On August 25, a violent landslide raced down a forested hillside in Ketchikan, Alaska, killing one person and injuring three. The natural disaster followed a period of unusually heavy rain known as an atmospheric river. Scientists said that intensifying rainfall, driven by climate change, could increase the risk of landslides in the area of Southeast Alaska that includes Ketchikan. “There’s no single factor that seems to underline each of these events apart from a lot of moisture,” said Josh Roering, professor of earth sciences at University of Oregon College of Arts and Sciences.

Richard Taylor, a physics researcher and professor in the College of Arts and Sciences, wrote for the American Physical Society about how biomechanics of running, art and science converge.

Physiologically, miscarriage and medication abortion are near-identical experiences. The New York Times spoke with history professor James Mohr. “Doctors in the 1850s couldn’t do much that the Romans couldn’t do,” he said. Mohr is the author of “Abortion in America: Origins and Evolution of National Policy." “That’s one of the dirty little secrets of the whole thing,” he added.

According to an article in Nature Communications, researchers say the Global South’s workforce provides a staggering 90% of the labor to power the world economy, yet gets only 21% of global income. “The Global South is carrying out all the production, but getting the worse deal,” said John Bellamy Foster, a sociology professor emeritus at the University of Oregon who wasn’t involved in the study.

When a celebrity dies by suicide, sometimes a "suicide spike" occurs, as it did when comedian Robin Williams died in 2014. A new study published today in Science Advances explores those questions by modeling suicide much like a pathogen, such as flu or COVID-19. Science Magazine spoke with Nick Allen, a clinical psychologist who studies adolescent suicide prevention in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Oregon but was not involved in the study. Allen is keen for more granular detail—for example, saying, it “would be great … to understand more about different patterns in the community, whether there are certain groups who are more susceptible to this kind of contagion.”

Emily Karolidis, a PhD candidate and lead researcher in the study, and Mike Hahn, professor of human physiology at UO, are currently studying the relationships between soccer cleat composition and risk of injury in female versus male athletes. The CAS researchers spoke with Oregon Public Broadcasting about their work.

Ahead of the 2024 Summer Olympics, human physiology professor Brad Wilkins spoke with the Washington Post about advances in training and breaking records. “It’s part of who we are as a species to push limits and to push beyond what we think we’re capable of doing,” Wilkins said. “It’s probably part of why our species survived as a species — because we were driven to go further and build things and do things our Neanderthal counterparts weren’t able to do. I do believe a human is limited. But humans are not.”

Kevin Dicus, an archaeologist in the College of Arts and Sciences's Classics and Humanities Program, spoke to the New York Times about recent research published in the journal Frontiers in Earth Science that offers proof that Pompeii was simultaneously wrecked by a massive earthquake. “The evidence is always there — it just takes new questions, and new eyes, to look for it,” he said. “Archaeology shouldn’t be an entirely insular profession.”

In addition to negative effects on human health, wildfire smoke also reduces earnings for workers in sectors like manufacturing, crop production, utilities, health care, real estate, administration and transportation, according to a 2022 study by economists at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of Oregon. Eric Zou's research is mentioned in this article by NBC-Los Angeles.

Richard Taylor, a College of Arts and Sciences professor of physics, psychology, and art has been using computers for more than 25 years to analyze Jackson Pollock’s paintings and help authenticate canvases of uncertain origin. He spoke with Oregon Public Broadcasting's Think Out Loud program about his work and the role AI could play in the art world.

Christopher Minson, a professor in the department of human physiology, studies thermoregulation. He spoke with Upworthy about how the brain and body interact and adapt as we heat and cool, and the scientific reason why being cold is more common for women.

College of Arts and Sciences geography researcher Mark Carey writes an essay in the publication Edge Effects about the concept of "buying time" against climate change through geoengineering policies, such as a long 100-meter-high wall, or curtain, on the seafloor near Greenland to address glacial melting.

HUMAN PHYSIOLOGY - Heat will only become a bigger issue for summer sports, such as track and field. Outside Magazine's Alex Hutchinson tries out the heat adaptation protocol created by Chris Minson and John Halliwill, both of whom run the Exercise & Environmental Physiology Lab at the Bowerman Sports Science Center.

Chandler James, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Oregon, tells USA Today researched norm-violating behavior in the Trump era. He said the Confederate flag may not be significant to all of Kari Lake’s supporters, but it does signal to them that she is willing to push her politics in a way they want.

For younger people, summer allows more time to listen to music, as many students are out of school and going out more, Philip Scher told USA Today. Scher is an anthology professor with academic expertise in pop culture and chair of the Department of Cinema Studies.