Every time you rely on your phone to translate a foreign language, you ask your smart speaker to do something or your car skids on black ice, you’ve taken advantage of artificial intelligence. While Hollywood may pose a fearful future in which humans battle wily robots, the reality is that this technology faces significant limitations. Initiatives to create self-driving cars and swarms of flying drones occasionally capture headlines, but daunting hurdles remain.

Oregon State Science Pub

Artificial Intelligence: Myths and Realities

Distinguished Professor William J. Ripple discusses how his conservation research and concern about the global environment and climate change led to him publish the Scientists' Warning to Humanity paper, which has been signed and endorsed by more than 20,000 scientists from 184 countries. He shares his journey from ecological research to science advocacy, providing suggestions for how the planet might avert an impending environmental crisis.

From Wolves to the Warning to Humanity

Whether it's genetically modified crops that grow without any interference from pests, or mobile apps that a landowner can use to calculate the amount of grass available in their field, technology allows farmers to save time and money.

Farms of the Future

Whether scrambled, fried or baked in a cake, eggs are a mainstay in homes and restaurants, but in recent years, the industry has seen major changes in production practices. James Hermes, Associate Professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences, discusses the history of the chicken industry in Oregon and the impacts of the shift to “free range” and other methods of producing eggs.

Free Range or Cage Free?

Sean Fleming, book author and courtesy professor in the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences at Oregon State University, discusses how rivers interact with the land in the Northwest and around the world.

The Boom and Bust Cycles of Rivers

Larry Landis, director of the Special Collections and Archives Research Center at Oregon State, discusses the origins of OSU research and its connections to contemporary issues.

The Archives and Origins of OSU Research

Unlike their close relatives, which include puffins and murres, the marbled murrelet is a bird of two worlds. It gets its food from the ocean but raises its young up to 50 miles inland in mature forests. Jim Rivers, assistant professor in the College of Forestry, discusses an ongoing Oregon State University research project to learn more about the behavior of this endangered species.

The Endangered Marbled Murrelet

Hops chemistry expert Tom Shellhammer shares a glimpse into the future of craft beers as new varieties of hops and barley work their way into brewers' recipes. Recorded 2-12-18

Hops, Barley, and the Future of Craft Beers

Heather Knight, a researcher in OSU's College of Engineering studies how humans and robots interact and explores what the future holds as these interactions become more frequent.

Robot comedy with researcher Heather Knight

Author Steve Carpenter explores the fungi found around the Coast Range's tallest peak.

The Mushrooms of Mary's Peak

Marli Miller, author of the book Roadside Geology of Oregon and professor at the University of Oregon walks us through the layers of geological history you'll find driving across the Pacific Northwest.

Oregon's Roadside Geology

OSU Professor Monique Udell talks about her research into dog behavior with insights into their connections to humans and their links to and differences from their wild cousins.

For the Love of Dogs

This August we will experience the first solar eclipse entirely within the boundaries of the continental U.S. since 1776. Join Randall Milstein from the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences to learn about eclipses past and future.

Solar Eclipses

Cakes, breads, biscuits and other baked goods rise to the occasion as they heat up in the oven, and the agents responsible for this feat have a surprising story. At the April 10, 2017 Corvallis Science Pub Sue Queisser discussed the history of leavening agents and offered troubleshooting tips that help bakers achieve better results.

The Surprising Science and History of Leavening Agents

Did the first people come to North America by land or by sea? Did they travel inland or along the coast? How does the human story begin here? At the February 13 Corvallis Science Pub, Loren Davis, anthropologist at Oregon State University, shared the latest evidence for early human occupation along the Pacific slope of the New World and archaeological links between early sites situated around the Pacific Rim.

The Ongoing Search for First Americans

Every month, Oregon State University brings a world-class scientist to a local pub or brewery to talk about the latest in science, technology and research. The result is the university's most popular ongoing outreach program, the Corvallis Science Pub, brought to you each month through a collaboration of the Downtown Corvallis Association, OSU's Terra Magazine and the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI)

hubhopper

Oregon State Science Pub

hubhopper