The vaping industry caught a lot of people by surprise, it seems. All of a sudden, a society that had reduced cigarette smoking noticed a lot of people inhaling vapors from electronic devices. Now vaping is very much in the news, with a series of mysterious respiratory deaths across the country, including in Oregon. Oregon Health Authority is taking notice and issuing warnings about vaping practices.

We know a few things about the birth of the universe. Do we know enough to recreate the process? The question alone provokes thought. But scientists have been pondering it for a while now, convinced that they could create small universes in laboratories. A Big Bang in a Little Room by Zeeya Merali considers both physical and ethical obstacles to lab-created "baby universes."

People living on the streets sometimes have constant companions: dogs and even cats. Pets living on the streets face issues their indoors counterparts do not, just as people without houses do. The Street Dog Project in the Rogue Valley started up to pay some attention to the dogs of homeless people. The project has a number of goals, including encouraging the spaying and neutering of street dogs.

Shoot an American bison--a buffalo--in Yellowstone National Park, you'll be in big trouble. Outside the park boundaries, it's a completely different story. Not only are the buffalo not protected, they are routinely slaughtered to keep the herd numbers down outside the park. The Buffalo Field Campaign opposes the treatment of the animals, and the annual BFC Road Show will make the case in coming weeks in Arcata, Cave Junction, and Eugene, among other stops.

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has taught audiences about U.S. history, and entertained them at the same time, with plays it commissioned in recent years. Now OSF announces six new commissions as part of its American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle . The commissioned playwrights are Zakiyyah Alexander, Jaclyn Backhaus, E. M. Lewis, Mary Katheryn Nagle, Sara Novic, and Sanaz Toossi. They will add to a body of work that has produced critical and audience acclaim, and even a Tony

The world took notice of the summer's fires in the Amazon region of Brazil. The tropical rainforests are often called "the Earth's lungs" for the oxygen they supply. Far less notice is taken of the fate of rainforests in temperate zones, including in the Pacific Northwest. Logging continues on both sides of the US/Canada border, and that concerns a pair of scientists well-versed in the workings of those forests. Jens Wieting is with Sierra Club BC and Dominick DellaSala is with GEOS Institute

Many people around the region have had to confront the possibility of losing their homes to wildfire. The progression may seem simple, load-evacuate-survive, but it's not simple for everyone. Challenges from lack of a car to physical disabilities could hinder evacuation. JPR's April Ehrlich gauged the effects of wildfire on diverse populations in Northern California in a series called "Oppressed By Wildfire." The series will run the rest of this week (September 24-27) on The Exchange.

We speak of wanting diversity in education, but it's taking a while to get there. Teachers of color can make a big difference in the education of a child of color. So non-white teachers are in high demand... but also in short supply. Monique Morris, author and social justice scholar, wants to see the educational system shift its focus to girls of color, a case she lays out in the book Sing A Rhythm, Dance A Blues: Education for the Liberation of Black and Brown Girls . Book and author are

It's been more than 30 years since the federal government put some of the Klamath Basin's legendary sucker fish on the endangered species list. Both the Lost River and shortnose suckers are on the list, and they'll be there for a while; the numbers don't show much sign of improvement. So the Oregon Institute of Technology is proposing a boost. OIT's Oregon Renewable Energy Center wants to build solar-powered platforms that will float on Upper Klamath Lake and inject needed oxygen into the deeper

Being a doctor is a job with plenty of challenges. Now imagine adding many degrees of difficulty by taking the job on the road. Not house calls, but countries that have people in desperate need of medical attention. Assisting them is the mission of Médecins Sans Frontières , Doctors Without Borders in English. Karen Stewart of MSF works in mental health and has stories from 11 assignments to talk about.