Many wildlife populations experience change over time. For some, this can be defined as “boom” and “bust” periods – cycles of change where population numbers rise and fall. Understanding these can be a major challenge for scientists and wildlife managers, particularly for species who have not historically been monitored. One such species with limited data is the gray-tailed vole, a rodent species endemic to the Willamette Valley.

Our guest this week is Austin Nash – a first-year PhD student seeking to better understand and manage the population cycles of gray-tailed voles. His research focuses on how disease and weasel predators may influence vole movement, survival, and reproduction. To do so, Austin is deploying a wide range of methods, including landscape scale genetics, field experiments, establishing a long-term monitoring program, and running population simulation models.

To hear more about Austin’s plans to better understand vole populations in Oregon, as well as his unique array of experiences leading him to OSU and making him the ideal person for the task, tune in to KBVR 88.7FM this Sunday (April 26) at 6:30pm. You can listen to the episode anywhere you listen to your podcasts, including on KBVR, Spotify, Apple, or anywhere else!

Written by Matthew Vaughan.

The central dogma of molecular biology is a theory stating that genetic information flows only in one direction, from DNA, to RNA, to protein. However, since the fundamental theory was developed by Francis Crick in 1958, scientists have discovered several exceptions to the theory. This includes prions and retroviruses. Prions are infectious proteins which replicate without going through DNA or RNA intermediates and are responsible for diseases such as mad cow disease, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. A retrovirus is a virus that uses RNA as its genomic material, rather than DNA. In addition to the expansion of the central dogma, molecular biology has expanded its knowledge of the functionality of RNA beyond producing protein. A non-coding RNA (ncRNA) is an RNA molecule that is not translated into a protein. It is estimated that as much as 80% of the human genome encodes ncRNAs. Many of the newly identified ncRNAs have unknown functions, making it a new and exciting frontier in molecular biology.
This week’s guest is Sanjay Ramprasad, a post-doctoral researcher in the lab of David Hendrix, and recent PhD grad from the department of Biochemistry and Biophysics. Sanjay’s research focuses on using computational techniques to discover new functions and structures of ncRNAs. To hear all about the transition from PhD to post doc, the expansive frontier of RNA biology, and how one goes from the social sciences to biophysics, tune in at 7PM on April 19th to 88.7 FM KBVR Corvallis, or check out the show on our podcast pages.

One of the greatest modern day science tools is satellite imagery. The remote capture of images from space allows researchers to understand spatial ecology better than ever before. However, it’s imperative to know that what you can glean from remote sensing is accurate to what’s occurring at the ground (or sea) level. In fact, if you were looking at a satellite image the minute it’s taken, and zoomed all the way in, you might see a research vessel with Alexander Bailess on board.

Alexander is a second-year Ph.D. student in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences, joint-advised by Dr. Maria Kavanaugh and Dr. Andrew Barnard. Part of his doctoral research is ground-truthing, or verifying, remote sensing data by sailing the seas and collecting data at the same time that satellites are.

At sea, Alexander is also looking for a phytoplankton called Pseudo-nitzschia. Almost half of Pseudo-nitzschia species produce a potent neurotoxin called domoic acid (DA) which can cause a disorder in humans called amnesic shellfish poisoning. Harmful algae blooms (HABs) occur during dense aggregations of Pseudo-nitzschia, poisoning organisms with DA across the trophic web. Work like Alexander’s is important because it can help establish monitoring and management systems for HABs, allowing recreational and commercial fisheries to avoid toxic conditions. Fishermen citizen scientists also assist in this research by collecting water at-sea for researchers, like Alexander, to analyze.

Alexander’s work has taken him on dozens of research cruises all along the U.S. west coast. He is also a Scientific Diver and Divemaster, meaning his work often takes him below the sea surface as well — conducting surveys that connect what satellites see from above to what is living in the water below.

Written by: Taylor Azizeh

Every year, wildfires ravage the American West. According to NOAA and the National Interagency Fire Center (NIFC), in 2025 alone 72,068 fires burned across more than 5 million acres in the US*. In the wake of these fires, a question looms: what now? Careful forest management could help prevent future fires in a post-burn area, but this requires balancing removal of fuel sources with maintaining crucial habitat. This week’s guest, Noelle Foster, is searching for this Goldilocks method of management. Noelle is a first year graduate student in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Sciences, studying the effects of megafire on wildlife in Western Oregon. She focuses on how burn severity, time since fire, and habitat characteristics shape how an ecosystem recovers after a wildfire.

One of the major management practices Noelle has been researching is timber salvage after wildfire. Salvage logging after wildfire is a complex decision that involves ecological, economic and logistical considerations. For private land owners, salvage logging can recover some of the economic value of a burned stand, reduce heavy fuels and improve safety around homes and roads. However, even burned timber can provide crucial habitat for recovering wildlife. So, with all these stakeholders at play, what’s the best course of action?

To hear all about the globe-trotting, softball playing, bird loving Noelle, tune in to KBVR 88.7FM at 7PM PST on March 1st for the live show, or check out the show on our podcast pages.


*NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Monthly Wildfires Report for Annual 2025, published online January 2026, retrieved on March 1, 2026 from https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/monitoring/monthly-report/fire/202513. DOI: https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/access/metadata/landing-page/bin/iso?id=gov.noaa.ncdc:C00774

White clover is a perennial legume that originated in Europe and has become one of the most widely distributed legumes in the world. White clover is one of the most important pasture legumes. It is highly palatable and nutritious forage for all classes of livestock and most wildlife. It is also beloved by honey bees! However, recently local farmers have observed unusual reduction in the quantity and quality of the white clover in their pastures. The culprit? A tiny weevil. Clover seed weevils (Tychius picirostris) are a small gray weevil about 0.1 inch long. Their larvae damage clover seeds, feeding within and destroying seeds. This pest can seriously infest white clover and needs routine control in western Oregon, typically via insecticide treatment. Concerningly, some weevils have developed resistance to certain insecticides, exacerbating the pest issue.

Wyatt Davis-Hinze is a master’s student in the Crop and Soil Science Department at Oregon State University, and his research examines the abundance and mechanisms of insecticidal resistance in clover seed weevils. His work integrates crop science, entomology, and applied biochemistry to understand how insecticidal resistance develops and to inform more effective, sustainable pest management strategies for growers in the Pacific Northwest. His research interests lie at the interface of entomology and plant pathology, where the aim is to study how plant diseases and insect pests interact to influence crop health and yield. Of particular interest is developing and evaluating strategies that emphasize durable management strategies of key pests and pathogens in Pacific Northwest cropping systems.

To hear all about tiny bugs, the nitty-gritty of pesticides, and transporting weevils across international borders, tune in to KBVR 88.7FM at 7PM PST on February 15th for the live show, or check out the show on our podcast pages.

Written by Hannah Stuwe

Climate change driven by global warming is a highly debated topic in today’s world. However, what we can be sure of is that certain gases cause changes to our environment and are often referred to as “greenhouse gases”. A large scientific effort has been made to capture these gases and turn it into things with less environment impact. One particular way is by creating molecules that mimic our bodies natural mechanisms. This is called biomimetic science and is the topic of our guest’s research, Bella Mc Coll

Bella is a third-year PhD student researching under Dr. Addison Desnoyer, in the Department of Chemistry here at OSU. Bella is an Oregon native and comes to us from Beaverton. Outside of the lab Bella has many interests particularly those involving the fiber arts. These interests have allowed her to come up with research ideas that uses her scientific mind to help answer questions for her creative mind.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on February 1st to hear Bella talk about how growing up in a natural medicine house inspired her to find the harmony between science and nature.

Written by E Hernandez