No Rest for the Massless

Sometimes the smallest things in the universe can answer some of the largest questions. That seems to be the case with neutrinos. Neutrinos are fundamental particles – which just means they are the smallest of the small and that they are indivisible. The name neutrino literally means electrically neutral (neutr-) and small (-ino). For a long time, scientists believed neutrinos had no mass. Now, it is known to have a mass, but nobody has been able to enumerate it. Despite their size (or maybe because of it) they are the most abundant particle in the universe. Every second, 100 trillion neutrinos pass through your body without interacting with any particles in your body. 

Noah at the Wilson Hall atrium at Fermilab, the national particle physics lab outside of Chicago where their experiments are based

Noah Vaughan (they / them) is a PhD Student in the Physics Department at Oregon State University whose research focuses on experimental high energy particle physics, specifically neutrinos! They are co-author on over 50 publications, which is an incredible feat at this career stage and demonstrates the collaborative nature of the field. Noah works on the Main Injector Neutrino ExpeRiment to study v-A interactions (MINERvA) Project which is the first neutrino experiment in the world to use a high-intensity beam to study neutrino reactions with five different nuclei. Basically, MINERvA provides understanding on how neutrinos interact with other particles which inform scientists about the bigger role they play, including in star supernovas, the creation of the universe, and the structure of protons.

Noah in the underground hall at Fermilab

Noah’s experiments for their dissertation were performed at Fermalab, which is 100 meters underground. That’s something I bet a lot of PhD students couldn’t claim! These experiments have given Noah a dataset with over 1,000,000 points, which is the largest of its type. The nature of neutrinos makes them difficult to study. They interact through gravity and something called the weak force. The weak force is one of the four fundamental forces of nature. It’s much weaker than electromagnetism, but it’s incredibly important. The weak force changes one type of particle into another. It’s one of the driving forces in radioactive decay and helps fuel the sun through nuclear reactions. The weak force changes the identity or “flavor” of particles, at a very small range (smaller than the size of a proton). This allows neutrinos to navigate through atoms of massive objects without interacting.

The top parts of the MINERvA detector that Noah helped rebuild for use in a new prototype detector to be used for DUNE, a future neutrino experiment. Each of the blue and red cylinders is a photomultiplier tube that reads out the light collected from the scintillation strips in the detector (Photo provided by Noah)

This all means that Noah’s work is very important, and answering questions about some of the smallest things in the universe leads to answers to the biggest questions in the universe.

The front face of the MINERVA detector in its original commissioning (photo provided by Noah, from Reider Hahn at Fermilab)

The News about Roadway Runoff? It’s Wheely Bad.

In the Pacific Northwest, Salmon hold significant ecological, economical, and cultural importance. They are a significant part of cultural identity for many Columbia River Basin tribes (Importance of Salmon – Pacific Coast). For several Pacific Northwest salmon species, returning to spawning grounds may pose previously unknown and deadly threats. Mass salmon die-off events have been linked to roadway runoff and a particular toxicant that comes from leachate from tire tread wear particles. The compound, called 6PPD-quinone, is an oxidation product of an additive intended to prevent damage to tire rubber from ozone (6PPD-quinone in Science).

Miranda Jackson is a fourth year PhD student in the labs of Stacey Harper and Manuel Garcia-Jaramillo in the department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology at OSU. She is a self-described aquatic ecotoxicologist, and she’s been investigating the toxins making their way into our surface waters and eventually salmon habitats. Her research involves investigating the toxicity of micro and nano-sized rubber particles and 6PPD-quinone that are derived from car tires, elucidating their mechanisms of toxicity in various fish species, and working on remediation strategies for removing 6PPD-quinone from the environment.

Miranda Jackson dosing fish tanks.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on April 13th to hear Miranda talk about the impressive and scary toxicity of 6PPD-quinone (that also somehow is incredibly species specific to salmonids), how to remove these toxins from the environment, and what we can do to limit it from the source.

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

Written by Hannah Stuwe

Changes, Dreams, and Everything In-Between

Per- or Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals that are found in everything from food wrappers to the inside of firefighter turnout gear. Certain PFAS have been linked to things like high blood pressure, low infant birth weight, and an increased risk to certain kinds of cancers. Their toxicity mixed with PFAS’ resistance to breakdown in the environment means that a better understanding of their prevalence is necessary to keep people and the environment safe.

Derek Muensterman recently received his PhD while working in the lab of Jennifer Field as a chemistry graduate student. His research focuses on using various analytical techniques to quantitatively and qualitatively understand PFAS in various household products and environmental matrices. By creating a deeper understanding of PFAS, Derek hopes that his research can be used to further protect people and the environment from these emerging toxins. Derek is an Oregon native growing up in Bend, if he wasn’t snowboarding on Mt. Bachelor he was enjoy the natural beauty of the Cascades. Derek has always been a pillar of the Field lab and though we’re sad to see him go we’re excited to send him off with a great interview!

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on March 16th to hear Derek talk about the challenges of coming back to school after working in industry and his dive into the world of vinyl collecting.

