People are captivated by Pacific salmon from California to Alaska. We appreciate their taste, their beauty, the immensity of their migrations, and their role in our economy and culture. Confronted with continuing global climate change, many people — including fishermen, managers, and scientists — are asking how salmon and their habitats will respond to complex environment change and variability. One focus of climate change research is to understand the impacts of increasing temperatures on different species. Why does temperature matter to Pacific salmon? Under what circumstances will changes in temperature be a critical issue for salmon? Will we see differences in response to temperature change as we look across the wide range of salmon habitats? We’ll investigate these questions using the rich heritage of freshwater salmon research in Alaska and here in the Northwest.
Jennifer Griffiths: Fish Out Of Water? Salmon And Rapid Environmental Change[ 41:02 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (27)
Forests are iconic of the Pacific Northwest. We all value these forests for many reasons – the beauty of towering Douglas-fir trees, the shelter of a wood-framed house, the clean air and water that has been filtered through a forest, and more. Of these products and services, wood and paper are the primary resources that carry a dollar value. However, many people concerned about global warming have begun to pay foresters to grow a forest that stores more carbon. This is because trees have the ability to take carbon dioxide, the leading cause of global warming, from the air and lock up that carbon long-term in wood. These payments-for-carbon place a dollar value on a product that doesn’t require cutting trees from the forest. Today, the payments for carbon are worth less than the money a forester receives from traditional forest management, but the less-intensive forestry associated with managing for carbon storage are thought to provide more of the environmental and social benefits we derive from standing forests. Thus, foresters interested in managing forests for carbon face a tradeoff between timber revenue and the benefits of less-intensive forestry. New research on how a forester can optimize timber revenue and forest carbon storage revives the discussion over how we most wisely use our forests to provide the diverse products and services we value and depend on.
Paul Fischer: The Conscientious Forester: Forests And Carbon Credits In Western Washington[ 54:22 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (18)
Riverside properties are popular for those who enjoy watching the river flow, the wildlife, and recreational activities such as fishing, swimming, and floating. However, when it floods, riverside residents suffer from property damage, partly due to a preference in having lawns and gardens that are vulnerable to flood erosions. To solve the problem, King County plans to buyout private properties and build a setback levee, which is expensive and not welcoming to the residents. This presentation will tell the story of my interactions with a riverside neighborhood; the Maplewood Neighborhood. Through casual conversations, conducting interviews, and distributing surveys, we are beginning to understand the residents’ perspectives on riverside landscapes, attitudes toward environmental hazards and watershed management issues, and behaviors that have impacts on the environment. By detailing the residents’ opinions, we hope to bridge the gap between the residents’ and the river managers’ perspectives on watershed management, particularly on the riverside landscapes. Furthermore, voicing the opinions of residents is the first step of local engagement in river restoration, namely, the stewardship program offered by Forterra and Friends of the Cedar River Watershed. Voluntary local steward restoration not only benefits the river ecosystem, but also helps prevent flood erosion; it is a socially acceptable and economically feasible alternative to moving people away from the river to which they are attached.
Kelly Huang: Your Favorite Riverside Landscape – Why It Matters To Scientists[ 32:02 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (38)
Have you ever watched the sun set behind the Olympic Mountains and asked yourself, “How did those mountains get in the way of my sunset?” Well… it’s complicated. Come take a look at the life of a mountain range and learn about the processes building them up and wearing them down. We’ll ask such questions as: How long do mountains last? Why are some ranges steep and jagged, while others are rolling and gentle? Are there limits to high tall a mountain can get? All while exploring current research in mountain geodynamics from geologists working across the globe.
Thousands of different languages are spoken around the world, limiting our ability to communicate globally. Translation can help to overcome this barrier, but is often prohibitively expensive and time consuming. Automatic translation can allow people to communicate ideas and experiences across languages and cultures, but current technologies still struggle with expressive language. Nuance, idiomatic expressions, and cultural references pose fundamental challenges to how machines translate from one language to another. However, people reading a translation can easily locate problematic wording, suggest possible corrections, and help to improve translation quality. In this talk, we explore how people and computers can work together to overcome language barriers.
Katie Kuksenok: Helping Computers Find Meaning They Lost In Translation[ 54:26 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (50)
The sperm and the egg are the basic foundations for fertilization and reproduction to occur. This process cumulates when the sperm penetrates the egg. Across the kingdom of life, natural variation has evolved in the egg and sperm (shape, size, and other characteristics) in different species. Despite these differences, all mammals and non-mammals have similar sperm and egg structures that enable the sperm to find an egg. This talk will give a general overview of sperm- egg interactions and evolution in human and non-human primates. In particular, I will focus on the journey of the sperm and the ways in which it avoids or bypasses the barriers put up by the egg.
Katrina Claw: Mission Impossible: A Sperm’s Perilous Journey To The Center Of The Egg[ 42:08 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (31)
English holly is being found in rural areas without being deliberately planted, worrying people who want to maintain the integrity of Pacific Northwest forests. Natural resources managers consider English holly an invasive species that negatively affects native vegetation and is expensive to remove. Yet labeling the plant with this designation is a contentious issue as there is no published research to support the invasive species classification. For my talk, I will present a preliminary analysis of what forest conditions English holly is likely to be found in order to identify future germination sites and prevent costly removal.
Helicobacter pylori is a bacterium that infects the stomach of about 50% of all humans. Infection with H. pylori can persist throughout the lifetime of the host and can cause symptoms ranging from mild to severe inflammation in the stomach to ulcers to stomach cancers. In my talk, I will discuss the life and times of this cancer-causing bacterium and describe current understanding about how H. pylori escapes the acidic and harsh environment of the stomach’s lumen to live and persist in close proximity to cells lining the stomach. I will also discuss current developments in research and understanding of H. pylori’s pathogenesis.
Laura E. Martinez: The Life And Times Of A Cancer-Causing Bacterium That Can Thrive In The Human Stomach[ 43:37 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (26)
The canopy of a forest ecosystem is an interesting environment that has seen very little exploration and study. Ongoing research aims to understand how plants, animals, and other organisms are interacting in the branches and crotches of trees, particularly in the coastal forests of the Pacific Northwest. Epiphytes, plants that growth on the top of other plants (e.g., trees), form massive aboveground carpets. After many lifecycles, these epiphytes will form an arboreal soil, like a compost pile in the top of a tree. Together, epiphytes and this “canopy soil” interact with the whole forest by providing habitat for different organisms, a source of food for birds, and water and nutrients for plants. My particular focus is on how the epiphytes and the corresponding canopy soil move in a forest, from a branch to the ground, as well as what happens after they reach the ground.
Camila Tejo Haristoy: Soils In The Air: The Savings Account Of The Forest[ 38:06 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (32)
Brain tumors are made of up to 30% of the body’s own immune cells. The tumors accomplish this by releasing chemicals that attract and reprogram immune cells that then promote the tumor’s growth and survival. Immune cells are normally capable of numerous helpful actions, including multiplying to increase their numbers, releasing poisons to destroy harmful agents, removing debris, and moving towards areas of injury. We hope to develop new techniques for fighting brain tumors by targeting treatments at the immune cells that can become corrupted by tumors. To accomplish this, we are investigating the chemicals that regulate cell movement, which include compounds that come from plants and the body, as well as man-made analogues.
Susan Fung: When Good Cells Go Bad: Your Brain Helping Brain Tumors Survive[ 34:38 ]Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (32)
Jennifer Griffiths: Fish Out Of Water? Salmon And Rapid Environmental Change [ 41:02 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (27)
