Think Out Loud

Scientists at Oregon Health & Science University’s Knight Cancer Institute are pioneering a new way to study cancer that could lead to faster cancer detection and more targeted treatment. It involves 3D printing cancer cells from a patient and miniature versions of organs like bones and lungs. The healthy tissue and cancer cells are placed together inside a tiny device that’s rough...

As of last week, Oregon had reported 20 measles cases since the start of 2026. Measles was declared eradicated in the U.S. in 2000, but falling vaccination rates have driven outbreaks in more than half of U.S. states so far this year. Health officials warn that community transmission in Oregon is beginning to grow and have asked for the public’s help in curbing the spread.   Dean Sideli...

Josh Hancock, Danielle Doelling and Anna Soens are all athletes based in Bend who suffered life-changing accidents, leaving them with varied levels of spinal cord injury. All three of these athletes spent their lives before injury participating in extreme outdoor sports. The film “Adapted” follows these athletes on their journeys to get back to the activities they love, and finding new...

From the Emerald Ash Borer to Zebra Mussels, Oregon is no stranger to invasive species . The state has a management plan in place that aims to detect invasive species early on, educate the public and prevent their entry into Oregon to begin with. But there are other tools that government agencies and researchers use around the world: dogs. Conservation dogs are trained canines that help locate inv...

Portland’s Bureau of Emergency Communications has drastically improved its 9-1-1 call times and medical response. Just a few years ago, the agency was short staffed and response times were far below national standards. But the efforts the Bureau has made have yielded dramatic results: it recently earned accreditation by the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch, which put it in the top...

Ponderosa pine trees dominate parts of Eastern Oregon and Washington and have long been an icon of the American West, but in the past decade more than two hundred million ponderosa have died. Particularly in the Southwest, scientists estimate that by mid-century less than 5% of the ponderosa trees may remain. We revisit a conversation we first aired on Dec. 22, 2025 with Portland author Gary Fergu...

The Fertile Ground festival of news plays in development has become a staple of the Portland theatre scene since it first began in 2009. This year’s festival has expanded to 17 days, the longest festival yet, to take in the 80-some different productions that run through April 26. We talk with the festival director Tamara Carroll and Kristin Tehrani, who helped create “When I Was a Mexi...

 Charitable donation bins, the large steel and metal boxes often found in parking lots, began appearing in the U.S. in the 1950s. By 1960, Portland had more than 70 goodwill bins, collecting tens of thousands of bags of donated goods a year. But there is a cost that comes with charitable giving. New reporting from The Believer found more than 30 documented cases where people have died while t...

Oregon voters passed Measure 110 in 2020. The goal was to decriminalize small amounts of street drugs and move users into treatment. That goal was ultimately not realized, and in 2024, the legislature changed the drug laws. They implemented a new program: it let counties set up deflection programs to direct people facing misdemeanor possession charges away from the criminal justice system and into...

For more than four years, business teacher Marcia Latta has been helping youth improve their financial literacy at McKay High School in Salem. In recognition of her efforts, Latta was recently named the Oregon Financial Empowerment Educator of the Year by Oregon Treasurer Elizabeth Steiner. The Salem Statesman Journal first reported news of Latta’s award, which includes a $1,500 cash prize f...

 In 2023, the FDA approved the first gene therapies to help treat people with sickle cell disease. The treatment is for patients 12 years and older, but what if you could use this technology before someone is born? That’s what some researchers, and others, believe is the hope for the future. The idea is to use CRISPR , a technology used to edit the genes of living beings, during in vitr...

An explosion on April 26, 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, which was then a part of the Soviet Union, resulted in the worst nuclear disaster in history. Massive amounts of radioactive material spewed into the atmosphere. At least 30 people were killed. A Chernobyl Exclusion Zone was established and today remains largely uninhabited with lingering radioactive contamination .&nb...

The Portland-based band The Builders and The Butchers released their seventh album, “No Tomorrow,” this month. The band started in 2005 busking and playing house shows and are now known for playing raucous, audience-involved stage shows. Many of the songs on the new album are a response to the current political moment in the U.S. Vocalist and songwriter Ryan Solee joins us for an acous...