Written by E Hernandez

Listen wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

Gross and slimy: How salmon shark barf can teach us about their foraging ecology

If someone asked you to describe a shark, I imagine most folks would report a ten-foot long body, rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, and the ruthless nature of a (literal) cold-blooded killer. If you asked Master’s student Reilly Boyt to describe a shark, she would likely describe a salmon shark. Before you look at the photo below, I urge you to close your eyes and picture a shark that looks a little shy and vaguely embarrassed. Okay now open, is this what you pictured or is it even better?

Credit: Shane Gross
Pictured: Reilly Boyt helping conduct an ultrasound on a shark, all photos taken during permitted research

Reilly (she/her) is a second year Master’s student in the Big Fish Lab in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences, studying the diet and habitat use of salmon sharks using multi-chemical tracers (e.g. eDNA metabarcoding and fatty acid analysis) across size classes and sex). Not only are salmon sharks adorable, but they are also one of the many fascinating shark species that are located right off the Oregon coast. Although salmon sharks are fish, they are actually warm-blooded or endothermic, meaning they can regulate their body temperature like mammals. Salmon sharks are apex predators, and they therefore impact the ecosystem from the top-down and have an incredibly important role throughout the entire food web. Despite this, scientists are still unsure of exactly what they are eating and where. That’s where Reilly comes in!

Reilly’s work aims to combine multiple methods that look for feeding signatures within fatty acids, isotopes, and DNA. These techniques can provide an understanding of both short- and long-term diet choices. In order to get these types of data, Reilly gets the simultaneously awesome and disgusting job of sorting through shark stomachs and vomit. I think true science nerds understand how cool that is! 

Pictured: Reilly Boyt examining the contents of a shark stomach.
Pictured: Reilly Boyt working in the lab.

From conducting diet analysis on coyote stomachs in high school to working for NOAA on shark diet studies, Reilly really has done it all. She is the founder and CEO of Disabilities Within Ocean Sciences (DWOS), an organization dedicated to “building a network and resource hub for disabled marine scientists at every career stage.” She has done prolific advocacy work that focuses on promoting inclusivity and equitable access within the field of marine science.

To learn more about DWOS and the adorably awkward salmon shark, you can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

Written by Taylor Azizeh


PFAS? Seems a little zebrafishy to me

Per- or Polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals that are known for their ability to contaminate our environment and be resistant to breaking down. However, there’s still a lot to learn about their potential for toxicity. One way scientists can better understand PFAS toxicity is by using the embryonic zebrafish models. These tiny fish have a genome that is around 70% similar to humans. This makes the zebrafish a powerful tool in understanding how some chemicals may express toxicity in humans.

Eli Cowan is a second-year PhD student in the lab of Robyn Tanguay, which is a part of the Environmental and Molecular Toxicology lab here at OSU. His research focuses on using the zebrafish model to understand how PFAS exposure may lead to adverse effects in development. With this data and using his in-dept knowledge of biology, Eli then can help answer questions about how PFAS may be toxic to people. Eli was raised in Vicksburg, Mississippi, where he first encountered zebrafish toxicology in a locally-based lab. Eli has always been a natural born scientist, and that curiosity has led him all the way across the country pushing the bounds of science.

Tune into KBVR 88.7 FM at 7 pm PST on March 2nd to hear Eli talk about cold calling researchers looking for a job and how he fell in love with organic chemistry from an Obi-Wan Kenobi doppelganger.

Written by E Hernandez

If you miss the show, you can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

Growing Crystals to Stop Global Warming

As global temperatures rise, ocean levels and extreme weather occurrences rise with it. One of the leading causes of global warming are greenhouse gases like CO2. However, if science could figure out cheap and effective methods for capturing CO2 humanity can start down the path of reversing the damage to our planet. Currently, there are many methods being researched to capture CO2, but most struggle with issues like being expensive to make and maintain or being difficult to scale up to useful size. This means that research on cheap, robust ways of CO2 capture are hot right now. Hotter than the rising global temps.

Emily Hiatt is a second-year PhD student in the May Nyman lab in the Department of Chemistry here at OSU. Her research focuses around creating organic/inorganic crystal clusters to be used in the capture of CO2 with the goal to create a renewable way to combat this potent greenhouse gas. Originally from Fredrick, Maryland, Emily has always been fascinated by science and now she’s using her love of chemistry and science communication to not only fight the good fight against global warming but inspire others to do the same.  

Tune in at 7 pm PST on KBVR 88.7 FM on February 23rd to hear Emily talk about everything from taking AP Chemistry out of spite to her love of the stars and beyond. It’s guaranteed to be out of this world! 

