Think Out Loud

When journalist Hua Hsu was in college, his best friend Ken was murdered in a bizarre turn of events. The next day, Hsu started writing about his friendship with Ken to try to wrap his head around the enormous loss. Over the next 20 years, that writing eventually turned into his latest book, “Stay True.” OPB’s Jenn Chavez talks to Hsu about his childhood growing up as a second-generation immigrant in California, and how that, and the death of his friend Ken, shaped who he is today.

When Melissa Febos was about twelve years old, her body changed, and so did her relationship with the world. Or actually, the world’s relationship with her. The way that society views - and uses and abuses - young women’s bodies is one of the many themes explored in Febos’ new book, “Girlhood.” Febos talks with OPB’s Tiffany Camhi about bodies, consent, mothers, cuddle parties and more.

According to the Oregon Health Authority, more than 13,500 Oregonians suffered a brain injury in 2020. But advocates say the number of people living with the chronic effects of those injuries is much higher. The long-term effects of a brain injury can range from confusion and short-term memory loss to depression, anger issues and lack of impulse control. Depending on the severity of the injury, patients may need access to things like employment and housing assistance in addition to medical and therapeutic services.

Oregon is one of 11 states that doesn’t have an established office to coordinate those services and help patients and their caregivers navigate the system. As Willamette Week reported recently, the state also lacks inpatient rehab beds for brain injury patients.

Joining us is David Kracke, Oregon’s Brain Injury Advocate/Coordinator. We talk with him about support services for brain injury patients and their loved ones and efforts to coordinate those services in the state.

he National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded $25 million to 16 universities across the state to help cultivate and bring more students into nuclear forensics - the science of investigating nuclear materials for evidence regarding the materials’ source. Oregon State University is one of the several schools that are a part of the consortium and will receive $2.5 million over the next five years. Camille Palmer is an associate professor in OSU’s school of Nuclear Science and Engineering. She will also serve as the deputy director and help lead the program. She joins us to explain why nuclear forensics is important and to share her hopes for the future of the industry.

Legacy Health is planning to close its Mount Hood Family Birth Center in Gresham next month. It serves about 275,000 people in east Multnomah County and the greater Mount Hood community, many of whom are low-income and not native English speakers. The decision drew a protest crowd this week outside the Legacy medical center. Jake Thomas from The Lund Report was there and joins us to talk about the slated closure and what it would mean for the community.

There may be more osprey nests per capita in Lincoln City than any other urban area. There is even one pair of birds who return every year to nest on top of the lights of the high school’s football stadium. The local chapter of the Audubon Society hopes to train citizen scientists to learn more about the area’s dense osprey habitat. Ruth Shelly, vice president of the Audubon Society of Lincoln City, and Susanna MacDonald, a volunteer with the organization, tell us more about these raptors and what they’d like to learn about them.

Portland small business owners who managed to make it through the pandemic are still facing their fair share of challenges. Sarah Shaoul runs Bricks Need Mortar, a small business support organization. She’s been surveying businesses since the first pandemic shutdown of March 2020, and periodically ever since.

She says too many of those businesses report vandalism and break-ins, adding to the already challenging day-to-day work of serving customers and staying within budget. We talk with Shaoul and two small business proprietors – Peter Cho of Toki and Han Oak and Sita Symonette of Black Pearl Wellness – to hear what the last year has been like for them and how they’re thinking about the future

Peer-to-peer support platforms like TalkLife can help people struggling with their mental health connect to others who have had similar experiences and receive support. While well-intentioned, supporters on these platforms aren’t trained therapists — and researchers at the University of Washington found that their responses to those seeking help often lacked the level of empathy critical to a supportive interaction.

To address this, researchers developed an artificial intelligence system that suggests changes to supporters’ messages to make them more empathetic. They found that almost 70 percent of supporters felt more confident in writing helpful responses after participating in the study.

Tim Althoff, an assistant professor in the University of Washington’s School of Computer Science and Engineering, led the study. He joins us to talk about the nuances of empathy and the challenges of bringing AI into mental health spaces.

Scoliosis is an abnormal curvature of the spine that can cause issues with breathing, back problems and can even lead to noticeable changes such as uneven shoulders and waist. While many cases tend to be diagnosed in adolescence, doctors still have little knowledge of what causes this condition. Now, new research involving zebrafish has shed some light on the origins of scoliosis. Beth Bearce is a post-doctoral research fellow with the University of Oregon's Grime’s Lab. They join us to share what they learned and the broader implications of the research.

Two years ago, the Portland City Council adopted one of the nation’s strictest bans on facial recognition technology. The council passed a policy earlier this month outlining how city bureaus should approach other surveillance technologies, such as license plate readers and traffic cameras. Meanwhile, the Portland Police Bureau is mulling a program to deploy drones at car crash sites. Kate Kaye is a Portland-based journalist covering technology and artificial intelligence. She’s been reporting on these issues and joins to tell us more.

Last Monday, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake ripped through southern Turkey and northern Syria. It was the worst earthquake Turkey has experienced in more than 80 years. Tens of thousands of people have died so far, with that number expected to grow amid the rubble of thousands of destroyed homes and buildings. Humanitarian relief agencies are struggling to provide aid to millions of people in need, especially in Syria, where 12 years of civil war has left 90 percent of the population dependent on humanitarian aid. Portland-based organizations have responded to the crisis by mobilizing earthquake relief efforts in Syria and Turkey. Kieren Barnes is the Syria country director for Mercy Corps, which has a team of aid workers in Northwest Syria, some of whom lost relatives and their homes in the earthquake. Ozcan Ertem is the secretary of the Oregon Turkish American Association which has been collecting online donations and preparing items such as donated clothes and medical supplies to deliver to Turkey.