Inspiration Dissemination

What happens when microbes decomposing organic matter suck all of the oxygen out of a zone in the ocean? Sarah Wolf, a PhD candidate in Microbiology, chats with us about microbial and biochemical dynamics in low oxygen zones, as well as her journey through starting what would become an immensely popular STEM education Instagram account. 

Check out the ID blog at: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/03/13/microbial-and-biochemical-community-dynamics-in-low-oxygen-oregon-waters/

Fallout material from a nuclear detonation is obviously a bad and scary thing. But how are these materials identified, imaged, and quantified? Well, our guest this week, Dr. Ari Foley, built a system that includes a camera and a crystal to do just that. Tune in to figure out exactly how! 

Hosted by Lisa Hildebrand and Bryan Lynn

Check out the ID blog at: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/03/08/imaging-nuclear-fallout-with-a-camera-and-a-scintillating-crystal/

The bacteria in your gut can talk to your brain.No, really.It might sound like science fiction, but you’ve probably heard the phrase ‘gut-brain axis’ used in recent years to describe this phenomenon. What we call the “gut” actually refers to the small and large intestines, where a collection of microorganisms known as the gut microbiome reside. In addition to the microbes that inhabit it, your gut contains around 500 million neurons, which connect to your brain through bidirectional nerves – the biggest of which is the vagus nerve. Bacteria might be able to interact with specialized sensory cells within the gut lining and trigger neuronal firing from the gut to the brain. Our guest this week is Caroline Hernández, a PhD student in the Maude David Lab in the Department of Microbiology, and she is studying exactly this phenomenon.

Hosted by Grace Deitzler & Miriam Lipton

Check out the ID Blog: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/02/26/trusting-your-gut-lessons-in-molecular-neuroscience-and-mental-health/

Plants can get rusty. No joke! There is a fungal pathogen called rust which can cover the leaves of plants. Fortunately, it seems like plants have a natural ally that helps it fend off rust – yeast! Tune in to hear about PhD student Maria-Jose Romero-Jimenez's research on the PNW native plant black cottonwood, the rust that attacks it, and the mysterious yeast helping black cottonwood protect itself. 

Hosted by Grace Deitzler and Lisa Hildebrand.

Check out the ID Blog: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/02/26/how-to-help-rusty-plants/ 

Women were excluded from science for a long time. Their solution? Make a subject, that men had no interest in being involved in, scientific! Enter: Home Economics. Never considered Home Ec as a scientific subject? Well, our guest this week, Kathleen McHugh, is here to convince you otherwise by explaining her research on Ava Milam. 

Hosted by Miriam Lipton and Lisa Hildebrand

Check out the ID blog!: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/02/12/home-economics-as-a-science/

If the super-villain Magneto ever discovered these new metals he would probably drool. Metallic glass, or amorphous metals, have 2-3x the strength of steel, are incredibly elastic, have very high corrosion and wear resistance and have a mirror-like surface finish. Our guest, PhD Candidate Jaskaran Saini in the College of Engineering, collected two world records in the last two years helping make the largest metallic glasses ever here at Oregon State University. These glasses were first made in the 1960’s as a lab curiosity, but they used precious earth elements that made production too costly. Jaskaran developed his record-breaking metals without these rare elements. We talked about a range of topics including how these metals can be used everywhere from the gears on the Mars Curiosity rover to the back’s of iPhones, how he felt when he broke the world record(s), and we discovered he produced music in his spare time! You can listen to his song, Sephora by JSKRN on SoundCloud, at the end of this episode. 

Hosted by Adrian Gallo and Bryan Lynn.

Check out the ID blog!: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/02/02/mighty-amorphin-power-metals/ 

Nuclear energy has a bit of a sordid history which has led to a persistent, albeit fading in recent years, negative reputation. Like it or not, it represents the largest source of carbon-free energy (about 20% of all US energy production) and generates as much as energy as wind, solar, and hydroelectricity combined. Our guest this week is Dusty Mangus who takes us through some of the history of nuclear energy, modern advancements, and why his work on the metal alloys for liquid sodium reactors could establish another era of safety and efficiency in nuclear power.
Guest: Dusty W. Magnus
Hosts: Adrian & Grace

ID blog: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/01/30/nuclear-the-history-present-and-future-of-the-solution-to-the-energy-crisis/

What happens when there is too much water promised to too many people? Whether you're a farmer, rancher, or part of a Tribal community, it's no exaggeration that your lives depend on the dwindling water resources in the Klamath River Basin. We speak to a visiting scholar and PhD Candidate Hannah Whitley about the complicated history of the area, the overlapping water use and land rights issues, and how communities are beginning to problem solve. While this research is specific to governance practices in the Klamath River Basin, it also serves as a test case that other communities can learn from because water issues in the west are just beginning. 
Visiting Scholar - Penn State University
Guest: Hannah Whitley 
Hosts: Adrian & Bryan

ID blog: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/01/23/water-woes-of-the-west/

Due to COVID-19 travel issues, we could not record in the booth this week. Instead, we have a rundown of our new co-hosts we've brought onto the team recently, our upcoming guests for the quarter, and advertising our SciComm event in Spring quarter. We'll be back to our regularly scheduled show next week! Safe travels all!

ID Blog: https://blogs.oregonstate.edu/inspiration/2022/01/14/covid-conundrums/

This week we have on the show Dr. Bo Wu – he recently graduated from Oregon State University with a Ph.D. from the Electrical Engineering department where he developed new sensors to monitor three different neurotransmitters that are correlated with our stress, mood, and happiness. Even though so much of our bodily functions rely on these neurotransmitters (cortisol, serotonin, dopamine), there are no current commercial or rapid techniques to monitor these tiny molecules. Since the majority of innovations in University settings never gets beyond the walls of the Ivory Tower, Bo wanted to design sensors with functionality and scalability in mind. Those basic principles are why Bo was attracted to joining the lab of Dr. Larry Cheng; instead of innovations sitting on university shelves their innovations must be designed to bring to market. Using nano-fabrications technology, Bo developed sensors that are about the size of a thumbnail to provide rapid and accurate measures of different neurotransmitters to be used outside the hospital setting. The promise of having these mini-molecules be measured as a point of care diagnostic (i.e. measured by the patient) is an exciting advancement in the medical field. This innovation is not the only one coming from Bo; with the help of a colleague, they designed a product for researchers to easily reformat academic research papers for submission to other journals. If you didn’t know, submitting manuscripts to different journals takes an immense amount of time because of the formatting changes required. But these are tedious and can take a week or longer that can be used for crucial research experiments. While this service was originally designed for Engineering publications, the COVID-19 pandemic showed them there was a greater and more immediate need. With so many people losing their jobs, they re-designed the software to help people create and re-imagine their resumes for job applications. Their website, WiseDoc.net is now geared toward helping job seekers build stronger resumes, but Bo and his team expects to return to the original idea of re-formatting papers for academic publications but will expand to those beyond just Engineering journals. Thanks to Oregon State’s Advantage Accelerator Program, Bo and his co-founder were able to refine their product and acquire seed money to get the website off the ground, which now employs a small international team to maintain and improve its services. If you have questions for Bo about starting your own business, being an international student, or the Advantage Accelerator program, you can contact him by email [email protected]

Hosted by Adrian Gallo and Lisa Hildebrand.