article that got everyone talking.

Visit the Terra Website

The cover story of the next issue of Terra magazine will introduce you to the host of microbes living inside your digestive tract, revealing how those tiny organisms affect your health and wellbeing. Another story takes you to a Panamanian island, once a mountaintop, where tropical birds are going extinct. You’ll meet art historian Henry Sayre, whose books on the arts and humanities have reached millions of readers. And you’ll see the faces of Bangladeshi children whose drinking water contains poisonous levels of arsenic. All of this and much more is packed into the fall issue of OSU’s award-winning research magazine. If you’re not yet receiving Terra magazine, email us at terra.magazine@oregonstate.edu to request a free subscription.

Oregon State University is Oregon’s leading public research university, receiving $308.9 million in research funding for fiscal year 2015. Here we highlight a few of our most recent grant-funded projects:

Old-Growth Diseases
Principal Investigator: Brett Tyler, Professor and Director, Center for Genome Research and Biocomputing
The National Science Foundation has awarded $1.6 million to Oregon State University to study native pathogens called oomycetes, water molds that can be highly destructive to trees and other plants.

Urban Kids in STEM
Principal Investigator: Lynn Dierking, Professor and Associate Dean, College of Education
The National Science Foundation has awarded nearly $2 million to Oregon State University to study why youths from struggling urban communities are veering away from science, technology, engineering and math and how educational organizations can reverse that trend.

Gender Bias in Software
Principal Investigator: Margaret Burnett, Professor of Computer Science
The National Science Foundation has awarded $500,000 to Oregon State University to work with industrial partners (including IBM, Microsoft and Motorola) to develop and test new tools for writing software that is more in sync with women’s approaches to solving problems and interfacing with technology.

Tall Wooden Buildings
Principal Investigator: Principal Investigator: Steven Tesch, Professor and Associate Director, Forest Research Laboratory
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has awarded nearly $900,000 to Oregon State University for research, education and workforce development to help Northwest companies capitalize on the global market for wood in tall-building construction.

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