Written by E Hernandez

If you miss the show, you can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

The fourth of the Five Goliaths: Mercury poisoning

If you’re not a fan of ‘The Office’ then that title probably made no sense to you. But, if you are, then you’ll know that Michael Scott famously said that mercury poisoning is one of the five Goliaths that America faces (though we never actually find out what the fifth one is…). Regardless, this Sunday you’ll be able to learn all about this Goliath as our guest on the show, the newly minted Dr. Cailin Sinclair, will discuss his doctorate and post-doc work investigating mercury cycling in freshwater systems. Mercury chemistry and availability are very complex and the way mercury moves through food webs is also highly complex, which can make it difficult to know how much mercury is in a system and what its impacts might be. However, measuring biological tissue is a good way to determine risk associated with mercury, which is why Cailin uses dragonflies, which are exposed to mercury through their diet, as indicators for mercury in freshwater systems.

For his PhD dissertation, Cailin conducted field studies, lab experiments and a comprehensive literature review, to get to the bottom of some fundamental questions about mercury in the environment. So, join us for this week’s show as we sit down with Dr. Cailin Sinclair to discuss his research, his path to OSU, what he’s working on next, and maybe a factoid or two about musical theatre.

Tune in to our live show with Cailin this Sunday (February 9th) at 7 pm PST on KBVR 88.7 FM! If you miss the show, you can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

Diving into Underwater Robots

Have you ever wondered what goes into designing and building a robot? In an age of seemingly exponential technological growth, robots are becoming more and more commonplace. On land, robots have excelled at tasks such as assembly line manufacturing, warehouse logistics, and even household chores. Engineers and researchers are now designing robots capable of exploring other environments such as the ocean. The use of robots underwater can aid humans in many tasks, including engineering projects like offshore construction. This approach significantly improves safety by removing humans from often dangerous situations, while also increasing efficiency. However, the underwater environment differs dramatically from land, posing many challenges for researchers.

Akshaya Agrawal, a fifth-year PhD candidate in the Robotics Department at Oregon State University’s College of Engineering, is tackling the challenges of implementing robots underwater. Ocean currents create drag—up to 800 times greater than what we experience on land—and communication signals like Wi-Fi do not travel well underwater, making it difficult to localize (determine the robot’s exact position). Akshaya’s research involves developing and testing motion-planning algorithms designed to help teams of robots coordinate movement and perform tasks underwater. She utilizes realistic simulations to assess the performance of robots underwater, coupled with laboratory tests on ground-based robots, and plans to transition to an underwater testing phase in the future.

DCIM\100GOPRO\G0054727.

Akshaya’s passion for engineering and robotics began at an early age. Her journey from India to Oregon is inspirational, as is how she’s redefining the academic landscape for women in robotics. To hear more about her story, all the cool robots she’s working with, and the steps involved in getting them underwater, tune in to KBVR 88.7 FM this Sunday, Feb. 2. You can listen to the episode anywhere you listen to your podcasts, including on KBVR, Spotify, Apple, or anywhere else!

Take a Deep Breath: Tracing the Carbon in our Air back to the Source

Carbon emissions in our air have long-term consequences for our health and our planet. Despite this, yearly carbon emissions are in the range of billions of metric tons. However, not all the carbon in our air is chemically the same, and the differences in these compounds can give researchers forensic evidence on where these pollutants are coming from.
Alison Clark is in the lab of Kim Anderson in the Department of Environmental and Molecular Toxicology. In her research she aims to answer the question “where do the things that we are exposed to over time come from and how can we tell?” In particular, she is investigating ways to detect and trace the origins of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH). PAH are found in engine exhaust fumes, tobacco smoke, wildfire smoke, coal and petroleum products. Long-term exposure to PAH can lead to various cancers and cardiovascular issues.
Currently, Clark is investigating human exposure to PAH and how it moves through the environment by analyzing data from a town with a known source of PAH emissions.

Tune in at 7pm on January 26th at 7 pm PST on KBVR 88.7 FM to hear all about the sounds and silence of our forests and what that tells us about them! 

If you miss the show, you can check out the interview wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!

The details are in the DNA

Have you ever been on a walk or a hike and encountered the feather of a bird or the scat of a deer? Most likely, you tried to avoid stepping on the scat and you maybe admired the feather for a few moments before moving on. But did you know that those left behind animal parts are actually full of genetic data that scientists use to answer all kinds of ecological questions? Nowadays, many ecological studies strive to be as non-invasive as possible since physically handling animals can be logistically complicated as well as potentially cause stress to the animal. Hence, being able to make use of biological samples such as feathers or scat that are already left behind is incredibly non-invasive!

On this week’s show, we talked with PhD student Emily Dziedzic about her multitude of projects that she is working on for her research in the Levi Lab in the Department of Fisheries, Wildlife, and Conservation Sciences. Emily is a molecular ecologist who focuses on bioinformatics, which means that she uses computer-based methods to analyze genetic data. Her work spans a wide variety of taxa, from freshwater fish to scarlet macaws, from bats to Humboldt marten, and has implications for improving ecological monitoring for management as well as assisting in the fight against wildlife disease.

If you’re curious to hear more about Emily’s research as well as learn about how she went from being a young child who organized all the kids in her neighborhood to save snapping turtle hatchlings on bikes to a molecular ecologist working on conservation management projects at OSU, then listen to our episode with Emily wherever you get your podcasts, including on our KBVR page, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or anywhere else!