Life at OSU

A combination of sea water temperatures and iron from dust helps explain variations in atmospheric carbon dioxide levels during ice ages.

The vast subtropical “gyres” – large systems of rotating currents in the middle of the oceans – cover 40 percent of the Earth’s surface and have long been considered biological deserts with stratified waters that contain very little nutrients to sustain life.

Hassan Latif, Egyptologist and a former curator at the Museum of Egyptian Antiquities in Cairo, and Aaron Wolf, a geography professor at Oregon State University, will discuss how the movement and availability of water change cultures and influence politics at the June 3 Science Pub Corvallis. The presentation begins at 6 p.m. at the Whiteside Theatre, 361 SW Madison Avenue.

Researchers at Oregon State University have developed a new methodology for building computer models that paves the way to better understanding the flood risks faced by coastal communities.

Scientists for the first time have tracked how much energy from plants and animals at the surface of the open ocean survives as particles drop to the seafloor more than two miles below, where they say a surprisingly robust ecosystem eagerly awaits.

Far beneath the surface of the ocean off the Pacific Northwest coast of the United States – and nearly a quarter-mile below the seafloor – lives a community of hydrogen-consuming microbes that scientists say are like those in Earth’s early history.