Researchers in Washington state have found that about a third of the local coyotes studied have a species of tapeworm . These can be passed to dogs, and in rare instances humans. These parasites are also present in foxes and other canid urban wildlife. Domestic dogs can also contract them, and it can be years before the symptoms of the severe disease they cause are detected, making diagnosis and t...

Vast expanses of the American West, including parts of Central and Eastern Oregon, share a unique ecosystem characterized by sagebrush, wildflowers and a wide array of perennial grasses. This “sagebrush sea” is one of the largest contiguous ecotypes in the U.S., but it faces increasing threats from wildfire, invasive species and development.   A new tool aims to help land managers...

The Portland Trail Blazers will face off against the Phoenix Suns tonight in the NBA play-in tournament, which kicks off today. The Blazers ended the NBA regular season on Sunday with a 42-40 record and are the number 8 seed in the Western Conference. If they beat the Suns, the Blazers would make it to the NBA playoffs for the first time in five years. But even if the Blazers lose tonight, they co...

Beginning April 1, two of Oregon’s largest utilities increased their rates for residential customers. Portland General Electric raised rates by 5%, and Pacific Power’s rates went up by nearly 3%. These rate hikes are on top of others in recent years — since 2020, PGE’s residential rates have gone up nearly 60%.   Usually, rate increases arise in November, but due to th...

 In Jennifer Lincoln’s work as an obstetrics hospitalist, she met many new parents who were fearful and felt uninformed about the labor and delivery process, even when arriving at the hospital for their own births. She’s quick to note, however, that this gap in understanding isn’t due to patients being lazy, or their lack of interest in learning, but due to brief prenatal vi...

Som Subedi’s daughter, a fifth-grader, was concerned about attending her soccer practice for fear of Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials raiding the public practices and games. She was worried her father would be targeted by ICE officers. Subedi assured her daughter that he is, in fact, a U.S. citizen, by showing her his Real I.D. card and passport.   Subedi is originally from...

 Over the last year, prediction markets have grown into a multibillion-dollar industry . Prediction markets, such as sites like Polymarket, Kalshi and Robinhood, allow bettors to put down money on the likelihood of an event happening — including for political races in Oregon. Market sites show users are placing their bets on who the Republican candidate will be for Oregon’s govern...

Portland city councilors are discussing a proposal that would raise take-home pay for Uber and Lyft drivers by limiting how much money the companies can take from each trip. Councilors are considering a limit of 20% for the portion that Uber and Lyft can take from a driver. Currently, the amount isn’t fixed, and can sometimes be over40%.   Uber and Lyft have threatened to leave Portland...

Portlander Sean Wolfe has been making electronic music off and on under the moniker Salvo Beta for more than three decades. During the pandemic, he started experiencing hearing loss in his right ear and other symptoms such as balance problems and tinnitus, or a ringing sensation in the ear. Wolfe was diagnosed with a kind of rare, noncancerous tumor that left untreated can lead to permanent hearin...

 Oregon’s Climate Protection Program was established in 2021 to place a cap on greenhouse gas emissions from fossil fuels throughout the state. The program hadn’t gone into effect for most natural gas customers until November 2025. Natural gas users must use less natural gas, or face higher costs.    Many environmentalists are happy with the program and its progress towa...

 By 2045, Vancouver’s population is expected to grow by more than 80,000 new residents – a roughly 40% increase. According to Vancouver’s 2025 Housing Report, the city will need to develop 2,500 new units a year to meet housing demand. But the city is falling well short of that goal for both market-rate and affordable housing projects, as OPB recently reported .  ...

On Saturday, a climate justice summit will take place at Lincoln High School in Southwest Portland. The event is free, open to the public and is being organized by students at Lincoln’s environmental justice class and students at Ida B. Wells’ Eco Action Club. It’s the first time students at the two PPS schools have collaborated to create a climate justice summit, according to Ti...